There are sale periods and then there are sale periods! Black Friday and Cyber Monday have cemented themselves as giants of bargain culture, but lately it seems they have both been standing in the shadow of Amazon’s Prime Day.
The company that carries everything from A to Z with a smile, and brings products right to your doorstep, started its Prime Day sale in 2015 to celebrate its birthday and since then, the volume of sales has been on the up and up.
Read on to see how Amazon has put some life into the slow summer purchasing period and get the ceiling-smashing sale numbers for 2023.
2023 Amazon’s Prime Day Results
This year Amazon (AMZN) showed retail-shattering records for online shopping overall and Amazon as a whole!
The technology and e-commerce giant broke its own records with consumers spending $12.7 billion over the two sale days from July 11-12. This is a 6.1% jump from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, and it is also a record for online shopping overall.
As numbers speak louder than words, let’s put some down so we can get a better perspective of just how many products Amazon managed to shift from its shelves over the two-day shopping spree this year.
Total number of items sold: 375 million items
Total rise in items sold from last year: 75 million items
Amazon’s Personal Touch
This year Amazon made shopping even more personal and cost efficient with the following new features:
- Over 40 personalized deal features, including personalized suggestions within “Recommended deals for you,” “Top deals for you,” and “Customers’ Most-Loved”
- Inspirational browse-based shopping with “Inspire” and “Shop by Interest”
- Cost-saving features: “Keep shopping for,” “Buy Again,” and “Lists”
Tracker - Break Down of Items Sold/Top Shoppers
CAPEX.com traders and investors, as well as many others, were so keen to see the final numbers that Numerator published a Live Prime Day Tracker throughout the event. Now we are waiting for Numerator to release the final report, but so far these are the statistics we have at hand.
Top Items Sold
1. Temptations Cat Treats
2. Amazon Fire TV Stick
3. Liquid I.V. Packets
4. Echo Dot 5
5. Blink Outdoor Camera
Top Categories
1. Home Goods – 28%
2. Household Essentials – 26%
3. Apparel & Shoes – 24%
4. Consumer Electronics – 21%
Top Shoppers
- Suburban Females aged 35-44
- Income over $80K
Who shopped on Prime Day 2023? Numerator.
More Bargain Hunting with Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s Corp
This may have been Amazon’s “biggest ever” Prime Day and the first 24 hours may have marked the “single largest sales day in company history,” according to the retail giant itself, but the numbers don’t necessarily match the high expectations.
Adobe expected Amazon’s total US online sales to be up 9.5% year over year to $13.1 billion over the whole event. For 2022, US consumers spent more than $11.9 billion on Amazon during the sale event.
Amazon perhaps did not hit the high mark because competition was fierce. Names like Walmart, Target, and Kohl’s Corp ran their own sale events. These big US names offered bargains in their stores and online, while Amazon mainly focused on online sales and only targets its Prime subscribers.
Did Smashing Results Sway AMZN Upwards?
After the hustle and bustle of July 11 and 12, Amazon’s stock enjoyed a rise on Thursday, July 13 and peaked at around $133.
Amazon (AMZN) hourly chart for June 30 - July 17. CAPEX.com WebTrader
Amazon’s Prime Day History
Amazon began Prime Day on July 15, 2015, to celebrate its dedicated Prime members on its 20th birthday. There is more to it than that. The company wanted to gain more loyal customers and also add some hype to the normally slow summer buying period.
Ever since then Amazon has made Prime Day a tradition, new and existing shoppers count down the days until they can benefit from this special sale in July.
The first time this global shopping event hit the internet, Amazon’s goal was to ‘offer a volume of deals greater than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members.’
A look at what has changed in terms of item sales, the time frame in which the sale takes place, the number of countries that can take part in the event, and the new achievement Amazon adds to its Prime Day event every year can be seen below.
PRIME DAY | Items Sold | Sale Time Frame | Number of Countries | Highlights of the sale |
| 2015 | 34.4 M + | 24 HRS | 9 | It was the largest device sales day ever |
| 2016 | Sales surpassed the first by 60% worldwide | 24 HRS | 10 | Small businesses and sellers on Amazon offering deals to Prime members saw orders nearly triple, year-over-year. |
| 2017 | 50% higher than the previous year | 30 HRS | 13 | Echo Dot was the most popular Prime member purchase. |
| 2018 | 100M + | 36 HRS | 17 | For the first time, U.S. Prime members celebrated Prime Day with a week of savings at Whole Foods Market |
| 2019 | 175 M + | 48 HRS | 19 | Over the two days of Prime Day, sales surpassed the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. |
| 2020 | 3.5 B+ | 48 HRS | 19 | The dates of the big sale were shifted to October 13-14 due to the pandemic. In India it was held in August. |
| 2021 | 250 M+ | 48 HRS | 20 | Amazon Music promotions drove more sign-ups for Amazon Music Unlimited globally than on any other Prime Day. |
| 2022 | 300M+ | 48 HRS | 20+ | Amazon Live Prime Day streams had more than 100 million views. |
| 2023 | 375M+ | 48 HRS | 20+ | Amazon said July 11 was the single largest sales day in the company’s history. |
Amazon blog ‘The history of Prime Day: Celebrating 9 years of Amazon’s biggest deal event.
How to get in on the action of Amazon and other Retail Powerhouses
Follow the steps below or check out the article in our Academy section, How to buy Amazon shares (NASDAQ:AMZN)? to make Amazon a part of your portfolio.
1. Log in to your CAPEX account.
2. Be sure your account is already funded with our flexible payment options.
3. At the top right you can see the type of account you are in.
4. Go to the search icon at the top left of your WebTrader and enter Amazon or the name of another company we provide trading on.
5. Select the instrument.
6. Enter the amount you wish and select the asset of your choice.
7. That’s it! If your transaction was successful, you will be notified.
Summary
- Amazon Prime Day 2023 saw a jump in sales of 6.1% from last year
- Consumers spent $12.7 billion over the two-day sale period
- Amazon added new features to make shopping even more personal and cost efficient
- Home goods sold the most
- Top shoppers were Suburban females, aged 35-44
- Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s Corp also offered bargains around the same time
- Amazon Prime Day started on July 15, 2015, to celebrate its Prime members on its 20th birthday
- Learn to get in on the action with CAPEX.com