Amazon has biggest October sale ever; Holiday Beauty Haul up next
Prime Big Deal Days was a big deal indeed, and the next Amazon seasonal promotion is less than two weeks away.
According to Amazon, Prime Big Deal Days (Oct. 8-9) was its biggest October shopping event ever, with more Prime members shopping compared to the 2023 edition with higher sales and more items sold during the two-day event than any previous October shopping event. In an email to Chain Store Age, an Amazon representative said independent sellers on its platform, most of which are small-to-medium-sized businesses, saw record sales compared to the 2023 event.
Globally, Amazon says Prime members saved more than $1 billion across millions of deals, including on seasonal merchandise and gifts.
"Our 2024 Prime Big Deal Days event marked a strong start to the holiday shopping season, with record-breaking sales and participation from Prime members worldwide," said Doug Herrington, CEO of worldwide Amazon stores. "This is just the start of great deals from Amazon over the holiday shopping season, paired with fast, free delivery for Prime members to help them check items off their gift lists."
Amazon is hosting the fourth annual Holiday Beauty Haul from Oct. 21-Nov. 3. The event will feature thousands of curated deals and gift sets on beauty products from brands like Clinique, COSRX, Revlon, Sol de Janeiro, Viktor&Rolf and Youth to the People.
[READ MORE: Holiday beauty sales extravaganza returns to Amazon]
In addition, until Oct. 31, 2024, customers can save 10% on select toys if they spend $25. Amazon says its planning more deal events ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Numerator: Deals satisfy many shoppers
According to data from the Numerator Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2024 Tracker based on survey results from 5,000 verified buyers of the event, 95% of verified Prime Big Deal Days shoppers said they knew the event was happening before they shopped on Amazon and 46% said Prime Big Deal Days was their primary reason for shopping.
Close to six-in-10 (57%) respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with the discounts offered during the event. Six-in-10 (59%) respondents said they also participated in the July 2024 Amazon Prime Day annual sales extravaganza.
Amazon debuted its fall version of the annual Prime Day 48-hour sales blockbuster in October 2022.
Interestingly, only one-quarter (24%) of respondents reported purchasing gifts for the holidays. Of those shoppers, 16% said they completed more than half (or all) of their holiday gift shopping with their purchases. Seven percent purchased items for Halloween.
Amazon had promoted Prime Big Deal Days as the kickoff to its holiday sales season. However, in promising news for the e-tail giant, 86% of respondents said they will probably or definitely shop on Amazon again in the next three months for holiday items such as gifts, decorations and wrapping supplies.
The most popular product categories purchased by surveyed Prime Big Deal Days shopper include:
- Household essentials: 22%
- Apparel/shoes: 22%
- Home goods: 21%
- Beauty/cosmetics: 20%
- Health/wellness: 19%
- Toys/video games: 17%
- Consumer electronics: 14%
- Groceries: 12%
- Pet products: 12%
Salesforce: Day one traffic and order growth down in U.S.
Analysis of year-over-year results of the first day of Prime Big Deal Days from Salesforce indicates that the event got off to a slow start in the U.S., with better performance globally and in Canada:
United States
- Traffic growth: -4%
- Order growth: -5%
Canada
- Traffic growth: +2%
- Order growth: +2%
Global (all Prime Day participating countries):
- Traffic growth: +2%
- Order growth: -1%
The promotion took place in the U.S. and 18 other countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and Turkey.
"There is evidence that current events in the U.S. are resulting in a quieter than planned Prime Day event," Caila Schwartz, director of consumer strategy and insights at Salesforce, said in emailed commentary to Chain Store Age. "As brands continue to prioritize the health and safety of their customers, marketing efforts have been pulled back, contributing to the fall in overall YoY results so far this week."
