eMarketer: Amazon to generate nearly $10 billion in Prime Day sales

New analysis predicts Amazon will boost year-over-year revenue of its annual Prime Day sales extravaganza by more than 40%.

The first-ever eMarketer forecast for Prime Day estimates that Amazon will generate $9.91 billion in sales worldwide, including $6.17 billion in the U.S., during its Oct. 13-14 Prime Day omnichannel event. The global figure represents a 43% increase from the 2019 total of $6.93 billion, while $6.17 billion equals a 60% jump from Prime Day 2019’s U.S. sales of $4.32 billion.

To maximize sales on Prime Day and in its aftermath, eMarketer advises that Amazon needs flagship products that generate excitement and promotions tailored to customers’ changing lives amid the pandemic. eMarketer expects that at least some of the new Alexa-enabled devices and upgrades to existing products Amazon unveiled in September will be available for Prime Day, with the pandemic heightening demand for non-Amazon products in categories including e-learning, in-home entertainment, cooking, and sanitation products.

eMarketer also says that Amazon’s decision to move Prime Day from mid-July to October has created further uncertainty in seasonal spending patterns for retailers and sellers.

“While demand will be strong, the event will be more difficult to plan for than in previous years,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “Since Prime Day’s 2015 debut, Amazon has expanded the scale and spectacle of the event in a mostly predictable fashion. But the pandemic has thrown everything for a loop. Supply chains are challenged, inventory forecasting is unpredictable, and consumer demand is fluctuating wildly.”