How big was Amazon’s Big Spring Sale?
Some numbers have come in about the sales lift generated by Amazon’s recent spring promotional extravaganza.
Amazon recently finished hosting its first-ever Big Spring Sale that ran March 20-25. The event featured price reductions as high as 60% in categories including electronics, lawn and garden, cleaning and organizing products, sports and fitness, kitchen appliances and cookware, beauty and haircare, and spring fashion, as well as its own devices.
According to new analysis of credit card data from Earnest Insights, the Big Spring Sale generated a 3.1% lift in sales compared to the average trailing four weeks. Earnest says this result represents a "modest acceleration" from the seasonal lift of that same week of March in the previous two years, when Amazon did not have a spring sale.
In addition, Easter was nine days earlier in 2024 than in 2023, which Earnest analysis indicates may have also led to increased shopping on the Amazon platform during the Big Spring Sale week.
Amazon sales have become more frequent in recent years, which Earnest analysis finds has lifted gross merchandise volume compared to average weeks to varying degrees. For example, according to Earnest, Amazon’s 2023 Prime Big Deal Days event held Oct. 10-11, 2023 generated a 23% sales lift compared to the trailing four weeks.
Still, Earnest advises that the timing of the Amazon Big Spring Sale could have provided a boost to the e-tailer's results toward the end of the retailer’s first fiscal quarter of 2024.
Amazon Big Spring Sale – a look back
Amazon promoted the Big Spring Sale on its site with press releases, blog posts and a regularly updated list of special discounts. But there was no major omnichannel promotional blitz, as the e-tailer has launched for other seasonal events such as Prime Day.
However, Amazon updated its online list of discounts throughout the event, suggesting sales were going well. And it’s hard to imagine that other big-name retailers that held competing seasonal promotions, such as Walmart and Target, did not also have least some success with the concept.
"The Big Spring Sale was an opportunity for customers to save on seasonally relevant deals across a wide selection of products, including spring fashion, outdoor furniture, lawn and garden essentials, cleaning and organizing products, and more," Amazon said in an emailed statement to Chain Store Age.