Prime Day Update: Best-sellers and positive buzz take center stage

While Amazon Prime Day got off to a bit of a rocky start, performance appears to be improving as the day goes on.



According to analysis from Clavis Insight, consumer electronics is the most popular category among Prime Day “spotlight deals,” promoted at the top of the page as especially in-demand items. As of 10 a.m. ET Amazon had run 21 spotlight deals, almost half of which were consumer electronics. At the same on the 2015 edition of Prime Day, Amazon had only posted 10 spotlight deals.



Clavis Insight analysis also reveals that as of 10 a.m., 60% of spotlight deals were on products that are the best-sellers in their category on Amazon, such as Samsung curved TVs and an “Exploding Kitties” game. By mid-day ET, only one spotlight deal, the Samsung curved TV, had sold out.



Furthermore, Clavis Insight observed that by mid-day ET, Lightning Prime Day Deals, available for a set period of time, usually two to four hours, were selling out but not at a rate that they did in 2015. Of the first 100 Lightning Prime Day deals listed, only eight had sold out, including a four-pack of Starbucks Refreshers, a Coleman eight-person tent and an EC Technology external battery. This is better in-stock performance than the 40% of active Lightning Deals that had sold out late morning 2015.



In other good news for Amazon, despite numerous consumer tweets complaining of checkout issues and poor deal quality in the morning, Adobe Digital Insights analysis of social media sentiment data shows positive signs. Compared to 2015, Prime Day-related social media sadness is down 26% and joy is up 43%. In 2015, 50% of overall social sentiment regarding Prime Day was related to sadness.



However, Adobe Digital Insights indicates the main contributor to sadness in 2016 has been people having issues adding items to their cart and checking out, compared to the lack of blockbuster deals which most bummed out Prime Day commenters in 2015.



Some of the top products receiving positive attention are Kindle-related products, deals on the Amazon Echo, and the Xbox One Bundle.



New York, Texas, Florida, and Washington are the top U.S. states engaged in Prime Day. Similarly, in 2015 Californians talked about Amazon Prime Day the most with New York coming in second.



Interestingly, Adobe Digital Insights finds Walmart has been relatively silent on social media, not highlighting its own free shipping or rollback deals that its website is advertising.



Chain Store Age will post a final Prime Day review later this afternoon.