Update on Amazon’s Big Day: So good it will be annual event
San Jose, Calif. – While the social buzz regarding Amazon’s “Prime Day” on Wednesday, July 15, was not so prime, it appears the event was a big success sales-wise (so good it’s coming back). And industry experts said the event was important in other ways too.
“The event could be considered a success in the respect that it drove competition and online sales across the industry during a period that is not typically high volume,” said Traci Gregorski, VP, marketing, Market Track, a provider of market intelligence solutions. “For Amazon, if they are able to increase Prime memberships that will be the ultimate win, since those shoppers are higher value than non-members.”
Amazon on Thursday said it sold more units on Prime Day than the biggest Black Friday ever and had more new members try Prime worldwide than any single day in Amazon history. Customers ordered 34.4 million items across Prime-eligible countries, breaking all Black Friday records with 398 items ordered per second.
“Worldwide order growth increased 266% over the same day last year and 18% more than Black Friday 2014 – all in an event exclusively available to Prime members,” said Greg Greeley, VP, Amazon Prime. “Going into this, we weren't sure whether Prime Day would be a one-time thing or if it would become an annual event. After yesterday’s results, we'll definitely be doing this again.”
The best-selling items included tablets, digital cameras, laptops, movies/TV shows, televisions, toys and video games, reported Market Track.
As for the consumers who vented their disappointments about the quality of the offered deals, an analysis by Market Track adds fuel to their fire. Only 43 best-sellers (or 9.6%) were discounted by more than 10%, the company found. The worst discounts were in laptops, in which no best-sellers were discounted more than 10%. Market Track’s Gregorski noted that Amazon may have erred in stressing price over other benefits.
“They may have missed an opportunity to emphasize some of the other benefits that come with Prime that actually differentiate them from straight price comparisons such as speed of shipping, video and music streaming, and photo storage,” he said
Social media: The social media response to Prime Day probably did not meet Amazon’s expectations. According to data from Adobe, as of 4 p.m. ET July 15 Amazon Prime Day had 90,000-plus social mentions. In comparison, Black Friday 2014 had 20 times more mentions during the same period, or 1.6 million. And while Amazon’s social mentions were up about 50% compared to the 30-day average, so were those of Wal-Mart, which ran a much-publicized rival sales event that did not require signing up for or belonging to a paid loyalty program.
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