Prime Day 2022 breaks records with $11.9 billion in sales

Early results from the 2022 edition of Amazon Prime Day indicate that consumers were spending more on a larger number of products than ever before.

Prime members purchased more than 300 million items worldwide during Prime Day 2022, the most in Amazon’s history.  According to official figures from Amazon As usual, Amazon did not release a total sales amount, but said Prime members saved over $1.7 billion, more than any previous Prime Day event.

However, Adobe Digital Economy Index data indicates total U.S. online spend across retailers reached $11.9 billion (including $6 billion on day one and $5.9 billion on day two), representing 8.5% growth compared to $11 billion in Prime Day total online revenue in 2021. The two days of the Prime Day event are the biggest days for U.S. online spending to date in 2022.

Other interesting Prime Day trends observed by Adobe include:

• Discount levels were consistent across both days. Discounts for toys (15%) and apparel (12%) remained the strongest. Categories that also saw noteworthy discounts included electronics (6%), TVs (3%), and computers (8%). 
• Average online revenue lift across the U.S. was 141% compared to an average July day: Montana (172%), North Dakota (171%), and Alaska (166%) saw the biggest lifts in online spend on day two of Prime Day while Rhode Island (103%), Iowa (119%) and New Hampshire (123%) showed the least gains. 

“With the second Prime Day also seeing strong gains, retailers were able to generate approximately $12 billion dollars in online spend, across the two-day event,” said Pat Brown, VP, Adobe. “With ‘back to school’ around the corner and promotional discounts being quite favorable for consumers; we saw accelerated growth momentum for days that have historically produced significant spending. It’s apparent that consumers are incredibly price conscious, and it will be important for retailers to leverage price effectively, in order unlock new growth potential online.”

Amazon sellers shine
According to Amazon, the 2022 event was also the biggest-ever Prime Day event for Amazon's third-party selling partners, most of whom are small and medium-sized businesses. Amazon said sales growth by its selling partners outpaced growth in its own retail business, with Prime Day shoppers spending over $3 billion on more than 100 million small business items.

Other U.S. Prime Day trends observed by Amazon include:

• Prime members purchased more than 60,000 items per minute during this year's Prime Day event.
• Prime members in the U.S. did the most shopping from 8 p.m.—9 p.m. PT on Wednesday, July 13, during the U.S. Prime Day event.
• Some of the best-selling categories in the U.S. this Prime Day were consumer electronics, household essentials, and home.
• Since Prime Day shopping began on July 12, select Fire TV, Echo, and Blink devices were some of the best-selling items on Amazon in the U.S.
• Amazon Live Prime Day streams had more than 100 million views.

[Read more: Study: Most Amazon shoppers primed for Prime Day]

“Prime Day is a celebration of our Prime members, who look forward to this event every year, and we’re thrilled to have delivered incredible savings to them once again,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Stores. “This special event is made possible because of the support of our employees, vendors, and sellers, and I want to give a big thank you to all of them for making this a Prime Day to remember.”

Numerator – Average Prime Day order size jumps
According to final 2022 Live Prime Day Tracker data released Thursday morning from Numerator, the average Prime Day order this year was $52.26, up 17% from $44.75 during Prime Day 2021. Average Prime Day order size fell compared to both 2020 and 2019 (pre-pandemic and pandemic years) in 2021, More than six in 10 households shopping Prime Day placed two or more separate orders, bringing the average household spend to roughly $144.56, with average price per item of $33.58.

Although average order size was up, only 35% of surveyed consumers who shopped Prime Day this year and last, spent more this year than in 2021, while 65% spent the same or less. Inflation impacted 83% of surveyed Prime Day shoppers, with 34% saying they waited for the sale to purchase a specific item at a discounted price, while 28% passed on a good deal because it wasn't a necessity. Inflation also drove 22% of individuals to look at prices outside of Amazon before buying.

Almost all (96%) surveyed Prime Day shoppers are members of Amazon Prime, and nine in 10 (91%) have been Prime members for one or more years. Two percent joined during this year’s event. Ninety-five percent of surveyed Prime Day shoppers knew it was Prime Day before shopping, and 41% said Prime Day was their main reason for shopping. Three-quarters have shopped Prime Day in the past.

The top items sold during Prime Day 2022 were Fire TV Sticks, Echo Dot 4th Gens, Blink cameras and doorbells, Amazon gift card reloads and Ring video doorbells. Frito-Lay Variety Packs came in sixth after ranking in the top five most of the event. Most Prime Day items (58%) sold for under $20, while 5% sold for over $100.

The top categories consumers say they have purchased are household essentials (29%), health & beauty (28%), and consumer electronics (27%). The typical Prime Day shopper observed by Numerator was a high-income, suburban female age 35-44.

Numerator analyzed 58,934 Prime Day orders from 21,306 unique households and 4,847 verified shopper surveys. See the full results here.