What might stop consumers from shopping Amazon Prime Day?

Consumer intent to shop Amazon Prime Day is high, but participation is not guaranteed. 

Within 24 hours of Amazon announcing it will hold the 2023 edition of its Prime Day omnichannel sales extravaganza July 11-12, Numerator issued a survey to over 500 U.S. consumers to understand awareness and shopping plans for the event. The survey revealed that 49% of respondents plan to shop on Amazon Prime Day 2023, and an additional 36% said they might shop the sale.

However, when asked what might prevent them from participating in Amazon Prime Day this year, the top reasons were: Nothing I want is on sale (34%), trying to save money (29%), prices aren’t low enough (28%) and I don’t have spare money right now (22%). 

Other interesting findings include:

• The top ways that respondents plan to shop Amazon Prime Day include browsing deals/specials (52%), purchasing items for themselves or their household (38%), purchasing items included in Prime Day deals (38%) and purchasing gifts for the holidays (27%). 
• More than one-third (35%) of respondents do not plan on shopping any other retailer sales on Prime Day, but 17% do plan to shop other sales in addition to Amazon.
• Respondents indicated they will approach Prime Day in different ways, including comparing prices of items on sale with other retailers (34%), researching items that they would like to purchase prior to Prime Day (25%) and purchasing items they plan beforehand and shopping lightning deals (16%). 
• Respondents are split on their views of Amazon Prime Day’s sales and deals. One in four said they believe the deals have become more valuable over time, while 24% believe they have remained at the same level of value and 16% believe they have become less valuable. 

Prime Day 2022 breaks records with almost $12 billion in sales

Prime Day has become a big business event. According to Adobe Digital Economy Index data, total U.S. online spend across retailers during Prime Day 2022 reached an all-time high of $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.

Looking ahead to this year’s event, an Amazon-focused poll of 1,000 U.S. consumers by omnichannel marketing platform Skai shows highe levels of consumer intent than Numerator’s survey. Nearly all (95%) respondents to the Skai study are likely to browse or buy something during Prime Day 2023.