It’s no surprise that Prime Day 2019 was another record-breaking event. 

 

Sales this year surpassed Black Friday 2018 and Cyber Monday 2018 sales combined, and the number of Prime members exploded. More and more stores are now offering their own major sales on July 15th and 16th as a response to Prime, and the sales holiday is quickly cementing itself within the retail cycle.

 

To see how Prime Day 2019 played out, we’ve rounded up 26 statistics to get an overview of the holiday.

 

Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime is Amazon's wildly successful membership program. Members pay $119 per year for access to free two-day shipping, photo storage, video streaming, and more.

 

  1. More than 100 million US shoppers have an Amazon Prime subscription (that’s 62% of Amazon’s customer base in the United States) (CIRP)
  2. Prime Members spend an average of $1,400 per year on Amazon. Non-members spend an average of $600 per year (CIRP)
  3. Prime Day began in 2015 to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary and bring more people into the membership program

 

Prime Day 2018

Prime Day 2018 was a record-breaking year, and sales surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2017 sales. 

 

  1. Prime Day 2018 was a 36-hour event
  2. Amazon sold over 100 million products on Prime Day 2018, surpassing sales on Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and the previous Prime Day (Amazon)
  3. Estimates suggest that shoppers spent over $4 billion on Prime Day 2018 (Bloomberg)
  4. 17 countries participated in Prime Day 2018 (Amazon)
  5. The most popular categories for Prime Day 2018 were Toys, Beauty products, PCs and computer accessories, Apparel, and Kitchen products. (Amazon)

 

Prime Day 2019

Prime Day 2019 was a full 12 hours longer than last year, but sales never lagged. While Amazon didn't release any information about how much the company made, Prime Day once again surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday in sales. 

 

  1. Prime Day 2019 lasted a full 48 hours
  2. Amazon sold over 175 million products this year and consumers saved over $1 billion USD (Amazon)
  3. Prime members in 18 different countries participated in Prime Day: the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Singapore, the Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, and Australia. (Amazon)
  4. Amazon spent $8.1 trillion (USD) on television ads marketing Prime Day (Broadcasting Cable)
  5. $1.6 trillion of that $8.1 trillion went to Spanish-language advertising (Broadcasting Cable)
  6. US shoppers also saved at Whole Foods Market on Prime Day, hinting at Amazon’s omnichannel strategy. Strawberries, red cherries, and blueberries were the most popular Prime Day products at the grocery chain (Amazon)

 

Popular Products 

The product trends on Prime Day 2019 were fascinating, and reflect changing cultures and demographics. 

 

"We saw a huge surge in 'smart' products this year, but that wasn't unexpected," comments Hidde Roeloffs Valk, Solution Consultant at Omnia. "This category is growing rapidly at all our customers across the board, so it's no surprise these were popular products on Prime Day."   

 

Hidde also believes that the popular products are reflective of new demographics. "In the Netherlands, diapers were among the top sellers. This is because more millennials are having children."

 

  1. Smart home and IoT products were particularly popular this year. Top sellers included robotic vacuums, smart garage door openers, and smart plugs. (Amazon)
  2. The Instant Pot continued its reign as one of the top sellers in the US (Amazon)
  3. The most popular products by country include (Amazon): 
    1. United States: LifeStraw Personal Water Filters, Instant Pot DUO60, and 23andMe Health + Ancestry kits
    2. United Kingdom: Sony PlayStation Classic Console, Oral-B SmartSeries Electric Toothbrush, and Shark Vacuum Cleaner
    3. United Arab Emirates: Al Ain Bottled Water, Ariel Laundry Detergent, and Fine Towel Tissue Roll
    4. Spain: yobola Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, Philips Multigroom Series 7000 All-in-One Trimmer, and DoDot Diapers
    5. Singapore: Meiji Fresh Milk, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Soft Drink, and Kleenex Clean Care Bath Tissue
    6. Netherlands: Mama Bear Diapers, SanDisk 128 GB Memory Card, and Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance Light
    7. Mexico: Nintendo Switch, HP Monitor 22w Borderless, and Nautica Travel Sport Eau de Toilette Spray
    8. Luxembourg: JBL Charge 3 Stealth Edition Bluetooth Portable Boombox, Tefal Jamie Oliver Stainless Steel Pan, and iRobot Roomba 671
    9. Japan: Happy Belly Water, Anker PowerCore 10,000 Mobile Battery, and Pampers Premium Protection Diapers
    10. Italy: NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Barista Caffè Espresso, Dash 3-in-1 Detergent Pods, and AUKEY Powerbank Portable Charger
    11. India: Syska 9-Watt Smart LED Bulb Compatible with Amazon Alexa, boAt Rockerz Sports Bluetooth Wireless Earphones, and Godrej Aer Pocket Bathroom Fragrance
    12. Germany and Austria: JBL Bluetooth Speaker, Tefal Jamie Oliver Stainless Steel Pan, and OSRAM Smart+ Plug Zigbee Switchable Light Socket
    13. France: iRobot Roomba 671, Lunii Story Telling Factory, and Oral-B SmartSeries Electric Toothbrush
    14. China: Dove Exfoliating Scrub, L’Oreal Rejuvenating Eye Cream, and Silk’n Permanent Hair Removal Device
    15. Canada: PlayStation 4 Slim with Spiderman and Horizon Zero Dawn, LifeStraw Personal Water Filter, and 23andMe Health + Ancestry kits
    16. Belgium: OSRAM Smart+ Plug Zigbee Switchable Light Socket, SanDisk 128GB Memory Card, and Brita Water Filter
    17. Australia: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Finish Powerball All-in-1 Max Dishwasher Tablets, and Huggies Ultra Dry Nappies
  4. Amazon’s proprietary devices also did well, including Kindles, Echo, Alexa, Blink and Ring devices, and more. (Amazon)

 

Prime Membership

Prime membership skyrocketed this year, with both days of the retail holiday bringing in thousands of new members. But what is the average life cycle of these new members?

 

  1. July 15th brought in more Prime members than any previous day in the company history. (Amazon)
  2. July 16th brought in almost as many subscribers as the 15th. (Amazon)
  3. Searches for “Canceling Amazon Prime” increased 18x on the 15th of July, compared to the 14th, suggesting that consumers were signing up for the trial membership, browsing the deals, then canceling immediately. (Business Insider)

 

Prime Day response

Prime Day has officially moved beyond the domain of the Amazon company. Many other companies offered their own widespread sales during the same time period to capitalize on consumer readiness-to-spend. Prime Day 2019 was also met with protest from consumers globally, who worry about worker welfare. 

 

  1. Online retail traffic surged on Prime Day. In the United States... (Emarketer)
    1. Amazon’s search index increased 184% in the first 24 hours of Prime Day
    2. Walmart’s search index increased by 130%
    3. Searches on eBay increased by 72%
    4. Best Buy’s searches soared by 255%
  2. Prime Day 2019 was met with public protests against the retail giant. Within Europe there were protests in Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland (CNET)
  3. Delivery days marred consumer experience on Prime Day, with many shoppers complaining about 3-4 day shipping (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
  4. The number of companies giving major discounts during Prime Day has exploded, indicating that Prime Day is quickly becoming a full-blown summertime retail holiday as big as Black Friday. (Business Insider)
  5. This prime day record is expected to hold until Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019.

 

Final thoughts

In just four years, Amazon has managed to create an entirely new retail holiday that only continues to grow in importance each year. We can expect even more retailers and brands to launch their own sales next year on July 15th, and might even see the holiday spill over into the physical retail realm as well.

 

Curious to read more Amazon related content? Check out some of our other articles below