A Recap of Amazon Prime Day Results

Amazon.com's Prime Day event came to a close last night at 11:59 p.m. PST, but the e-commerce giant isn't the only retailer sad to see it end. According to Adobe Analytics data, the second day of Prime Day saw U.S. online sales increase 72 percent for large retailers ($1 billion-plus in annual revenue) compared to an average Tuesday, and 25 percent for niche retailers (under $5 million in annual revenue). Tuesday became the fourth day outside of the holiday season to surpass $2 billion in online sales, after Monday (day one of Prime Day) became the third such day. Additional findings from Adobe Analytics regarding the second day of Prime Day include the following:

• Tuesday Traffic Becomes Much More Buying Focused: Tuesday saw an increase in online spending mainly due to an increase in conversion. This accounted for 65 percent of the lift in revenue. Thirty-three percent of the lift was caused by an increase in visits, and 12 percent due to bigger basket sizes.
• Email Continued to Drive the Best Performance: Brands that delivered excellent email experiences saw a 54 percent lift in revenue on Tuesday. In comparison, those that lacked a good email strategy saw only a 29 percent lift. Overall, successful email campaigns picked up in revenue share on Tuesday with a 7 percent lift.
• Physical Retailers Continue to Shine: While consumers typically use buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) for less-expensive items, BOPIS order values on Tuesday saw similar growth to Monday at 11 percent. However, order values overall were lower on Tuesday at $126 compared to Monday’s $131.
• Discounts Continued for Day Two: Like Monday, electronics saw some of the best discounts on Tuesday, with the discount being slightly better for Tuesday at 10 percent compared to Monday’s 9 percent. Amongst electronics, smart devices saw the highest discounts (20 percent off smartphones, 12 percent off smart watches, 10 percent off smart TVs).

Adobe Analytics also reported Prime Day findings covering both days of the event:

• Large Retailers Are the Clear Winners: Over the two-day sales event, large retailers saw the strongest lift in revenue with an average of 68 percent.
• Niche Retailers Catch Up: Unlike last year, when niche retailers saw a decrease in revenue on Prime Day, this year they successfully reaped the benefits of the summer shopping holiday with a combined 28 percent lift over the two days.
• Successful Email Campaigns Are Key: Brands that delivered excellent email experiences saw a 52 percent lift in revenue over the course of the two days. In comparison, those that lacked a good email strategy saw only a 23 percent lift. The share of revenue coming from email campaigns increased by 7.3 percent over the Prime Day event.
• Comparison Shopping is the Norm, But Consumers Are Ready to Purchase: An influx of traffic and an increase in conversion rate on the second day drove the majority of the Prime Day lift. Over the two days, lift in visitor counts accounted for 49 percent of the increase in revenue, while conversion accounted for 46 percent (the rest was due to bigger basket sizes).

Total Retail's Take: Now that the Prime Day event expanded to two days, record-breaking numbers were expected for both Amazon and the e-commerce industry overall. We reported yesterday that during the first 24 hours of Prime Day, large retailers saw a 64 percent increase in sales compared to an average Monday. Jumpshot reports that the retailers that saw the biggest increase in transactions on Monday were Gap, Nike, Best Buy, and Macys, and consumers transacted over 7.5 million purchases online. This data shows that while driven online by the Amazon Prime Day event, consumers are "comparison shopping more than ever and will open their wallets to those who offer the best deals, regardless of the size of the retailer,” says Adobe Vice President of Commerce Product and Platform Jason Woosley. Other online retailers that prioritized "attract[ing] consumers to their site through compelling email campaigns or offering value-add services like buy online, pick up in-store" certainly reaped the benefits of Prime Day's e-commerce "halo effect."