Prime Day is Biggest Day Ever for Amazon

Well, so much for early day checkout issues sabotaging Prime Day 2016. By the end of yesterday, Amazon.com announced that its self-created holiday gave the company its biggest sales day ever, with orders rising more than 60 percent worldwide compared to last year's Prime Day. In the U.S. alone, orders were up more than 50 percent from last year. Due to the success of this year's Prime Day, Amazon's shares rose to nearly $752 in early trading Wednesday. The e-commerce giant declined to share how many people signed up for Prime to participate in the sale.

Total Retail's Take: I don't know about anyone else, but I was a little surprised by how successful Prime Day was. Last year's Prime Day deals, and specifically the products that were discounted, left a lot to be desired in this shopper's opinion. However, it seems consumers felt otherwise this year. Perhaps Amazon learned from its mistakes and offered consumers more worthwhile deals (and not 10 cents off Pop-Tarts). Now we have to wait and see if Prime Day has staying power like Cyber Monday.