Another year, another record for Amazon Prime Day, with $14.2 billion in sales (according to Adobe Analytics) in the United States, which represents an 11% increase over last year’s $12.7 billion in total sales. Amazon started Prime Day (which was originally just one day, instead of the now typical two-day sale) to drum up some spending during what’s typically retail’s slowest month. It’s since become one of the largest and most anticipated summer sales, with many independent brands attempting to secure their slice of the pie, whether through Amazon’s marketplace or on their own websites.
In 2023, Prime members purchased more than 375 million items worldwide, and saved more than $2.5 billion on millions of deals across the Amazon store, making it the largest Prime Day event ever. Home, fashion, and beauty were the top-selling deal categories. Last year, in Amazon’s recap of the event, they outlined how Amazon’s wide selection of products is made possible through independent sellers, and how it was the biggest event ever for small and medium-sized businesses selling on their platform. With brands increasing their average daily sales by over 18x during the event, it’s clear to see why participating in Prime Days sales is advantageous for independent businesses selling on Amazon.
In this article, we’ll break down what Prime Day looked like from a consumer participation and purchasing behavior angle, as well as take a look at some statistics from our own Triple Whale users who experienced a massive revenue increase in 2024 compared to 2023!
Only the most exciting sales event of the summer! In 2024, the Amazon Prime Day event fell on July 16-17th, an otherwise regular Tuesday and Wednesday in the middle of a hot July.
In a similar trend to Prime Day 2023, many customers were looking for sweet deals or discounts on things they need versus splurging on higher-end items. With inflation still at an all-time high, the average consumer is searching for everyday staples over luxury products. Amazon states that over 200 million items were sold during the 2-day event.
It’s still early and not many statistics have been shared, but Numerator had a live tracker across its data sources to produce some immediate insights. Their highlights include:
Numerator clocked that the typical Prime Day shopper was a high income, 35-44 year old suburban woman. Nearly 90% of Prime Day survey respondents have shopped the event in the past, and 98% knew it was Prime Day before shopping. Additionally, over half of shoppers purchased something they’d been waiting to purchase until it went on sale. This indicates that Prime Day is a highly anticipated event, and brands should be ready to take advantage of a few deal-seeking customers waiting to make that first purchase.
Adobe also reported that 49.3% of shopping occurred on mobile phones, which is an 18% increase over last year. Amazon released its AI assistant, Rufus, just in time for customers to take advantage of for Prime Day. Rufus works similarly to ChatGPT, except it’s trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, Q&A, and online information. Amazon indicated that Rufus helped millions of customers with their shopping, but a true number has yet to be reported.
Another interesting trend that popped up was the use of buy now, pay later (BNPL) options, which accounted for 7.6% of online orders and $1.08 billion in spending.
The Triple Whale brands who sell on Amazon were clearly ready for Amazon Prime Day this year! Compared to 2023, brands generated a 33% increase in revenue in 2024. When it comes to the total number of orders, those also increased by 30%. This indicates that our brands were armed with the deals to convince customers to make a purchase.
When we look at sales data week-over-week, we can see a very large difference: orders on July 16th and 17th, 2024 were 430% higher than July 9th and 10th, 2024. And revenue? It spiked by 454%. If customers were looking for items the week before Prime Day, they were almost certainly waiting to make the purchase during the event!
This is something to consider in the weeks before major sale events, such as BFCM. Don’t discount the importance of your campaigns in the days and weeks before BFCM, because even if your CPA metrics aren’t looking great, it doesn’t mean the customers are lost. They might just be shopping around and will buy during your BFCM promotion, so keeping your brand top of mind with promotions in the week before is still a good idea.
Customers will often window shop, and add a product to the cart then abandon it to potentially return during BFCM. To get more visibility around these customers, it would be beneficial to set up an enrichment solution like Sonar. Sonar works by enriching existing platform data with events captured by Triple Whale plus Shopify Data. By sending this data back to the marketing platforms, like Meta and Klaviyo, marketers can gain a more complete understanding of how customers behave prior to a large sales event like BFCM. With improved data accuracy, brands can make better-informed marketing decisions both before and during these events.
When we took a look at week-over-week revenue for Shopify (07/16-07/17 vs. 07/09-07/10), we found a 9.7% increase. In 2023, the revenue increase on Prime Day(s) was only up 2%. This indicates to us that retailers are pushing their own sales outside of Amazon to compete with Prime Day, or possibly running sales on both platforms.
Some brands, like BK Beauty, were already successful selling on their own website, but chose to run some promotions on Amazon Prime Day for the first time this year. We’re going to gander they’re happy with their decision to participate:
BK Beauty’s sales for a single day of the Amazon Prime Day had nearly 20,000 orders. Rolling Stone also reported that BK Beauty’s “Kitten Paw” Face Brush (in collaboration with Angie Hot & Flashy) was one of the most purchased items among Rolling Stone readers during Prime Day.
BK Beauty has been going viral on TikTok rather consistently, so this is a great example of a brand taking advantage of their time in the spotlight and presenting a deal on Amazon when customers are expected to go searching for their products.
The event has passed, but there’s lessons to be learned for next year. There’s a surge in demand for exclusive deals and limited-time offers, as consumers exhibit heightened sensitivity to perceived value and urgency that drive them to make quick purchase decisions. Also, the much higher number of customers making purchases on mobile phones means your website should be optimized for mobile shopping experiences. We’ll list a few ideas for making the most of Prime Day 2025 below:
Amazon Prime Day 2024 has once again proven its significance in the retail calendar, breaking records with $14.2 billion in sales and highlighting key consumer trends. From the increased use of mobile shopping to the rising popularity of buy now, pay later options, this year's event offers valuable insights for DTC brands. By understanding consumer behavior and leveraging Amazon’s tools, brands can optimize their strategies for future Prime Days.
The impressive performance of Triple Whale brands, with a 33% increase in revenue over 2023, underscores the importance of preparation and strategic execution. As we look ahead to Prime Day 2025, it's clear that early planning, data analysis, and effective marketing can help brands maximize their success in this highly anticipated sales event. Whether through Amazon’s marketplace or their own platforms, independent brands have a tremendous opportunity to capture the attention and wallets of eager Prime Day shoppers.