Independent sellers, specifically, sold more than 200 million items over the course of the 48-hour Prime Day event. Amazon said most of them are small and medium-sized businesses.

Additionally, Amazon said its new AI-powered conversational assistant — which it calls Rufus — helped millions of customers shop during the event.

“Millions more Prime members shopped the two-day shopping event compared to Prime Day 2023,” Amazon said in a statement.

Amazon is No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of North America’s largest online retailers based on web sales. It’s also No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces database, which ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV). Digital Commerce 360 projects Amazon’s total web sales in 2024 will reach $469.01 billion.

How much did Amazon make in sales during Prime Day 2024?

Although Amazon didn’t reveal exactly how much it made in Prime Day 2024 sales, third-party data provides insights into how the event went.

The average order value (AOV) during Prime Day 2024 was $57.97, according to data from Numerator. Numerator is a data and technology company that provides market research. Its data is based on a collection of 93,513 unique orders during Amazon’s 48-hour event, from 35,588 households.

More than half (60%) of households that shopped Amazon during the Prime Day 2024 sales event placed two or more orders. This brought the average household spend to about $152, Numerator said. 40% of households made just one order, whereas 24% made two orders.

Additionally, 23% of households for which Numerator has data spent more than $200. 22% of households spent more than $100 but no more than $200. Similarly, 21% of households spent more than $50 but no more than $100.

The average price per item was $28.06, Numerator found. Based on the number of units purchased, the top-selling items were the Amazon Fire TV Stick, premier protein shakes, Liquid I.V. packets, Glad trash bags and COSRX snail mucin serum.

88% of shoppers were Prime members, according to Numerator, and 85% have been Prime members for more than a year. 98% knew it was Prime Day before shopping, and just over half (53%) said Prime Day was their main reason for shopping. Moreover, 54% compared prices from other retailers.

Whereas 41% of consumers Numerator surveyed said they didn’t shop other sales, more than a third shopped other Mass Merchants‘ summer sales promotions. 35% said they shopped Walmart Deals, which ran July 8 to 11. Similarly, 34% shopped Target Circle Week. Just 11% said they shopped from Consumer Electronics retailer Best Buy’s Black Friday in July promotion.

Impact of Amazon Prime Day 2024 on US online retail sales

On the second day of the Amazon Prime Day 2024 event, July 17, consumers spent $7 billion online — and that’s outside of Amazon itself — according to data from Adobe Analytics.

Adobe’s analysis is based on 100 million stock keeping units (SKUs) across 18 product categories and covers more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites. 200 online retailers in the Top 1000 use Adobe Analytics for their web analytics, and 97 use it for site design and development. Top 1000 online retailers also use it for content delivery and management, as an ecommerce platform, a marketing platform, for personalization and more.

That $7 billion is shy of the first 24 hours’ $7.2 billion, which marked a new record, yet it still represents 10.4% year-over-year growth.

However, it brings the total of U.S. online retail sales — excluding Amazon — to $14.2 billion during the full Amazon Prime Day 2024 sales event, according to Adobe. That’s both an 11% year-over-year increase and a new record for online sales during the Prime Day event.

Sales growth by category

Specific categories drove the sales, Adobe data shows. Electronics sales as a whole increased 61% over the two-day event compared to average daily sales in June 2024, Adobe said. Across specific products, tablets had the largest sales growth at 117% over the two-day event, followed by:

• Televisions (up 111%)
• Headphones and Bluetooth speakers (105%)
• Fitness trackers (88%)
• Computers (80%)
• Smartphones (71%)
• Cameras (60%)

Among home, furniture and appliances sales, small kitchen appliances saw the largest growth over the two-day sales period at 76%. Kitchenware and cookware sales grew 25% and mattresses 21%. Meanwhile, Home office furniture sales grew 14% and bedroom furniture 11%.

Within the apparel category, sales of suits grew the most, at 36% across both days. Outerwear (19%), footwear (17%) and accessories (17%) accounted for the next-most sales growth.

“The electronics, apparel, and furniture categories make up nearly half of e-commerce spend but has seen low single digit growth in the first half of 2024,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “It’s clear now that the Prime Day event has been a catalyst across these major categories, with discounts deep enough for consumers to hit the buy button and upgrade items in their homes.”

Trending spending habits

Almost half of that total came from mobile devices. Mobile commerce drove close to half (49.2%) of online purchases on the second of Amazon’s two-day event. For both days combined, consumers spent $7 billion from their mobile devices. That’s 18.6% year-over-year growth.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) accounted for 7.6% of online orders during the Amazon Prime Day 2024 sales event. BNPL drove $1.08 billion in online spending during Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 sales event. That’s 16.4% year-over-year growth.

Retailers have leaned into discounts to drive growth since the 2023 holiday shopping season, Adobe said. Amazon Prime Day’s sales event drew discounts from other retailers, according to Adobe Analytics, including:

• Electronics peaking at 23% off listed price (vs. 14% in 2023)
• Apparel discounts at 20% (vs. 12% in 2023)
• Home/furniture at 16% (vs. 9%)
• Televisions at 16% (vs. 5%)
• Toys at 15% (vs. 12%)
• Appliances at 14% (vs. 7%)
• Sporting goods at 11% (vs. 6%)
• Computers at 11% (vs. 8%)

Consumers selected curbside pickup for nearly a fifth of U.S. online orders (18.9%) during the two-day sales event (among retailers offering the service). That’s down slight from 20.2% in 2023.

Prime Day’s effect on online retail

Globally, sales growth for retailers other than Amazon was flat year over year during the Prime Day 2024 event, according to ecommerce platform provider Salesforce.

That wasn’t the case in North America, though. As a whole, North American online sales grew 3% year over year during the sales event. The United States led that total growth for the continent, accounting for most of the sales during the period. However, Canada’s online retail sales grew at a faster rate: 8% year over year.

In North America, 76 of the top 2000 online retailers use Salesforce as their ecommerce platform, according to Digital Commerce 360 data. And in 2023, those 76 online retailers combined for more than $136.077 billion in web sales.

Consumers locked in on deals as they become increasingly focused on value, said Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail and consumer goods at Salesforce, in a statement. Makeup, skin care, and apparel were the big winners heading into the back-to-school season, he added.

“Amazon’s annual Prime Day gives us a glimpse into what we can expect this holiday season,” Garf said. “And retailers must be smiling. Online traffic and demand were up. And much of the online growth was based on people buying more, not just higher prices.”

In contrast, TikTok’s “Deal for You Days” did not drive the same results as Amazon this year, Salesforce said. Discounts timed to coincide with TikTok’s sales event averaged 18% off product prices. That compares to 22% discounts, on average, during this year’s Prime Day event, according to Salesforce data.

Salesforce also broke out which categories had the largest sales growth and discounts during the full span of the 2024 Prime Day event.

Top-performing verticals by sales growth

1. Health & Beauty (16% increase). Makeup sales, specifically, grew 30%. Skin care sales grew 14%.
2. Active Footwear (12%)
3. General Footwear (12%)

Highest discounts globally by category

1. General Apparel  (average discount of 28%)
2. Beauty & Makeup (26%; was 21% in 2023)
3. Beauty & Skincare (22%)
4. Home & Furniture (22%)

Global discounts grew 8% year over year during the full 48 hours of the Prime Day 2024 sales event, Salesforce said. The average discount rate across categories was 20%.

Highest discounts by category in the US

1. General Apparel (average discount of 33%)
2. Home & Furniture (21%)
3. Health & Beauty (21%)

Discounts from U.S. online retailers grew 10% year over year during the same period, according to Salesforce. The average discount rate across categories was 22%. For online retailers in Canada, those figures are 11% and 27%, respectively.

“For the first time in a long time, we’re seeing order volumes turn positive and discounting is high,” said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce, in a statement. “The lesson is a simple one — if retailers deliver on discounting and providing true value, they will release that pressure valve of built-up demand and see incredible success. If they don’t, retailers may risk losing out as shoppers will go elsewhere.”

Here’s last year’s article summarizing Amazon Prime Day sales results.

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If the two-day Amazon Prime sale event July 16 and 17 does drive $14 billion in ecommerce activity, that would represent a 10.5% increase year over year. It would also be the highest-ever result recorded during Amazon’s best-known promotion.

Adobe’s analysis is based on 100 million stock keeping units (SKUs) across 18 product categories. 200 online retailers in the Top 1000 use Adobe Analytics for their web analytics, and 97 use it for site design and development. Top 1000 online retailers also use it for content delivery and management, as an ecommerce platform, a marketing platform, for personalization and more. The Top 1000 is Digital Commerce 360’s database of North America’s largest online retailers based on web sales.

Why Prime Day could see ecommerce sales reach $14 billion

“Adobe expects day 1 of the Prime Day event (July 16) to drive $7.1 billion online, up an impressive 11.3 percent year-over-year (YoY),” Vivek Pandya, the director at Adobe Digital Insights, wrote in a July 15 blog post. “Day 2 (July 17) is expected to drive $6.9 billion online, up 9.2 percent YoY.”

In addition, Pandya said Adobe anticipates July 16 will “be the biggest mobile shopping day of the year so far, driving $3.4 billion in online spend, and representing a 48.4 percent share compared to desktop shopping.”

Why the dramatic increase from 2023? Among the factors cited are deeper discounts ranging from 9% to 22% off listed prices, according to Pandya. He also credited back-to-school shopping, where Adobe already saw an 80% increase in spending during the first week of July. With Prime Day occurring closer to the beginning of the new school year after landing on July 11 and 12 in 2023, proximity could fuel more buying activity, Adobe predicts.

Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) promotions may fuel activity as well.

“Adobe expects a substantial uptick in BNPL usage during the Prime Day event, driving between $1.09 and $1.11 billion in online spend across both days, and representing 18.1 percent and 19.6 percent growth YoY, respectively,” Pandya wrote.

How important is Prime Day for Amazon?

Now in its 10th year, Amazon uses Prime Day to drive paid memberships to its Amazon Prime membership program, in addition to sales of its own products and those of third-party sellers. In 2024, the company announced that Prime members would have “exclusive access to millions” of deals. Some of those deals would be circulated through invitations that only Prime members can request. Examples include 40% discounts for Sony wireless headphones and as much as 30% off Peloton products.

Amazon web sales by year

Amazon is No. 1 in the Top 1000. It’s also No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces database, which ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces. Digital Commerce 360 projects Amazon’s total web sales in 2024 will reach $469.01 billion.

Alongside other promotions this year, Amazon is showcasing back-to-school and college shopping deals. The online retailer is offering young adults and college students special “Prime Student” accounts with six-month trials. Those offers will be accompanied by discounted Amazon Basics products for school-related needs.

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The story began on April 30, when Walmart announced it would close all 51 of its health centers in five states and its telehealth service. That announcement sparked interest from others, who are now picking up the pieces, while Walmart has instead expanded its reach in the pet health care space.

Walmart’s decision to sell its telehealth business

The first major sale will be Walmart’s telehealth business, MeMD. Health care technology company Fabric agreed to acquire MeMD for an undisclosed amount, the venture-backed startup announced on June 28. The deal is part of a year of upheaval in retail health care.

MeMD was established in 2010 and acquired by Walmart in 2021. The service offers virtual care, providing on-demand medical and behavioral health services to millions of members nationwide.

Fabric touted the acquisition of MeMD as complementary to the startup’s existing offerings.

“The MeMD team built a leading virtual care offering, and we are excited to welcome them to Fabric,” said Aniq Rahman, founder and CEO of Fabric. “This acquisition aligns with our strategic vision to transform health care delivery through innovative technology and exceptional patient care. The combination of our teams, technology, and clinicians strategically positions Fabric to expand across payers, employers, and provider organizations quickly.”

Walmart ecommerce sales by year

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. It is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of top such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV). Digital Commerce 360 projects total ecommerce sales for Walmart in 2024 will be $125.13 billion.

Other retailers facing problems in health care

Greg Zakowicz, an ecommerce expert at Omnisend, says acquiring Walmart’s telehealth business makes sense. Given that Walmart is shuttering its in-store health care clinics, this move is appropriate.

“Walmart will continue focusing on other forms of personal health care such as pharmacies and vision care, which will be good for the company and many of its customers,” Zakowicz said. But the retail aspect of dispensing health care wasn’t workable, he added.

Walgreens and CVS have also announced plans to shut thousands of in-store retail health clinics.

“The sad reality is that the financial structure of operating health care clinics makes it difficult to generate profits, hurting consumers,” Zakowicz stated. “When companies like Walmart, Walgreens and CVS have difficulty succeeding, it should be considered a red flag.”

Issues with telehealth

Zakowiscz added that when Walmart exited the retail clinic business, hanging on to telehealth made little sense.

“Without clinics, continuing to operate a telehealth practice makes little sense for Walmart, and selling it was the obvious choice,” Zakowiscz said.

However, Walmart’s loss is Fabric’s gain.

“For Fabric, it fits right into its wheelhouse,” Zakowiscz explained. “The acquisition bolsters its capabilities for its established business model and should give it more room to grow.”

According to press releases, Fabric will continue to service Walmart and Sam’s Club customers seamlessly.

Fabric’s current customers include Luminis Health, OSF HealthCare, Highmark Health and Intermountain Health.

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The changes were detailed by Etsy CEO Josh Silverman in company blog and video announcements. In the announcements, he laid out specific criteria that products will need to meet to be listed on Etsy’s marketplace.

Etsy total gross merchandise value (GMV) by year

Etsy is No. 20 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV). Digital Commerce 360 projects Etsy’s total total GMV in 2024 will reach $11.94 billion.

Global Online Marketplaces Database

Leading 100 global online marketplaces. Access up to 5 years of third-party (3P) and total GMV, company information, AOVs, conversion rates, # of sellers, and SKUs. Web sales range from $19.8 million to over $ 723.8 billion annually.

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New Etsy policies

“The common thread that weaves through all of the creative goods allowed on Etsy is human imagination and involvement,” Silverman stated in his message. “We are, and will remain, the marketplace for original items from real people. To reinforce what we stand for, so that everyone who comes to Etsy sees why we are different and what makes us so special, we’ve reorganized our policies into new Creativity Standards.”

Silverman framed the standards as “clarifying what is allowed on Etsy, not changing it.” Also, he said that Etsy is “not allowing new items that were prohibited before.” Specifically, the standards stipulate that anything sellers list on Etsy will need to be one of the following:

• Made by a seller
• Designed by a seller
• Sourced by a seller
• Handpicked by a seller

In addition, Etsy will add item details to its listing pages, including labels corresponding with those standards:

• Made by ShopName
• Designed by ShopName
• Sourced by ShopName
• Handpicked by ShopName

Why Etsy introduced its creative creative standards

Silverman underscored Etsy’s “mission to keep commerce human” in updating its policies.

“I have incredible conviction that these updates position Etsy to lean even more deeply into what sets us apart in today’s ecommerce landscape: original items from real people,” he said.

To explain the decision, Silverman compared sculptors’ chisels and painters’ paintbrushes to modern digital tools, including 3D-printing techniques and generative artificial intelligence, referring to “human imagination and involvement” as the “common thread that weaves through all of the creative goods allowed on Etsy.”

Ultimately, he assessed that tools do not define what Etsy sellers can list. Instead, he noted how Etsy will prioritize the role of each product’s human creator. In doing so, Etsy will emphasize the need to define human work from individual makers.

Moreover, the CEO characterized feedback from Etsy’s sellers who indicated that “search can feel like a ‘black box.'” As a result, Etsy moved to respond by adding the new listing details. He said the fields relate to “specific factors that signal a high-quality listing on Etsy,” which Etsy in turn expects to boost visibility and sales.

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Among those starting new roles at Target will be Christina Hennington, becoming chief strategy and growth officer; Rick Gomez, who will be chief commercial officer; and Lisa Roath, who will take over as chief merchandising officer of food, essentials and beauty. The moves will not all happen at the same time.

Target’s new leadership team changes

Lisa Roath, chief marketing officer at Target | Image credit: Target

“As we execute our 2024 plans and look to the future, we’re putting key leaders and capabilities in place to sustain profitable growth over the long term,” said Brian Cornell, chair and CEO at Target. “Today’s announcement builds on our January appointment of Michael Fiddelke to chief operating officer and will further accelerate progress on our growth initiatives.”

Cornell elaborated on the new assignments for all three members of its leadership team. At the same time Fiddelke was named chief operating officer in January, Target also moved Gomez from chief food and beverage officer to the role of chief food, essentials and beauty officer under Hennington.

“As Rick takes on full oversight of merchandising, Christina will be dedicated to keeping our strategy consumer-centric, differentiated and future-focused,” Cornell explained. “Lisa will be an important addition to Rick’s leadership team when she moves into her new role in 2025, bringing her prior experience and accomplishments leading our food and essentials businesses.”

Roath, who has been with Target since 2006, will vacate her position as Target’s chief marketing officer when she makes that transition.

“In the meantime, we’ll conduct a thorough search for a top brand marketer to succeed Lisa and build on our strong marketing foundation,” Cornell stated.

While Target’s search for a new chief marketing officer is underway, Roath will continue in her current capacity, reporting to Cara Sylvester, chief guest experience officer at Target. Target credited Roath with leading its “Target Lady” and “That Target Feeling” campaigns. The company also noted her work on the design and execution involved with its revamped merchandising organization and creation of Target’s price and promotions center of excellence.

Target’s ecommerce sales by year

Target is No. 5 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales, where it is categorized as a Mass Merchant. Digital Commerce 360 projects that Target’s total online sales for 2024 will be $19.46 billion.

Gomez’s new role as chief commercial officer

Rick Gomez, incoming chief commercial officer at Target | Image credit: Target

Gomez, who arrived at Target in 2013 and eventually became a member of its leadership team in 2017, will report directly to Cornell when he takes on his new responsibilities July 7. His portfolio will include merchandising at Target, encompassing the apparel and accessories, home, hardlines, food, essentials and beauty product categories, as well as owned brand sourcing and design and merchandising planning and capabilities, according to details released by the retailer.

Target lists Gomez’s contributions during his time there to date as aiding its 2017 strategy reset, in addition to the 2019 launch of Roundel, Target’s retail media network. Most recently, as chief food, essentials and beauty officer, his team worked with Good & Gather and Favorite Day, among other owned brands at Target.

As he moves under Cornell, Hennington’s appointment to chief strategy and growth officer will also become effective on July 7.

Target’s growth plan

Hennington’s new position puts her in a key place as Target looks look improve upon its performance so far in 2024. Target lists operational modernization, including the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), among her upcoming priorities. She will also report to Cornell.

In addition, Hennington will be tasked with developing strategic partnerships and building new ones.

Christina Hennington, incoming chief strategy and growth officer at Target | Image credit: Target

She has been with Target since 2003 and its leadership team since 2020. During her two decades there, she has worked on multicategory merchandising, where her work led to $30 billion in growth, according to Target. Other milestones for her have involved Target’s sale of its pharmacy business to CVS and partnering with Ulta Beauty.

Ulta is No. 39 in the Top 1000. It is also the fourth-largest online seller in the Health & Beauty category in the U.S., according to Digital Commerce 360, behind Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., iHerb Inc. and Amway.

Target’s first-quarter results in 2024 showed total sales at a two-year low for the period, revealing difficulties despite a year-over-year increase in digital sales for the first time in more than a year. The company recently announced price reductions at its stores and is currently preparing for its July Target Circle Week sales event, which is scheduled to overlap with Walmart’s own Walmart Deals event and conclude ahead of Amazon’s Prime Day dates for 2024.

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Now, he plans to bring his skill set and mission mindset to PayPal. His appointment is effective as of June 24.

Srini Venkatesan joins PayPal as chief technology officer

Srini Venkatesan, chief technology officer at PayPal | Image credit: PayPal

“I’ve spent my career innovating to create new and improved ways for customers to discover, shop, and buy the goods they want and need,” said Venkatesan upon joining PayPal. “I’m incredibly excited about joining PayPal and bringing together my experiences across tech and retail to personalize customers’ shopping experiences.”

PayPal provides payment processing services to 147 merchants in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. It also provides payment security services to 21 of the Top 1000.

PayPal experienced strong growth during the pandemic, but as the COVID crisis receded and people began to venture out, PayPal’s problems mounted, including recent rounds of layoffs.

The competitive landscape for PayPal

Experts say Venkatesan is entering a competitive space, but there is room for growth.

Sean Gelles, who is senior director of payments intelligence at consumer research firm J.D. Powers, said J.D. analyzes players in PayPal’s space by their performance in three areas:

• BNPL
• Digital Wallets
• P2P transfers

Each category is analyzed by qualities such as ease of transaction and customer complaint resolution.

“PayPal does not lead in any,” Gelles said. “It performs best in the BNPL [buy now, pay later] study, where it’s above average in overall satisfaction.”

Venkatesan taking on his new responsibilities at a time when PayPal is seeing success with buy now, pay later may not be a coincidence.

“This points to several opportunities for Venkatesan as he assumes his new role,” he explained.

Gelles says that this space is still maturing and rather competitive, but companies that focus on the services that consumers clearly value, like the ease of making and receiving payments or privacy and security, will likely have an edge.

“But customers can easily vote with their digital feet,” Gelles said.

Outlook for PayPal as Venkatesan arrives

Phillip Parker, founder of CardPaymentOptions.com, which covers the payment processing industry, said PayPal has challenges ahead.

“Venkatesan has a difficult task ahead of him,” Parker noted. “The payments industry has evolved since PayPal became a leader in the space.”

Mergers and acquisitions have been one way it has been able to claim market share.

“The company has attempted to stay relevant by acquiring up-and-coming challengers like Venmo,” Parker stated. “However, it still lags in the merchant card acceptance arena — where real money is generated.”

He adds, however, that if Venkatesan is to succeed, he will need to understand what drives businesses to their competitors and then adjust technology, design, pricing and value proposition to return business owners to PayPal.

Parker said that Venkatesan’s time at Walmart, as it transformed itself into a genuine rival of Amazon’s, will help him at PayPal.

“Having experience on the enterprise retail side of payment acceptance will give Venkatesan a unique perspective on changes that can be made at PayPal to gain traction in the retail space,” Parker said.

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Now, the retailer has shared the event’s dates. The Amazon Prime Day sales event will be July 16 through July 17, starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time, the retailer announced.

In 2023, Amazon customers saved nearly $24 billion via deals and coupons, according to Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime. He said Prime members accounted for the “vast majority of those savings.” More than $2.5 billion of those savings were during Prime Day 2023, Ghani said.

Amazon is No. 1 in the Top 1000. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Amazon is also No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces database, which ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces.

The most recent Amazon sales event

Most recently, the online retail giant held its inaugural Big Spring Sale from March 20 through 25, its first Prime Day-equivalent sales event of 2024.

The Amazon Big Spring Sale event was open to all customers, and Prime members received access to exclusive deals, Amazon said. Additionally, Amazon said it would release new deals each day of the event. In the U.S., shoppers found deals up to 50% off on beauty products as well as sports and outdoors equipment, according to Amazon. They also saw 40% off some home products, spring apparel and electronics.

“The Big Spring Sale was an opportunity for customers to save on seasonally relevant deals across a wide selection of products, including spring fashion, outdoor furniture, lawn and garden essentials, cleaning and organizing products, and more,” an Amazon spokesperson told Digital Commerce 360.

The Big Spring Sale’s best-selling items included:

• COSRX Snail Mucin
• PRETTYGARDEN Women’s Loose Solid Off Shoulder Romper
• Sunzel Flare Leggings
• YKYI Electric Spin Scrubber
• Bluetooth Headphones Wireless Earbuds
• Coleman Breeze Beach Chair

Amazon said that last year Prime members purchased more than 375 million items during the event, making it the biggest Prime Day ever. The mass merchant also said it had its fastest-ever global shipping speeds for Prime members in 2023, with more than 4 billion units arriving the same or next day for U.S. customers and more than 2 billion for those in Europe.

How many countries will Prime Day take place in?

Amazon Prime Day will take place in 24 countries, including:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Brazil 
• Canada
• Egypt
• France 
• Germany 
• India
• Italy 
• Japan 
• Luxembourg
• Mexico
• Netherlands 
• Poland
• Portugal
• Saudi Arabia
• Singapore
• Spain
• Sweden
• Turkey
• The United Arab Emirates
• The United States
• The United Kingdom

How much did Amazon make on Prime Day 2023?

Consumers worldwide spent nearly $13 billion with Amazon.com Inc. during the retail giant’s ninth-annual Prime Day, according to Digital Commerce 360 analysis.

Digital Commerce 360 estimates Amazon’s sales on Prime Day 2023 hit $12.90 billion globally during the manufactured retail holiday, which spanned July 11 and 12. That’s up 6.7% year over year from the same shopping spree in 2022, which ran July 12 and 13.

In 2023, Amazon held a second Prime Day sales event Oct. 10-11, 2023. That fall event was called Prime Big Deal Days, and it was announced in a LinkedIn post from Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Stores. Amazon sellers previously told Digital Commerce 360 they’d been given an Aug. 11 deadline to submit deals for the event.

Shoppers largely avoided big-ticket items in favor of smaller purchases. 58% of purchases in a period of the sale monitored by research firm Numerator cost less than $20, indicating consumer preference for inexpensive products.

The summer Prime Day sales event in 2023 grew less than in the previous year, up 6.7% to $12.9 billion, according to Digital Commerce 360 Research.

When is Prime Day 2024?

The next major Amazon sale will be held in July 2024. Amazon held its last major sale in March.

Amazon Prime Day 2023 was held Tuesday, July 11, and Wednesday, July 12. We’ll update this page regularly to reflect new information. 

Dates for Amazon Prime Day in the past:

• Ninth: July 11-12, 2023
• Eighth: July 12-13, 2022
• Seventh: June 21-22, 2021
• Sixth: Oct 13-14, 2020
• Fifth: July 15-16, 2019
• Fourth: July 16-17, 2018
• Third: July 11-12, 2017
• Second: July 12, 2016
• First: July 15, 2015

How often is Amazon Prime Day?

Until 2022, Amazon Prime Day was once a year in the summer. In 2022, the retail giant added another Prime Day event in October. So how many times a year is Prime Day? The answer used to be once. Amazon has since established a two-year pattern of two separate sales events. This year, it also hosted the Amazon Big Spring Sale for the first time in 2024.

How do you sign up for a Prime membership?

You can join Prime or start a free trial at Amazon Prime Day. Amazon has recently faced a lawsuit from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission alleging the ecommerce giant duped consumers into signing up for its Prime membership service and deliberately made it hard to cancel. 

How to prepare to find deals on Prime Day 

The value of Prime Day to retailers both small and large is undisputed, as millions of shoppers visit the site in search of once-a-year deals.

• Sign up for the Prime Insider newsletter to hear about Amazon Prime member benefits and find updates on deals and events.
• Create deal alerts for recommendations. As an Amazon Prime Member, you can subscribe to receive deal alert notifications related to recent Amazon searches and recently viewed items. All you have to do is visit the Prime Day event page on the Amazon app before Prime Day to create deal alerts. Once Prime Day arrives, members will receive push notifications on any available deals.
• Get deal notifications from Alexa. Alexa can make sure you don’t miss any Amazon deals. Members can add products to their Wish List, Cart, or Save for Later, and then ask Alexa to notify them about the deal.
• Set a reminder so you don’t miss the multi-day event.
• Check back here to see the latest updates.

What are the Big Spring Sale and Big Deal Days, and how are they different from Prime Days?

Amazon called this year’s inaugural March promotional period its Big Spring Sale. In October 2023, it created a new fall sale event called Big Deal Days. Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is not exclusive to Prime members. The online retailer also held a fall sale in 2022 for the first time, called the Early Access Sale.

Prime Day is now Amazon’s biggest sale of the year. It is usually held during the summer months. In 2023, it was July 12 and July 13. Historically, the annual two-day deals event is for Prime members only. 

Prime Day, which features deals on many products on Amazon.com, began in 2015 as a celebration of Amazon’s 20th year in business. It turned into a summer sales holiday designed to drum up additional business for Amazon — and the retailer’s marketplace sellers — before the holiday shopping season. In recent years, other large retailers have offered promotions on their own websites around Prime Day to take advantage of the additional online shoppers.

Abbas Haleem, Brian Warmoth, Mary Meisenzahl, James Risley and Paul Conley contributed to this report.

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Hasting’s promotion to the role will happen as part of a succession plan that was already in place at Blain’s. The moves pave the way for CEO Jane Blain Gilbertson to continue on as the board’s executive chair.

Blain Supply, Inc., which operates Blain’s Farm & Fleet stores, is No. 164 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. Digital Commerce 360 classifies it as a Mass Merchant.

CEO change at Blain’s Farm & Fleet

Jane Blain Gilbertson (center), Blain’s Farm & Fleet CEO, retiring to become executive board chair | Photo credit: Blain’s Farm & Fleet

“The most important thing a leader must do is to plan for the organization’s next great leader,” said Jane Blain Gilbertson in a released statement. “This succession plan was put into place four years ago when we hired Mark to join our company as our Chief of Stores.”

Blain Gilbertson is the daughter of the company’s co-founder, Bert Blain, who started Blain’s Farm & Fleet with his brother, Claude Blain, in 1955. Blain’s has remained family-owned since then. Blain Gilbertson has been with the company since 1985, when she arrived following time at Macy’s. She eventually bought out her brother’s share of the business upon his retirement in 2014, at which point she became its sole owner.

Among the milestones the company lists under Blain Gilbertson’s leadership are growth of its ecommerce business and 10 new store openings, which brought its total presence to 45 stores. Also during that time, employee headcount grew from 3,500 to 5,500.

She voiced confidence in Hasting as the transition takes place.

“From the beginning, the entire company and our vendor partners could see Mark’s character, values, intelligence and love for this business,” Blain Gilbertson stated. “He learned our business quickly through his humility and curiosity, and I was especially pleased to observe his strength for developing others!”

Mark Hasting’s background before becoming CEO

Incoming Blain’s Farm & Fleet CEO Mark Hasting | Photo credit: Blain’s Farm & Fleet

“I am humbled and excited to take on this new role,” Hasting said. “It is my desire to continue the family culture to support the growth of Blain’s Farm & Fleet and our associates.”

Hasting came to Blain’s Farm & Fleet in 2020 after having spent more than two decades in a variety of retail roles. Those positions eventually included group vice president and vice president of store operations at Target. His other positions included regional vice president at Starbucks and chief operating officer at Kum & Go.

“With Mark in the CEO role, I am confident we will continue to grow and thrive as a family-owned company delivering on our promise of making Blain’s a place where life is more rewarding,” Blain Gilbertson stated. “Next year, we will celebrate our 70th anniversary, and I know that we are just getting started.”

Hasting picked Treece, who has been working at Blain’s as senior vice president of stores, to take over as the new chief stores officer as the transition occurs.

“I chose Kim to fill my previous role due to her enthusiasm and positive influence on store associates,” Hasting said. “Kim has a strong background in retail with 33 years in store and merchandising roles at Walgreens, but it is her compassionate leadership that makes her really shine.”

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Starting in June, customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex will begin to be notified of the new ordering capability, according to a release from Walmart. Customers will receive notifications through the Walmart app if they are eligible based on their address. The app integration will be done in phases as more drone delivery sites ramp up and drone providers receive additional regulatory approvals to fly more goods across greater distances.

Walmart has been engaged in an increasingly competitive technology arms race with rival Amazon, as well as others, such as Target and Costco in the Mass Merchant category of the Top 1000. This year, Amazon is expanding drone service in Arizona after wrapping experiments with it in California.

Walmart ranks No. 2 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000. The Top 1000 is a database ranking North America’s leading retailers by online sales.

Walmart’s drone delivery expansion

A spokesperson for Walmart told Digital Commerce 360 that the drones are exciting for everyone, including the customers.

“ Our drone pilot programs have been exciting for both Walmart and our customers,” the spokesperson said. “ The communities have been very receptive to adopting drone deliveries, and we’re confident that enthusiasm will continue as we expand.”

The spokesperson told Digital Commerce 360 that there are now thousands of items that qualify for drone delivery.

“ There are thousands of items that qualify for delivery including last-minute meal solutions, groceries, household supplies, general merchandise like video games and OTC medicines,” the spokesperson said.

Delivering late-night munchies by drone is part of a larger strategy that Walmart is executing, according to industry insiders. Walmart is trying to get ahead of competitors even if it means tinkering as the program unfolds.

Drone delivery’s significance for Walmart

“Their strategy is to build a ‘Unified Commerce’ ecosystem that integrates online, offline, technology, supply chain, and media for 360 consumer engagement and experience,” said Michael Zacour, founder and chief strategist at 5 New Digital.

This phase of the program is all about working out the kinks, according to Zacour.

“The drone program is still in the experimental, test-and-learn phase,” Zacour explained. “Whether Walmart customers or other consumers in general will embrace the service at scale remains to be seen. The key is that Walmart is not waiting to see what happens with other retailers and brands and then play catch-up.”

The drone-via-app experiment is in line with other aggressive moves into digital that Walmart has been rolling out, including AI-assisted shopping in the app which is intended to provide the customer with a more seamless shopping experience.

“The drone experiment is part of the bigger move into digital commerce (end-to-end use of digital technologies across the enterprise). We can see this in the company’s other recent tech deployments,” Zacour says.

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Walmart launched InHome in 2019, piloting the program in Pittsburgh and Vero Beach, Florida, before expanding to other markets. The program uses specially trained delivery personnel who use one-time access codes via smart locks and record the entire delivery via a body camera.

Why Walmart is expanding InHome delivery

Walmart is touting the expansion as a boon for customer convenience.

“We understand that customers are busy and want to make sure that they can have a seamless shopping experience that fits their needs,” Haley McShane, general manager of InHome, Walmart U.S., said in a released statement.

Industry analysts have mixed views about the service. However, optimists view in-home delivery as an untapped market with considerable room to grow.

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. It is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of top such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

Using InHome to drive customer loyalty

Carson Krieg is the Director of Global Alliances and Last Mile expert at the supply chain platform Project44. He says the slice of the retail audience that InHome appeals to is a niche one but is highly loyal. As such, it is something retailers prize.

“InHome offering doesn’t appeal to everyone,” Krieg said. “While the audience likely to leverage the delivery service is niche, it is a high-value and loyal one.”

He added that InHome could also appeal to elderly people or those with health conditions who can’t lug in and put away groceries.

“This is a smart way to create a new subset of loyal customers,” he explained. “Other retailers will likely try to emulate the brand and incorporate similar services, especially as Walmart continues to dominate the grocery segment.”

Innovation and competition

Jeremy Bartlow, a consumer expert at London-based PA Consulting, says that while InHome may be expanding to 10 million new customers, he expects the service to initially appeal to only a small subset.

“Actual usage will likely be much lower shortly, similar to its drone-delivery pilot program,” Bartlow says, adding that a change in consumer behavior and trust is needed for it to catch on.

“These are large barriers, but given the trend towards ultimate convenience for consumers, this may be a solid long-term play,” Bartlow says.

Competitors will also be hard-pressed to replicate the service, giving Walmart an advantage, at least for now.

“While competitors may attempt to replicate this strategy, only a few — perhaps two or three — could realistically compete with Walmart nationally,” Bartlow says.

The InHome concept was developed in Walmart’s now-shuttered Store No. 8 incubator. Store No. 8 was launched as an idea incubator to test new concepts. It was also meant to help keep pace with rivals, especially Amazon. The name was a reference to the early Walmart location where co-founder Sam Walton tried out new concepts.

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