Ongoing research from Digital Commerce 360 supplemented by additional industry research shows that all the multiple channels buyers use to purchase goods and services from sellers now either begin and end entirely online or include at least one digital touchpoint.

B2B Omnichannel Report highlights digital touchpoints

B2B buyers want an easy and helpful purchasing experience. And they want one that’s consistent across all the channels they want to use.

B2B distributor Groupe Touchette shows how a successful omnichannel selling strategy boosts customer loyalty and market share while cutting costs.

Today, B2B buyers use about a dozen digitally focused sales channels to engage with sellers. That’s up from 7.5 channels five years ago and just five channels eight years ago, McKinsey says.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, buyers did business through email, phone, trips to the store, branch, or distribution center, and online at a seller’s ecommerce site or login portal.

Now, buyers may use multiples channels to transact business with a B2B seller. And more of these transactions begin and end online.

Today, 53% of companies that took part in a 2023 B2B buyers survey from Digital Commerce 360 and Forrester Research make an online purchase daily or multiple times over a business day.

Getting a better online user experience from sellers that makes their jobs easier and more efficient to perform is a top-of-mind topic with buyers today. And so far, buyers are content with the digital customer experience sellers are dishing up.

Going forward, if other manufacturers and distributors want to replicate the same digitally driven omni-selling sales success as Groupe Touchette, they will need to better learn when, where, how, and why their customers do business with them across multiple channels.

This report provides data, analysis and case studies that will help manufacturers and distributors do just that.

More on the 2024 B2B Omnichannel Buyer and Seller Report is available now.

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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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In other words, if Amazon is holding a sales event, so are other online retailers. Furthermore, if Amazon is holding a sales event, consumers are shopping — whether on Amazon or elsewhere — to capitalize on promotions.

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. Digital Commerce 360 projects Amazon’s total web sales in 2024 will reach $469.01 billion.

As one of the largest online merchants on the planet, its decisions — such as when to hold promotions — affect the entire ecommerce industry.

How much did consumers spend on the first of Amazon’s Prime Days in 2024?

U.S. consumers spent $7.2 billion on July 16, the first of Amazon’s 48-hour Prime Day 2024 sales event, according to Adobe Analytics. But that’s not just sales on Amazon.com. 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.

That $7.2 billion represents 11.7% year-over-year growth and marks the single-largest ecommerce spending day of 2024 yet, according to Adobe data. It also substantiates the likening of Prime Day to “Black Friday in July,” as some retailers offered promotions using the marketing term that overlap with — or directly compete against — Amazon’s sales event.

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.

Trending spending habits

Moreover, the first 24 hours of Amazon’s Prime Day 2024 event also marked the biggest mobile shopping day of the year so far, Adobe said. The Amazon Prime Day effect contributed to $3.5 billion in mobile spending on July 16, which is 49.3% of sales, nearly equal to desktop shopping.

Specific categories drove the sales, Adobe data shows. Electronics sales as a whole increased 33% compared to average daily sales in June 2024, Adobe said. Across specific products, headphones and Bluetooth speakers saw the largest sales growth at 164%, followed by:

• Televisions (up 83%)
• Fitness trackers (81%)
• Tablets (71%)
• E-readers (65%)
• Computers (64%)

Consumers used curbside pickup for 18% of online orders from online retailers that offer the service. That represents a decrease from 20% for the same period last year, Adobe said.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) accounted for 7.5% of online orders in the first 24 hours of the Prime Day 2024 event. That represents $540 in revenue, which is a 17.1% year-over-year increase, according to Adobe.

“Steep discounting has been the story of e-commerce so far this year, as consumers look to get the most value out of their dollar,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “It is driving up demand for major categories like electronics and apparel, which have seen more modest growth in recent months, while also capturing back-to-school shoppers at just the right moment.”

What is the Amazon Prime Day effect?

Prime Day creates a small “halo effect” for North American retailers, as Salesforce puts it. Online sales growth in North America hit 3% year over year in the first 24 hours of Prime Day, according to the platform provider, based on the activity of 1.5 billion shoppers across Salesforce Commerce Cloud and other Salesforce products. Its results encompass retailers and brands outside of Amazon, it said. Web traffic to North American online retailers grew 4% 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.

In the U.S., specifically, online sales grew 3% year over year during the first day of the event. For Canada, that was 4% growth over the same period. Meanwhile, web traffic to online retailers grew 4% in the U.S. and 6% in Canada.

Globally, year-over-year sales during the first 24 hours of the Prime Day event were flat for retailers other than Amazon, Salesforce said. However, global web traffic to Salesforce-powered online retailers grew 2% year over year for the first 24 hours.

Salesforce also broke out which categories had the largest sales growth and discounts during the first 24 hours of the 2024 Prime Day event.

Top-performing verticals by sales growth

1. Health & Beauty (23% increase)
2. Active Footwear (10%)
3. General Handbags (12%)

Highest discounts globally by category

1. General Apparel  (average discount of 28%)
2. Beauty & Makeup (26%)
3. Home & Furniture (24%)

Global discounts grew 10% year over year during the first 24 hours of the Prime Day 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 Goods, which includes dining, furniture and art (23%)
3. Health & Beauty (20%)

Discounts from U.S. online retailers grew 13% 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 8% and 27%, respectively.

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How Dave Boone — who was named interim CEO in May to replace Harry Dochelli, who retired — intends to do that is by transforming a traditional distribution company into a more streamlined organization focused on digital commerce and transformation.

Essendant is a national wholesale distributor with consolidated annual net sales of more than $5 billion. The company’s new corporate emphasis is on a new program Essendant calls Connected Commerce.

Essendant emphasizes its Connected Commerce services

Connected Commerce brings together Essendant’s capabilities to serve B2B sellers more effectively. It also seeks to efficiently drive visibility through a comprehensive platform of digital services that include:

• A connection to most major marketplaces, B2B platforms, and web stores. It also connects to nine of the top 10 national retailers.
• Deep ecommerce service and channel expertise for more than 1,300 major brands and 560 suppliers. This comes through 20 online storefronts and marketplaces.
• Fulfillment expertise and fast delivery. This includes next-day delivery to 98% of the U.S. with a national network of more than 20 fulfillment centers.
• A big focus will be on serving companies across the spectrum in business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C).

“50% of the shipments we make from our distribution centers go direct to the end user and are an ecommerce shipment,” Boone tells Digital Commerce 360. “This (Connected Commerce) is building what this company has been doing for a long time. What we have realized in the past six months has been that we have a set of assets that, put together properly, are a very compelling proposition for brands.”

Essendant is based in Deerfield, Illinois. Today, it distributes 2,000 brands and 80,000 SKUs across all major channels.

Key features of Connected Commerce

Through its new Connected Commerce program, Essendant will offer customers and users a defined set of tools and digital features. These tools enable them to:

• See optimized product listings and content for each channel.
• Have real-time inventory access.
• Implement performance tracking and trended guidance.
• Conduct pricing analysis and view competitive insights.
• Digitally monitor the sales process across marketplaces and channels.
• Use compliance expertise to sell directly to major retailers.
• Use a flexible network of coast-to-coast fulfillment centers.

“We have the fulfillment network established and have the capacity to grow it in the marketplace,” Boone says. “The second thing I think we have that is underappreciated is that this business is connected to every significant platform and company in the U.S. — that’s a big opportunity.”

Going into the next two decades with an organization with an established infrastructure and strategy focused on connected commerce will help Essendant conduct business in new and better ways, he says.

Boone, Essendant to keynote at EnvisionB2B 2024

“As we look at the next 10-20 years for this company — the ongoing growth of ecommerce B2B and B2C — we just felt that if we put these assets together in a more in a more comprehensive solution that it would be powerful.”

Boone and Essendant will be talking more about Essendant’s ongoing digital transformation at EnvisionB2B 2024 on Sept. 12 in Chicago.

His afternoon keynote fireside chat — A Better Way To (E)Commerce Excellence — will focus on how brand office supplies and industrial products manufacturers and distributors collaborate for growth through digital channels.

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Now that the dust has settled, we can say that neither proved to be true.

As part of the recently released Top 1000/Top 500 Report from Digital Commerce 360, we examined the ecommerce growth from 2019 through 2023 for the 1,000 largest North America-based retailers and consumer brand manufacturers by global online sales. And there were quite a few surprises.

How did the pandemic affect sales growth for the Top 1000 online retailers?

It is true that the Top 1000’s online sales grew rapidly during the pandemic. In fact, their global ecommerce revenue exceeded $1 trillion in 2023 for the first time, growing 6.9% over 2022.

And for 2019-2023, online sales for the Top 1000 increased at a robust compound annual growth rate of 17.2%, nearly doubling during that period. But online retailing was growing at an even faster rate before COVID hit. The Top 1000 posted an 18.6% compound annual growth rate from 2016-2019, well above the pandemic-era CAGR.

How fast did Amazon grow during the pandemic?

And while Amazon (No. 1 in the Top 1000) did fine during the pandemic, posting a 17.8% CAGR during the five-year period, store-based retailers collectively did even better, growing at a 19.2% annual rate.

As a result, their share of Top 1000 sales increased to 34.0% in 2023 from 31.8%. Amazon’s share also grew, but more modestly, to 38.7% in 2023 from 38.0% in 2019.

Amazon accounted for 7.4% of global online retail sales in 2023. But that global number includes the $2.17 trillion in e-retail sales in China, where Amazon effectively no longer competes. Taking out China, Amazon accounts for 12.2% of online retail sales in the rest of the world. That more accurately reflects its dominance everywhere but China.

2024 Top 1000 Report

Analysis of North America’s leading 1,000 online retailers. Includes over 175 charts, rankings by annual web sales, benchmarking data, and growth analyses by category and merchant type.

View Details

Growth in online grocery sales

A big reason for the online growth of physical store retailers is the surge in online grocery shopping during the pandemic.

The Food/Beverage category posted the highest compound annual growth rate from 2019-2023 at 26.0%. That mainly benefited traditional supermarkets like Kroger (No. 6 in the Top 1000), which increased its online share of total sales to 10.5% in 2023 from 5.3% in 2019, and Walmart (No.2), which sells the most groceries of any U.S. retailer and increased its ecommerce penetration to 15.4% in 2023 from 7.6% in 2019.

Here are some of the other data highlights from the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000/Top 500 report:

• Conversion rate for Top 1000 retailers ticked down to just over 2.6% in 2023 from nearly 2.8% in 2022. But that still was ahead of the 2.2% rate in 2019.
• Shoppers 55 and older accounted for only 18.4% of visits to Top 1000 sites in 2023, down from 21.8% in 2022. That suggests that older consumers were especially likely to return to shopping in physical stores as the pandemic eased in 2023.
• Larger retail chains are more likely than smaller ones to offer a mobile app, and store operators with apps are more likely to offer omnichannel services: 33.0% of store-based retailers with a mobile app offered curbside pickup in 2023 versus 13.5% of those without an app, and 87.0% offered in-store pickup of online orders compared to 50.4% of those without an app.
• The Top 1000 accounted for 19.2% of global retail ecommerce sales in 2023, unchanged from a year earlier. Amazon alone accounted for 7.4% of global e-retail in 2023, up from 7.2% in 2022.

What else is in this year’s Top 1000 report?

The Top 1000/Top 500 Report includes all of the following:

• Top 1000 growth by merchant type and merchandise category, comparing 2023 to 2022 and analyzing the five-year period from 2019 to 2023.
• Website traffic trends, broken down by merchant type, merchandise category, gender and age.
• Average order value and conversion rate by merchant type and merchandise category.
• An analysis of winners and losers within the 2024 rankings of the Top 500, North America’s leading retailers by global online sales.
• Mobile traffic and sales for Top 1000 ecommerce sites.
• International shipping methods, payment types and shopping features offered by Top 1000 sites.
• Which online marketplaces Top 1000 retailers sell on, broken out by merchant type and merchandise category.
• An analysis of omnichannel retail services offered, including in-store pickup of online orders, curbside pickup and showing store inventory on retail chain websites.
• How digitally native brands are faring online.

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Old ways of how organizations conducted business by paper, phone, fax, e-mail and in-person are outdated and inefficient — and out of touch with today’s commerce reality.

What’s in — and rapidly transforming how organizations of all sizes interact and buy and sell from each other — is an increasing wave of digitally driven omnichannel business buyers who demand the speed, efficiency and convenience of ecommerce and related digital technologies to get the job done.

There is a sea change of digital transformation — and ecommerce — reshaping the business-to-business landscape. And that means sweeping changes in how manufacturers, distributors, retailers and others interact with the customers, suppliers, vendors and others.

EnvisionB2B 2024 in downtown Chicago

That’s where EnvisionB2B 2024 comes in. The third annual EnvisionB2B conference and exhibition from Digital Commerce 360 will take place on Sept. 12 at the Convene conference center in downtown Chicago.

Long known as the “must attend” event for organizations of all sizes looking to launch, scale and successfully grow their digital B2B business, EnvisionB2B and Digital Commerce 360 will once again bring together the industry’s best and brightest thought leaders and practitioners to educate attendees on how to master digital commerce and transformation.

Once again, the B2B editors at Digital Commerce 360 are reaching deep into their extensive list of industry contacts and have put together a detailed agenda and speaker roster that educates attendees on overcoming obstacles, solving problems and achieving long-term success in business, digital commerce and transformation.

This action-packed one-day event features four distinct keynote speakers who will address all aspects of winning the game of B2B digital commerce.

The keynote speakers

• Brad Budde, chief digital officer, PPG Industries, will discuss how this iconic name in U.S. manufacturing and global supplier of paints, coatings and specialty materials paints the big picture for digital commerce transformation.

• Emily Xu, the senior vice president of ecommerce for Republic National Distributing Co., the second-largest alcohol distributor in the U.S., will detail how attendees can create the digital experiences their users demand.

• David Boone, interim CEO of Essendant Inc., a multibillion-dollar national distribution and commerce company with over 20 years of ecommerce and marketplace experience, will discuss how organizations can achieve a better way to (e)commerce excellence.

• Victoria Gutierrez, senior vice president and chief merchandising of Sysco Corp., the largest food-service distribution company with $76.3 billion in annual revenue, informs attendees about becoming a change agent for enterprise digital commerce.

There are numerous B2B industry and internal events that cater to manufacturing, distribution and B2B-oriented retailing companies, many of which purport to tell attendees how to grow online. But only EnvisionB2B and Digital Commerce 360 have the contacts and deep industry understanding and knowledge of the key issues and growth drivers to deliver an EnvisionB2B agenda and speaker roster that educates business organizations of all sizes on achieving excellence in digital commerce and transformation.

Key takeaways from EnvisionB2B 2024

At EnvisionB2B attendees will learn:

• The most effective approaches companies take to succeed at overall digital transformation.
• The latest ecommerce technologies and helpful deployment strategies.
• How to excel at B2B omnichannel commerce.
• Strategies for avoiding mistakes in digital commerce makeovers.

More on EnvisionB2B and how to register is available here.

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And the dates fall just before Amazon’s 10th annual Prime Day sale. Meanwhile, Walmart announced a similar sale that overlaps with Target’s.

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. Digital Commerce 360 categorizes Target as a Mass Merchant.

When is Target Circle Week 2024?

Target Circle Week returns July 7 through 13, the retailer announced. It will feature savings on summer and back-to-school essentials, Target said, delivering more deals for members of its free loyalty program, Target Circle. The sales event will also include personalized Target Circle bonuses, the retailer said.

“Since Target Circle is free to join, Target Circle Week gives our guests more deals — at no cost — so you can stock up on everything from backyard cookout essentials to back-to-school supplies,” said Cara Sylvester, executive vice president and chief guest experience officer at Target, in a statement.

Target also added a new, paid tier to its loyalty program in April 2024, called Target Circle 360. During Target Circle Week, consumers can sign up for a Target Circle 360 subscription at a reduced cost ($49 for the first year, compared to the usual price of $99).

How much can you save on Target Circle Week deals?

Target Circle Week deals in July 2024 will include:

• Up to 50% off select toys
• Up to 40% off kitchen items
• Up to 30% off family apparel, bedding and bath
• 20% off some skin care and beauty products
• But one, get one 50% off for some food and beverage items
• Spend $50 on home care products and receive a $15 Target gift card
• Spend $40 on select products from Ulta Beauty at Target and receive a $10 Target gift card

Toys on discount will include LEGO, Monster Jam and LOL Surprise!, Target said. For kitchen and floor care, Target is discounting prices for products from Keurig, KitchenAid, Ninja, Dyson, Shark and Bissell.

Target will also bring back its “Deal of the Day” during Target Circle Week.

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The timing for Walmart Deals falls in line with two of the retailer’s main competitors, Amazon and Target. Amazon recently announced dates for its 10th Prime Day event, and Target announced the dates for its next Target Circle Week sale. Now, all three retailers will hold sales events this July. In each case, the new events will follow other recent seasonal promotions. Amazon, for instance, held its inaugural Big Spring Sale in March, and Target held a Target Circle Week event in April.

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).

When is the Walmart Deals sale?

Walmart announces that its Walmart Deals sales event begins Monday, July 8, and ends Thursday, July 11. Unlike Amazon’s upcoming Prime Day sale, which starts at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time, Walmart Deals will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern.

“All customers can shop ‘Walmart Deals’ on Walmart.com and the Walmart app,” Walmart said in a statement.

How is Walmart Deals different from Walmart+ Week?

Whereas Walmart+ Week runs for a week (as the name suggests), Walmart Deals will run for about three and a half days. Walmart+ Week 2024 ran from June 17 through June 23.

Walmart+ is a paid membership program the retailer offers. Members must have a Walmart.com account and the Walmart app “to access the money and time-saving features of the membership,” Walmart said. Members can choose to pay monthly (currently $12.95 per month) or annually (currently $98 a year).

Walmart+ benefits include:

• Free shipping with no order minimum.
• Free delivery from store.
• Savings on fuel.
• Mobile Scan & Go in store.
• Video streaming with Paramount+.
• Early access to promotions and events.

Because Walmart+ is a paid membership, members experience the biggest perks of Walmart+ Week. On the other hand, Walmart Deals is open to all consumers, the retailer said.

Whereas Walmart+ Week was a shopping event for the retailer’s paid loyalty program members, the retailer said Walmart Deals is open to all.

Walmart Deals in July

The retailer offered a sneak peek of some promotions it will offer in its Walmart Deals sale in July.

• TCL 65” Class Q Class 4K QLED HDR Smart TV with Google TV for $398.00 (was $498.00)
• HP Victus 15.6 inch R5 4050 8/512 for $599.00 (was $979.00)
• Dyson V12 Detect Slimm Cordless Vacuum for $449.99 (was $649.99)
• Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic 46mm Smart Watch with Bluetooth for $99.00 (was $179.99)
• Westin Adirondack Chair for $89.99 (was 119.99)
• TCL Air Purifier for $29.99 (was $69.99)
• KidsKraft Swing Set for $248.00 (was $399.00)
• Emeril Lagasse Power Grill 360 Plus, 6-in-1 Electric Indoor Grill and Air Fryer Toaster Oven with Smokeless Technology, XL Family-Size Capacity for $50.00 (was $169.00)
• Rayovac High Energy AA Batteries & AAA Batteries, 1.5 V, 72 Pack for $19.97 (was $39.94)
• Lifetime 50in Adjustable Hoop for $249.99 (was $329.99)
• Jurassic World T-Rex for $19.97 (was $48.99)
• Hoverstar Flash Wheel Hoverboard for $62.99 (was $89.99)
• Kids’ Dodge Charger Ride On for $164.99 (was $299.99)
• AovoPro Scooter for $219.99 (was $439.00)
• Ozark Trail 10-Person Cabin Tent for $99.00 (was $170.00)
• Keurig K-Slim + ICED Single Serve Coffee Maker for $49.00 (was $129.00)
• GE Profile Opal Nugget Ice Maker for $397.00 (was $579.00)
• Nintendo Switch Joy Con with Game for $69.00 (was $99.00)
• Lego Star Wars for $35.00 (was $49.99)
• Travelhouse 3 Piece Luggage for $85.00 (was $119.99)
• Shark IQ Mapping Robot Vacuum, 60 Day Capacity Base, RV2302AE for $288.00 (was $499.99)
• Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9000 Special Edition Adult Rechargeable Toothbrush for $149.96 (was $199.96)

Walmart Deals on back-to-school supplies

• Crayola Classic 10ct Fine Line Marker Bulk Supplies Set, 24 Packs for $35.00 (was $49.97)
• Reebok Backpack for $14.00 (was $20.00)
• Paw Patrol Backpack for $20.99 (was $34.99)
• The Children’s Place Girl’s Unform Short Sleeve Polo 2-Pack for $12.00 (was $25.95)
• Crayola Creative Fun Double Easel for $35.00 (was $54.00)
• PHANCIR Foldable Lap Desk for $17.99 (was $39.99)

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This year, Amazon will return with a Tuesday and Wednesday combo for its Prime Day event — July 16 and 17. And it is scheduled to start at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time.

Although Amazon has held other events, like its inaugural Big Spring Sale this year and a fall event last year (Prime Big Deal Days), its main sales event for the past nine years has been in the summer. The one exception? 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was rampant. And aside from that year, it’s been in July every year except for 2021, when it was in June.

All but one of Amazon’s main Prime Day sales events in the past nine years have included a Tuesday.

Amazon is No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking the largest North American online retailers. Additionally, Amazon is also No. 3 in the Global Online Marketplaces database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value.

What Prime Day deals and plans did Amazon announce?

Prime members will have “exclusive access to millions” of deals, Amazon said. That includes invite-only deals, which Prime members can request invitations for. Two such invite-only deals are for up to 40% off Sony wireless headphones and up to 30% off Peloton products, according to the retailer. And Amazon added that it will continue to drop new deals “as often as every five minutes during select periods throughout the event.”

Consumers who sign up for a free trial whose period falls during Prime Day will be able to participate in member-exclusive deals, Amazon said.

In addition to Sony and Peloton, Amazon is offering deals on brands including:

• Coach
• Dyson Beauty
• HP
• Jansport
• KitchenAid
• New Balance
• Play Doh
• Youth to the People

Amazon’s 10th Prime Day event will fall in the middle of July.

It’s also offering deals on brands new to its platform, including Clinique, Allbirds and Kiehl’s. Amazon’s 10th Prime Day event will offer same-day delivery to customers in more than 110 U.S. metro areas, it said.

The event will also feature back-to-school and college shopping deals, Amazon said. Young adults and college students can sign up for a “Prime Student” account with a six-month trial. Moreover, Amazon Basics will offer 40% off school supplies and dorm staples, the retailer announced. In tandem, Amazon Essentials will offer 405 off crew necks, hoodies and joggers.

Amazon also brought in musician Megan Thee Stallion to create a new original song, “It’s Prime Day.” The promotional song instructs consumers to sign up for an Amazon Prime membership to receive free shipping. Tying into the artist’s music video, Amazon created a page to shop for items relevant to the trends Megan Thee Stallion “is getting into.”

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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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The post Amazon announces dates for Prime Day 2024 event appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.