Opinion | Amazon Prime Day Is Past Its Prime

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Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Day wasn’t such a dud after all.

Or at least that’s how it appears. The results of the Amazon super sale are infamously hard to parse. The company didn’t provide any figures, saying only that last Tuesday to Friday was “the biggest Prime Day event ever” and exceeded any four-day period that included the deal days. (Prime Day has historically lasted two days; this was the first time the mega-retailer extended it to four days.)

Adobe Inc., which tracks online spending across all US retailers — but doesn’t break the results down by individual company — reports that total sales from July 8-11 rose 30.3 percent to a record $24.1 billion, compared with July 16-19, 2024, the period that included last year’s two-day deal deluge.

That the discount extravaganza wasn’t the disaster some had feared is a relief. But there were signs that neither Amazon — nor observers of consumer spending — should take too much comfort.

One such signifier is what shoppers were putting in their carts. Many Americans used the markdowns not to treat themselves to nice-to-have items, but to replenish the things they needed. Among the most popular purchases were clothing, household essentials, pet products and groceries, according to data provider Numerator. Two-thirds of items sold on Prime Day were priced under $20, while only 3 percent were over $100.

To some extent this is deliberate. Amazon has been using Prime Day to expand everyday purchases. Once shoppers start buying essentials, they move on to other categories. But clicking on dish soap hardly screams consumer confidence. Rather, it underlines caution about the future direction of prices, given the potential impact of tariffs.

Some shoppers did splurge, according to Adobe, with online sales of appliances up 112 percent compared with average daily sales in June, electronics up 95 percent and spending on home furnishings and garden products 58 percent higher. Of course, a new laptop or patio set is a major outlay that likely won’t be repeated again any time soon. And money spent on big-ticket items means there may be less room in people’s budgets for other types of expenditure.

There’s a precedent for just this effect. In March, US retail sales soared as Americans bought cars, building materials and electronics ahead of tariff-drive price increases. These categories have since given up their gains.

And it’s not just splurges that can eat away at future spending. Take beauty, which Amazon has been prioritizing and where it has been successful in winning over premium brands, such as Estée Lauder Cos and Dyson Ltd. This was a popular category with Prime Day shoppers, according to Numerator. The problem: Consumers who fill their bathroom cabinets with marked-down moisturiser or pricey shampoo now won’t need to restock any time soon. (Same story with Back-to-School supplies, another common Prime Day buy.)

To better compete for consumers who are increasingly watching what they spend, Amazon needs to ensure that it continues to stand out in a sea of red mark-down tickets across the retail landscape.

Walmart Inc., Target Corp., TikTok Shop, Best Buy Co. and Kohl’s Corp. all ran competing sales this year — often beginning earlier and extending longer than Prime Day, according to e-commerce intelligence company Marketplace Pulse.

Amazon still offered the broadest selection of products and brands, EMarketer Analyst Sky Canaves told me. In fact, it has been making strides here recently, winning over names such as Away Luggage and tempting Nike Inc. back.

But other retailers have an advantage in that they do not restrict their savings to loyalty program members (although Walmart and Target do grant early access to deals to those with paid subscriptions). That makes their bargains more accessible — and could lead some shoppers to wonder if it’s really worth paying $139 a year for Amazon Prime.

To help hold on to members — and convince more to sign up — Amazon needs to bring back the wow factor that Prime Day once had. But how? Expanding to four days was clearly an attempt to recapture the narrative, even if it didn’t go far enough in shaking things up.

One option would be to focus more on experiences. The company is already getting more creative, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told me, pointing to the expansion of travel offers, as well as introducing fuel savings for Prime members though a partnership with BP Plc. But it could go further in these categories, or expand into new ones, such as moving deeper into dining (it already offered Prime members savings on delivery service Grubhub) or family days out.

Alternatively, it could take a page out of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.’s book, and use live events to promote Prime Membership. Amazon did host in-person elements to promote the annual sale in markets outside of the US, such as an immersive Prime Day experience in London, with a beauty spa, a gaming arcade, football with British player Jill Scott and performances from musician Sam Ryder.

But it could think bigger. How about Amazon Prime Day Live? It did something similar in 2019, with Amazon Music, featuring Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa. But it could amp up the idea for today’s audiences. Tickets to the live performance would be exclusively for Prime members, while the gig could be streamed exclusively on Prime TV, making it appealing to advertisers too, with linked merchandise only available to subscribers. This would not only add some much-needed razzamatazz, but make it impossible for rivals, without the Amazon ecosystem, to emulate.

To be fair, perhaps the most valuable experience from Amazon is still its fast shipping and convenient returns. But with Prime Day, the company has created what is effectively Christmas shopping in July. For its investors, and the broader consumer economy, it is important that the company find a way to avoid the January blues.

By Andrea Felsted

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