When is Amazon Prime Day not Prime Day, but actually is? When it’s rebranded as Prime Big Deal Days. The ecommerce giant has once again announced a second sales event in October, as it did in 2022, when it was called Prime Early Access Sale. Amazon said only that it will be running in 19 countries. Last year it performed poorly compared to the July event, according to Bank of America.
Prime Day 2023 was a winner, based on data from Adobe Analytics, with an estimated $12.7 billion spent over the two days in the U.S., up 6.7% from $11.9 billion last year, and Amazon called day one on July 11 its single largest sales day ever, with 375 million items sold worldwide. Considering the state of the economy and consumer sentiment, that kind of a result is quite an achievement.
The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against Amazon, alleging it duped millions of consumers into signing up for its Prime subscription program, then made it difficult for them to quit, an allegation the company vigorously denies. The FTC claims Amazon intentionally complicated the cancellation process, adding it “slowed or rejected changes that would’ve made it easier …”
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy kept a positive tone while running down ways that Amazon has had to scale back its business to accommodate shifting conditions in his second annual shareholder letter, including reducing and reconfiguring its fulfillment network and dealing with a slowdown in cloud computing. The company is also trying to figure out a physical grocery model that works, Jassy said.
Amazon reported a mix bag of results for its fourth quarter and year, with ad revenue up but ecommerce sales down, and even the vaunted Amazon Web Services, the company’s profit driver for years, fell short of expectations in what executives repeatedly called an “uncertain economy.”
Buy With Prime, the program that lets retailers not named Amazon offer shoppers the Prime experience and promise, is rolling out for all U.S. merchants as of Jan. 31, the company announced, ten months after a beta launch by invitation only for select users of Fulfillment By Amazon.
Amazon reported third quarter revenue under estimates and provided a lowered fourth quarter outlook on Thursday, causing yet more jitters on Wall Street and in the industry as retail swings into the home stretch of the peak holiday season, and sending shares down 20% after hours.
Amazon is relaunching its discounted version of the vaunted Prime subscription, aimed at providing lower-income consumers perks normally reserved for the full offering but at a lower monthly price, during a period of economic hardship for many as inflation continues unabated.
Digging out a few more shovelfuls to deepen the Prime moat, Amazon is now offering same-day delivery for subscribers in 10 metro areas, who can shop retailers including PacSun, GNC, SuperDry and Diesel and either have the order delivered or picked up in store.
Amazon once again claimed that the latest Prime Day event was the biggest ever, with 300 million items sold and importantly, more than $1.7 billion saved by shoppers, as some observers had said ahead of the fact that deals weren’t all that spectacular compared to everyday offerings.