• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 13, 2023

Temptations Cat Treats scored as the most-purchased item during Amazon Prime Day

American consumers spent $12.7 billion during Amazon’s two-day Prime Day shopping event, reports Adobe, up 6.1%. That’s a new record, based on the analytics company’s tracking of one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories.

Among the biggest winners? Buy Now Pay Later options, which accounted for 6.5% of orders. That translates to $927 million in revenue, a 20% gain from last year – indicating consumers are feeling short on cash.

“For months, consumers have felt the effects of persistent inflation and an uncertain economic environment, and it has pushed shoppers to embrace more flexible ways to manage their spending,” says Vivek Pandya, Adobe Digital Insights’ lead analyst, in the announcement. “The revenue growth attributed to Buy Now Pay Later is a preview of what we can expect in the months ahead, especially near the holiday shopping season.” 

Shoppers found the deepest discounts in electronics, which sold at as much as 14% off their listed prices, apparel and toys, with both categories at 12% off.

While consumers shopped in many categories, appliances emerged as the biggest gainers, up 52% compared to June’s average daily sales in June 2023). Purchases of housekeeping supplies gained 27%, while electronics rose 15%. And back-to-school shopping spurred a 24% increase in apparel sales and a 76% jump in stationery and office supplies.

Smartphones led to 44.8% of online sales on July 12, up from 41.5% last year.

Adobe’s analysis of the impact of marketing dollars found that spending on affiliates and partners, which includes influencer marketing, drove the biggest lift in revenue contribution, up 11%. Email also did well, contributing 6%, with social and display sparking gains of 4%.

Numerator also kept up with Prime Day, tracking 98,000 orders from 34,000 households. The average order rang in at $54.05, up from $52.26 last year. And 65% of families who shopped during the event placed more than two orders, pushing the average household to almost $156. More than half of the times purchased cost $20 or less, and 5% cost more than $100, for an average cost-per-item of $32.35.

Temptations Cat Treats led as the most-purchased item, followed by Amazon’s Fire TV sticks and Liquid IV Packets, an electrolyte drink mix.

Shoppers told Numerator they've been waiting, with 52% saying they’d been holding off on a purchase for a sale price.