• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 18, 2024

Amazon’s Prime Day kicked off another shopping frenzy for the record books, with Adobe Analytics reporting an 11% increase as online sales as the 48-hour stretch reached $14.2 billion. Adobe, which includes transactions from all retailers, says its analysis clocked one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites and sales of more than 100 million items. Consumers spent heavily on back-to-school products and replacing electronics and home furnishings.

“The electronics, apparel, and furniture categories make up nearly half of ecommerce spend but has seen low single-digit growth in the first half of 2024,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, in the analysis. “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.”

Amazon, too, is taking a victory lap, describing the results of its tenth Prime Day event as “record-breaking.” While the ecommerce behemoth is always coy about the financial specifics of the sales event, the announcement says Prime members purchased more items than during any previous Prime Day. And people bought over 200 million items from Amazon’s independent sellers, primarily small and medium-sized businesses.

The company also says an undisclosed but record-breaking number of new customers signed up for Prime three weeks before the event.

Adobe notes a significant shift across all retailers, including an 18.6% increase in mobile shopping, reaching $7 billion in the 48 hours. That’s roughly half the total. Buy Now Pay Later orders jumped 16.4%, accounting for 7.6% of online orders.

Social media played a more significant role than in the past, contributing to an 11.1% increase in revenue and right behind display advertising, which increased revenue by 12.5%.

Deals also drove traffic, with electronics discounts peaking at 23% off listed prices, compared with peak discounts of 14% last year. Retailers also slashed apparel prices, reduced by 20% compared to 12% in 2023, and appliances at 14% (vs. 7%).

And with Prime Day behind it, Amazon released its back-to-school ad campaign, starring comedian (and mom of two) Michelle Buteau, creator of Netflix's “Survival of the Thickest.” The campaign continues Amazon's theme for the past two years, encouraging parents to “spend less on their little freeloaders.”