Did Amazon or a rival, say Target, gain the most from Prime Day? – RetailWire - RetailWire

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Jun 30, 2021

Amazon.com has already declared victory, claiming record-breaking sales for marketplace sellers during its Prime Day event last week. Was it, however, the biggest gainer among the major retailers that ran sales last week?

Amazon has not released total numbers for Prime Day, but an Adobe Digital Index estimate provided to media outlets has it gaining 6.1 percent over 2020. Salesforce, on the other hand, had Amazon’s overall sales in the U.S. down one percent from last year.

Third-party sellers were the big Prime Day winners for Amazon, a point of emphasis for the retailing and technology giant in the lead up to this year’s event. The company ran a “spend $10, get $10” promotion to be used on Prime Day for the 10 days leading up to it. This, according to Amazon, produced record sales for third-party sellers over the lead-up period as well as the two days of the main event.

Thrasio, which bills itself as the largest acquirer of Amazon marketplace sellers across the globe, said its businesses — Wise Owl Outfitters, Drive Auto, E Tronic Edge and Harperton — achieved a 60 percent sales increase compared to Prime Day 2020.

Amazon may have been the main choice for many shoppers during the Prime Day period, but it was not their only option. Fifty-five percent of Prime Day shoppers only considered buying from Amazon, according to Numerator, but that left opportunities for others. Twenty-six percent comparison-shopped Walmart and 21 percent did the same online at Target.

Most of the numbers around Prime Day and its rival promotions center online, but that only tells part of the story for retailers that have much larger store footprints than Amazon.

Placer.ai reports that store visits to Target and Walmart were up compared to their overlapping promotions during Prime Day 2020. Target’s visits were up 32.3 percent over last year and 12.1 percent over 2019. Walmart saw store visits increase 21.7 percent year-over-year. They were essentially flat compared to 2019.

Target, in an email to Retailwire, said that it “set new sales and fulfillment records” during its 2020 Deal Days, and that this year’s promotion, which ran three days, resulted in “continued growth” as it found more of its customers taking advantage of its same-day Drive Up and in-store pickup options.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Are the 2021 Prime Day results a signal that Amazon’s history of rapid year-over-year growth is slowing down if not coming to an end? Do you expect rivals — Walmart, Target, Best Buy, et al — to begin cutting into Amazon’s market share or does Amazon have an answer to prevent that from happening?

Braintrust

"Amazon can only maintain first mover advantage for so long."