Prime Day Delivers Four Facts About Customer Behavior

Now that the much delayed and highly anticipated Prime Day has come and gone, it has left us with some interesting takeaways.

Thanks to Digital Commerce 360 – a research organization that carries out ecommerce research – who carried out a recent survey of just over half a thousand consumers who either participated in Prime Day or did not, we are able to pinpoint four key facts about this year’s holiday season opener.

Let’s take a look at them.

4. More calculated consumers

Prime Day shoppers on average purchased 2-3 items during Amazon’s sales event. One-in-four bought 3 items, the highest response from consumers. Just under 20% of consumers bought one item, while just 13% bought 5 items or more.

When compared with last year – using another survey of Digital Commerce 360 from 2019 – shoppers actually bought more items. Last year, the average purchase during Prime Day was between 1-2 items – 31% of consumers bought 1 item while 27% bought 2.

Because this year our shopping experiences throughout the year have been largely confined to the digital sphere, it would make sense that, for purchases that we would have made in stores, we have waited to buy them online at a time when prices seem to drop from the skies from seemingly everywhere – not only on Amazon but also Walmart, Target, Best Buy, etc.

3. Smaller Budgets

Despite our penchant for buying more items online during this year’s Prime Day, our budget size has been rather slim. With 42% of consumers spending $100 or less, we have decided to be conscious of how much we’re spending.

Only 2% of respondents spent more than $1,000 on goods during Prime Day, while when grouped together, three out of 4 digital shoppers spent $250 or less.

Since the pandemic, yes we’ve been shopping much more online, but we’ve also been careful about buying. Luxury retail has taken a big hit during the pandemic, as our spending habits shifted towards the more basic necessities, before widening to home exercise products and gardening products.

Yet we are still living with the pandemic, and under various levels of lockdowns and restrictions across the country, and so our shopping habits are still influenced by the ongoing circumstances.

2. Bigger gift-givers

It seems as though this year’s Prime Day was the most generous in terms of how much we spend on others. Of all those who spend during the weekend, 62% of buyers actually bought a gift. 

In fact, one in three of us spent at least 25% of our Prime Day budget on gifts. Whether it’s because the pandemic has brought out our altruistic side, or just a deeper sense of the importance of family and friendship, we have actively decided to spend our money on those close to us – perhaps not physically but at heart.

1. Ripple out effect

As Prime Day over the years has brought in more and more sales, the wider online retail community has started to get in on the party.

Beyond Amazon, many other consumers looked elsewhere for bargains, as other retailers put on their own sales events. When asked, 18% of consumers also bought items from Walmart, and 15% from Target.

Consumer electronics was a strong performer, as Apple and Best Buy also made the top 5 places for Prime Day sales, both of which 13% of consumers bought from.

The next few months

Because Prime Day was suspended until later in the year, it bumped up next to the holiday season, essentially triggering an earlier beginning of the holiday season. So it wouldn’t be surprising to think that many of us don’t feel rushed into making purchases.

Rather than getting our bargains in July – because of the long stretch from Prime Day to the holiday season – this year is different (for a billion reasons) because that gap is no longer visible, and we know that we don’t need to get all of our low-cost products in a two-day period.

Which feeds into the survey, where 29% of consumers claimed to have made fewer purchases due to expecting to discover even better deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Whether your online shop is hosted on a simple WordPress site, a cheap and decent Shopify site, or powered by the rich and robust Salesforce Commerce Cloud, you better be prepared for an outstretched online sales period. 

PS: ArganoUV is one of the world’s leading Salesforce Commerce Cloud specialists. Contact us to see how we can work together.