How Amazon Prime Day affects shopping habits

Just over a third of U.S. online shoppers (36.87%) made purchases on Amazon during the retailer’s 2024 Prime Day sale, according to Digital Commerce 360 data.

Meanwhile, only 15.05% of shoppers surveyed made half or more of their Prime Day purchases from online retail sites other than Amazon. The survey results showed not only how effective Prime Day has become at attracting online shoppers, but also how many of those shoppers remain unengaged. Still, their responses demonstrated Amazon’s ability to stand out on Prime Day among its Mass Merchant competitors.

Amazon held its 2024 summer Prime Day event on July 16 and 17. That marked the first time that a summer Prime Day was bookended by other Amazon sales events. It fell between the retailer’s inaugural Big Spring Sale (March 20-25) and Big Deal Days (Oct. 8 and 9) — the spring and autumn iterations of Prime Day, respectively.

Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights surveyed 990 online shoppers in the U.S. to learn about how Amazon Prime Day affected their shopping habits and purchasing decisions.

Shopping behavior during Amazon Prime Day event

Just 2.42% of respondents said they became Amazon Prime members during or shortly before the sale to take advantage of Prime Day. Meanwhile, the majority (61.21%) of respondents were already members prior to Prime Day. And more than a third (36.36%) of shoppers are not Amazon Prime members.

Also prior to Prime Day, most shoppers expressed at least some interest in the shopping event. Nevertheless, around a quarter (22.73%) were not interested in the shopping event and weren’t planning on making any purchases. Moreover, some of them considered it “just another online holiday.”

By the time the summer event had finished, most consumers (63.13%) had not made any purchases on Amazon.

Less than a quarter of respondents (23.33%) said they bought at least one item for themselves on Prime Day, either on Amazon or from another retailer. 12.73% searched for particular brands to see if they offered deals for Prime Day. Less than 10% of respondents:

• Made an impulse purchase (9.39%)
• Purchased one item on sale as well as another that is not on sale (9.19%)
• Bought gifts for the upcoming holidays (9.09%)
• Made a purchase during Prime Day, but none of the products in the order were Prime Day deals (6.06%)
• Tried a new brand because of a Prime Day deal (5.86%)
• Began by looking for deals on Amazon but ultimately purchased from other retailers (4.65%)

Amazon Prime Day spending

The vast majority of respondents (81.1%) capped their spending at $250 during the Prime Day sales event. More than half of that cohort (44.66%) kept their budget even smaller, spending no more than $100.

Meanwhile, 14.52% spent up to $500, and just 1.1% spent more than $1000.

And those Prime Day spenders were most likely to purchase apparel and accessories (38.63%). The second most likely category was health and beauty (32.6%). Slightly more than a quarter (26.58%) spent on housewares and home furnishings.

Those spenders were also least likely to spend on jewelry (4.93%) during the event, as well as flowers and gifts (5.21%) and automotive parts and accessories (7.67%).

All in all, close to half of respondents (45.48%) said they spent about the same on Prime Day purchases on Amazon in 2024 as they did in 2023. More than a third (38.08%) said they spent more this year, with the remainder (16.44%) saying they spent less on Amazon during the 2024 Prime Day event.

Where else did consumers shop online during Amazon Prime Day?

Although most respondents didn’t shop with retailers other than Amazon during the Prime Day event (65.05%), those who did were most likely to spend on Walmart (20.61%). After that, the most likely online shopping destinations were:

• Target (8.79%)
• The Home Depot (5.76%)
• Kohl’s (5.25%)

No more than 5% of respondents spent at any other retailers’ websites, Digital Commerce 360 data showed.

Meanwhile, just 11.31% of respondents made all of their Prime Day purchases outside of Amazon.com. Just 3.74% of them made half or up to 75% of their purchases on sites other than Amazon’s.

Effect of Prime Day on holiday shopping

Based on their Prime Day 2024 shopping, about two-thirds of respondents (66.26%) expect to spend the same as last year during the upcoming holiday season.

Among the remainder, about a quarter (26.77%) said they’ll purchase less during the 2024 holiday shopping season because of their Prime Day spending. Just 6.97% said they’d spend more during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

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