On today’s Business Beat, Jeff discusses the results of Amazon Prime Day, which saw $11.19 billion in overall sales, according to Digital Commerce 360.
Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to learn more Amazon Prime Day results and what these sales mean for small businesses moving forward:
“Given that small businesses seem to have met with strong sales success on this year’s Amazon Prime Day… we’re applauding Amazon for helping our small businesses succeed. “
– Jeff Sloan
Tune in to News/Talk 760 AM WJR weekday mornings at 7:11 a.m. for the WJR Business Beat. Listeners outside of the Detroit area can listen live HERE.
Are you an entrepreneur with a great story to share? If so, contact us at [email protected] and we’ll feature you on an upcoming segment of the WJR Business Beat!
Good morning, Paul!
Amazon Prime Day, the sales event conducted by Amazon annually, is now in the history books, but how it performed is a bellwether that all retailers utilize in better understanding how retail is performing currently. Overall, Prime members purchased more than 250 million items worldwide during the 2021 event, resulting in over $11 billion in total sales, Amazon says. So, what did Amazon Prime Day tell us this year?
Well, here’s some highlights. Digital Commerce 360 reports that Amazon sales on Prime Day did indeed hit $11.19 billion globally over the two-day period, up 7.6% during 2020. However, even though sales were up, Amazon.com shoppers in the U.S. spent less per order during the Prime Day sale this year than in the previous two years, according to industry tracker Numerator.
The average Amazon order was $47 and change this year, down from $54 and change last year, down from $59 per shopper in 2019. These results reflect a shift in consumer purchases during the sale from big-ticket electronics, which is what the big category was last year, but slipped to fourth-most popular this year behind household essential categories like gardening supplies and apparel.
A particular relevance to our small business community? Sales driven from the Amazon marketplace grew faster this year than did sales made directly by Amazon of Amazon-branded products. Sales of marketplace products grew 12%, resulting in the two biggest days ever for small- and medium-sized businesses on the Amazon platform.
Now, as we all know, Amazon is simultaneously applauded and vilified when it comes to their impact on small businesses. There’s no doubt that Amazon is the 800-pound gorilla these days and likely for years to come, given that they’re projected to be the biggest retailer in the world, surpassing Walmart, in the next year or two.
Given that small businesses seem to have met with strong sales success on this year’s Amazon Prime Day, for today anyway, we’re applauding Amazon for helping our small businesses succeed.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
