Amazon Prime Day 2023 sets records with nearly $13 billion in sales

Preliminary numbers suggest Amazon had a highly successful Prime Day sales extravaganza this year.

According to Adobe Analytics figures covering over one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories, consumers spent $6.3 billion on July 12 (the second day of the Prime Day event), up 6.4% year-over-year (YoY), and $6.4 billion on the first day, up 5.96% YoY. Across both days, $12.7 billon was spent online in the U.S., representing 6.1% growth YoY, and setting a new record for Prime Day. 

Other Prime Day insights from Adobe Analytics data include:

• Across both days, of Prime Day, 6.5% of orders leveraged buy now pay later (BNPL), driving $927 million in revenue, up 20% YoY. Adobe Analytics data indicates BNPL usage is driven by categories including apparel, furniture/home, and electronics. 
• On July 12 (day two), online sales were driven by categories including appliances (up 52% compared to average daily sales in June 2023), as well as housekeeping supplies (up 27%) and electronics (up 15%). Other surging categories included apparel (up 24%) and stationery/office supplies (up 76%), driven in part by back-to-school shoppers. 
• Curbside pickup was used in 20% of online orders on July 12 (for retailers offering the service). This is up slightly YoY, as in 2022 curbside pickup accounted for 19% of Prime Day orders.  
• Smartphones drove 44.8% of online sales on July 12, up from 41.5% during the second day of Prime Day 2022.

Numerator: Prime Day order size, household spend rise

Prime Day analysis from Numerator also reveals healthy YoY improvement in key sales metrics. According to data from the Numerator Amazon Prime Day Tracker, the average order size for Prime Day 2023 was $54.05, up 3% from $52.26 during Prime Day 2022.

Numerator data also shows that almost two-thirds (65%) of households shopping Prime Day placed two or more separate orders, bringing the average household spend to roughly $155.67, up 7.6% YoY from $144.56. Average price per item was $32.35, down 3.8% YoY from $33.58, suggesting inflation was not a primary driver of increased order sizes and household spending.

The top items purchased during Prime Day 2023 were Temptations cat treats, Fire TV Sticks and Liquid I.V. packets. The most popular product categories were home goods (28%), household electronics (26%) and apparel and shoes (24%).

More than half (52%) of surveyed Prime Day shoppers said they purchased items they had been holding off on buying until they were on sale. Numerator also examined demographic characteristics of the typical Prime Day shopper:

• The typical observed Amazon Prime Day shopper is a high-income suburban female age 35-44. Eight in 10 (78%) are female.
• 97% knew it was Prime Day before shopping.
• 88% are members of Amazon Prime.
• 84% have been Prime members for one year or more.
• 80% have shopped Prime Day in the past.
• 55% said Prime Day was their main reason for shopping.

Amazon has biggest single sales day ever

Typically, Amazon does not release Prime Day-specific sales figures. However, the e-tail giant said the first day of Prime Day, July 11, 2023, was the single largest sales day in company history.

According to Amazon, over the course of the two-day shopping event, Prime members purchased more than 375 million items worldwide and saved more than $2.5 billion on millions of deals across the Amazon store.

In addition, Amazon data indicates that independent sellers in its store, most of which are small and medium-sized businesses, outpaced sales by Amazon's retail business during the event. Small businesses Caraway, True Classic, and TUSHY increased their average daily sales in Amazon’s store by over 18 times during the first day of Prime Day when compared to 2023 leading up to Prime Day. 

[Read more: Amazon explains key role third-party sellers play on its platform]

“The first day of Prime Day was the largest sales day in Amazon’s history, and Prime members saved more this year than any other Prime Day event,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon Stores. “Prime is an incredible value, and we’re proud to offer additional value for members through exclusive deals events like Prime Day. Thank you to our Prime members for continuing to shop in our store, and to our employees and independent sellers around the world who delivered for customers this Prime Day.”