Adobe said consumers spent $7.2 billion on July 16 (Tues.), the first day of the Prime Day event. That’s nearly 12% higher than last year and the biggest ecommerce day (and mobile shopping day) so far in 2024.
Online sales were driven by categories including electronics (up 33% compared to average daily sales in June 2024), across products such as headphones and bluetooth speakers (up 164% ), televisions (up 83%), fitness trackers (up 81%), tablets (up 71%), e-readers (up 65%), and computers (up 64%).
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that merchants lost access to Amazon’s ad portal for a period of time during Prime Day, forcing them to fly blind with their ad spending during the key shopping event. It quoted a statement from Amazon which said the issue limited access to the Amazon Ads console for “a very small portion of advertisers” for a “brief amount of time” and said there was no impact to ad delivery and that “advertiser campaigns continue to run as they intended.”
Lead analyst for Adobe Digital Insights Vivek Pandya said steep discounting has been the story of ecommerce this year. “It is driving up demand for major categories like electronics and apparel, which have seen more modest growth in recent months, while also capturing back-to-school shoppers at just the right moment.”
*** Watch what people do ***
With all of these “so called” consumer complaints about inflation that is ruining peoples lives, latest U.S. retail economic data for June says the consumer is still strong and continues to spend money.
These numbers from Amazon say everything….sales for those higher priced electronics continue to do well.
As a jeweler on Etsy, sales have slowed for the cheaper jeweler items while higher priced jewelry remains strong; even as summer is typically a slow period for jewelers. It’s all about producing products that attract a more affluent buyer. I keep raising my prices and my sales are still strong with fast sales for newly listed pieces.
I never listen to polls or ‘what’ people say. Rather…don’t listen to what people say, but watch what people do.
The U.S. economy remains strong with low unemployment and good spending power. Currently, there is not a single economist I listen to who thinks the U.S. is headed into a recession anytime soon.
Retail sales are still good for many Sellers. It’s all about WHAT you sell and WHO you sell to.