Amazon Prime Day boosts rivals’ sales

As Amazon Prime Day winds down, early sales results are showing that consumers are agnostic when it comes to which retailer they're shopping--they're just hungry for deals. The 48-hour-event, now in its fifth year, contributed to a 64 percent increase in sales Monday for retailers with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion, compared with an average Monday, according to early data Tuesday from Adobe Analytics. Last year, when the made-up shopping holiday ran for just 36 hours, sales at such retailers were up 54 percent, Adobe found. As Prime Day has grown as a sales and marketing vehicle for Amazon—last year, members bought more than 100 million products and this year the company is offering new promotions designed to collect consumer data—competitors have jumped on the bandwagon with their own events. EBay, Target and Walmart have all introduced similar sales this week to take advantage of the shopping frenzy. As of Tuesday morning, 300 other retailers had their own Prime Day-related offers, according to RetailMeNot, which had originally predicted just 250 retailers. Many used language including “Prime,” “Black Friday” and “Cyber” in their messaging, RetailMeNot found. For example, J. Crew didn’t bother using creative language. The struggling apparel brand sent out an email missive to customers on Monday about its “Prime Time event” of “epic deals” taking place Monday and Tuesday. Macy’s called its sale “Black Friday in July”—even though the promotion ends on Tuesday. Smaller brands are also getting a piece of the spending pie. Retailers with revenue less than $5 million saw a 30 percent increase in online sales yesterday, compared with an average Monday, Adobe found. For Boll & Branch, a direct-to-consumer bedding brand with an ethical message, sales were up Monday even though the company was not running any sales or promotions, says Scott Tannen, founder and CEO of the five-year-old brand. “Almost every metric we have was up yesterday,” says Tannen. “Maybe it’s just like Christmas, where people are in the mood for shopping.”

Amazon Prime Day boosts rivals’ sales

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