With approximately a month until Black Friday, marketers are wondering how this year will compare to previous holiday seasons. Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, held on October 8 and 9, reported lower U.S. sales than last year. This contradicts Adobe’s projections of a record-breaking ecommerce Christmas season.
A closer look at Amazon’s October promotion reveals a silver lining, though. Despite the terrible weather in the U.S. Southeast this month, promotions in the United States and around the world appeared to be popular with customers, particularly when prices were reduced. Marketers should capitalize by testing promotions in the run-up to Black Friday and beyond to determine which discounts resonate with holiday customers.
A look at Prime Big Deal Days
According to Salesforce, non-Amazon shops worldwide experienced flat revenue growth compared to the previous year. In the United States, shops reported a 5% drop in sales. In contrast, Europe saw a 9% year-on-year increase.
Amazon performed better in terms of conversions than its US competitors, who ran specials over the same week. On October 8, PriceSpider, an ecommerce technology solution, assessed conversion rates and discovered that Amazon (12.6%) outperformed Walmart (8.1%) and Target (4%).
Salesforce reported that web traffic in the United States decreased by 2% between October 8 and 9. Retailers did not generate the same amount of visitors or purchases as they did the previous year. A difficult election and poor weather in the Southeast appear to be significant causes.
“Amazon Prime Big Deal Days performance was lower than expected this year, most likely due to recent weather events and consumer uncertainty around the upcoming U.S. election,” said Caila Schwartz, Salesforce’s director of consumer insights. “And while discount rates were more enticing than last year, retailers still stayed conservative in preparation for robust Cyber Week deals, contributing to the fall in overall results.”
Europe’s sales figures suggest that U.S. buyers will be in a shopping mood following Election Day.
Gift purchasers looking for deals.
Prime Big Deal Days provide a preview of upcoming seasonal buying patterns. According to Salesforce, the discounts have been larger thus far, which is excellent news for customers and a signal to merchants to consider lowering pricing.
During Prime Big Deal Days, discount rates in the United States rose 4% year on year, with an average discount rate of 21%. Globally, discount rates grew 9% over the previous year. This year, the global average for Prime Day was 18%.
The most heavily discounted categories globally were general clothes (average discount 27%), electronics and accessories (20%), and health and beauty (17%). The electronics category showed a 25% increase in discount rates year on year.
In the United States, the largest discounts were seen in general clothes (31% average discount), health and beauty (20%), and food and beverage (13%). The health and beauty discount rate increased by 27% YoY. The food and beverage discount rate increased by 23% year on year.
Discounts proved to be an efficient method for increasing sales in discounted categories. Here are the top-performing categories globally:
- Electronics (up 36%).
- General apparel (up 36%).
- Health and beauty (up 21%).
Prepare for Cyber Week and beyond.
Did October’s Prime offers catch buyers off guard? Likely not. This is Amazon’s third year running an October Prime deal, and other shops have followed suit.
It’s still feasible that sales will meet or exceed Adobe’s projections for Cyber Week, which is more than $40 billion in sales over those few days. Less than one-third of shoppers across all income levels only buy gifts in December. Many more plan their gift purchases months in ahead, or even year-round.
According to Skai, as Cyber Week approaches (November 28 through December 2, this year), digital marketers should not forego Black Friday in favor of Cyber Monday.
“Black Friday was the biggest shopping day in 2023, as data reveals it dominated the Cyber Five with 17% higher retail media spending and 21% higher ad-driven sales than Cyber Monday,” stated Megan Harbold, Skai’s VP strategy and growth. “However, marketers must be mindful of how consumer perception toward the timing of Christmas promotions is developing this year in order to shape their Black Friday strategy.
According to Skai research, 70% of customers view Black Friday as an important date. Furthermore, 60% of the shoppers polled stated they would consider waiting until January for better deals.
“With this in mind, marketers should test early promotions to ramp up for their Black Friday deals to cater to different audiences and drive sales,” according to Harbold. “They may also want to explore extending their promotions and media support beyond Black Friday alone to capture potential post-holiday deal seekers.”