Shoppers eagerly await Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale

The news: Over 30% of US consumers plan to shop Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale, more than any of the company’s previous Prime Day events, per a Numerator report.

• Average household spend is also expected to surpass $200 for the first time due to higher prices and an earlier holiday shopping season.

The opportunity: While Amazon has traditionally used Prime Day to highlight its own consumer electronics products, the retailer has an opportunity to grow market share in other categories, particularly grocery and home goods, as shoppers wait for sales to stock up.

• Household and grocery items ranked among the top items purchased during the last Prime Day for the first time. Food and grocery sales rose 12% compared with last year, per Feedvisor.
• Consumers could use the Prime Early Access Sale to stock up on candy and decorations ahead of Halloween, as shoppers did in 2020 when Amazon last held Prime Day in October.

Other retailers lose out: Unsurprisingly, Amazon is the biggest beneficiary of Prime sales events, despite retailers running competing sales to maintain a competitive edge. Amazon’s share of consumer goods spending hit 21.7% this last Prime Day—or, in other words, $1 out of every $5 spent on CPG items that day was spent on Amazon, per Numerator.

• Walmart saw its CPG share fall 3 points during Prime Day 2022 compared with the month prior. Both Kroger and Costco also lost share.
• Target received a minor 0.5 point boost that day, helped by its Deal Days event.

While both Walmart and Target are running their own sales events concurrently with Prime Day, Amazon looks set to dominate once more.

This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Retail & Ecommerce Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the retail industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.

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