A surprisingly low number of consumers (30%) planned to shop on Prime Day when surveyed by Internet Retailer in early July. Did this play out in practice?
Technical problems played a minor role. According to JDA data, 15.9% of Amazon Prime Day shoppers experienced technical difficulties that day and gave up without buying, while 11.3% purchased fewer products than intended because of the glitch. In a recent survey by AYTM Market Research, 67% of those who participated in Prime Day watched items and 30% added items to their wish lists, but only 53% made a purchase.
Most had been Prime members for one to four years (58%), while 19% signed up just to shop on Prime Day. That one-fifth is significant since it's no secret that Prime Day is intended to give Amazon a membership boost. The price increase this year from $99 to $119 did not seem to be a major deterrent.
Mobile was a notable 2018 trend that will certainly gain more momentum for next year. The use of mobile, particularly smartphones, makes sense since the sale lasted 36 hours and many items were available exclusively during set periods—blocks of time that a shopper might not be in front of a computer.
While the number of mobile shoppers on Prime Day varied according to research firm and many were multidevice shoppers, mobile devices were used more than laptops or desktops.
- 67% on mobile vs. 41% via computer (InfoScout)
- 60.4% on mobile vs. 53.0% on laptop/desktop (JDA)
- 45% on mobile vs. 43% via laptop and 36% on desktop (AYTM)
Despite the Amazon Echo Dot being the No. 2 best-seller of the day, fewer than 3% shopped using voice-activated assistants per both InfoScout and JDA.
Amazon aggressively discounted its less mainstream Echo devices, the Echo Show (from $229 to $129) and Echo Look (from $199 to $99), which signals intent to get more consumers on board with visual commerce. It's to be seen how these hybrid voice-activated devices with cameras and screens will be radically different from tablets or smartphones already in homes, but it's likely Amazon has bigger plans for them beyond helping users to take selfies and receive wardrobe advice.