What we know about Amazon’s Big Spring Sale results

Two weeks have passed since Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, but its success is unclear.

Amazon’s first-ever Big Spring Sale took place from March 20-25, offering discounts on seasonal items like spring fashion, fitness products, and cleaning and yard work essentials.

Here’s what we don’t know: Usually Amazon gives a high-level summary of its Prime Day results, but the company has yet to release any details on its Big Spring Sale.

• There’s virtually no data on the performance of this year’s spring sales.
• It’s also unclear how competitor events from Walmart and Target fared.

Here’s what we know: Over a third (36%) of US consumers shopped Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, slightly less than the 41% that shopped Amazon’s October Prime Day event, according to CivicScience, which provided the little performance data that exists on the event.

• 58% of shoppers were Prime members, 28% were non-members who signed up for Prime after the sale, and 14% were non-members who did not sign up for Prime.
• Beauty and health were the top categories purchased, followed by electronics and tech, home goods and decor, and apparel.
• Less than 10% of consumers purchased outdoor items (5%) or household cleaning products (3%), despite being the main categories that Amazon promoted during the sale.

What may have worked for Amazon: By opening up the event to non-Prime members (unlike past events, the Big Spring Sale was open to everyone, but Prime members received access to exclusive deals), Amazon boosted the potential to increase sales and perhaps steal share from home improvement retailers like The Home Depot or Lowe’s. Plus, exclusive deals for Prime members could have boosted sign-ups.

What may have worked against Amazon: Amazon announced the event only about a week in advance and didn’t put a lot of marketing effort against it.

The verdict: Without sufficient data, it’s impossible to say whether Amazon’s Big Spring sale or competitor events were successful. But considering which categories were most popular among shoppers, it doesn’t seem like the event had its intended effect of boosting sales for home improvement or spring cleaning products.

We think the Big Spring Sale is here to stay as Amazon attempts to create more tentpole events throughout the year to spur consumer spending. However, it may remain one of its lesser-marketed events, at least until it’s proven its worth.

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