Amazon Prime Day 2019 is set to bring a new record of £5.31 billion sales boost as shoppers will hunt for bargains for the extended 48-hour period, says ParcelHero.
Amazon’s Prime members exclusive sale – on the 15th of July and until the 16th of July – will see sales rise to a new record. Its sales are predicted to expand by 60% on the year-on-year (YoY) rate.
In 2015, the first Prime day saw the transactional activity bringing in about £0.76 billion. The following Prime Day 2016 saw the sales growth of £1.21 billion, which soared to £1.91 billion in 2017 and reached about £3.32 billion in 2018. That’s an average annual rise of 60% in sales on the day. The analysis predicts a £5.31 billion contribution this year if the peak event continues its meteoric scale.
Amazon can afford to lose to gain more, but can merchants?
The research attributes the expected sales growth to the extended time of the peak. It says that Prime members are lured in by low prices. Accelerated delivery promise and other benefits such as Prime Video keeps customers coming back as loyal visitors. It’s well worthwhile for Amazon as loyal ‘Amazonians’ spend more than double the amount non-members do and tend to renew their subscription as the next Prime day rolls around.
However, Amazon’s goal for their Prime Day events is not short term profits but members. Last year Amazon saw more new members signing up on Prime Day than any previous day in its history.
Amazon can afford to take big hits on their own products. However, what about their hard-pressed marketplace traders?
The biggest sellers on the day are Amazon’s own Fire TV Stick, Echo Show and Echo Spot offered at literally ‘fire sale’ prices. Amazon can afford to subsidise these discounted sales for the bigger picture of more members, but for small online traders, such discounts are not sustainable.
In 2015, the marketplace’s sales accounted for 52% of all Amazon Prime Day sales, and by 2018 that slice rose to 62%. Amazon say that their marketplace traders sold $1bn of items last year – but in order to attract sales on the big day most items will have been significantly discounted, and how much of that $1bn translates to actual profits is debatable.Even at significant discounts, most marketplace members will probably still take part.
Meanwhile, eBay has their own ‘Crash Day’ sale also booked for 15 July to help their traders grab their slice of this now traditional midsummer madness – particularly if the Amazon site crashes like it did last year. Also, many more online retailers will also be jumping on this prime-time peak season.
