Report: Amazon Prime Day to Hit $12B in Sales

Amazon.com's seventh Prime Day, which is taking place June 21-22, could rise to a record $12 billion in gross merchandise sales, based on scenario analysis from Bloomberg Intelligence Senior E-Commerce Analyst Poonam Goyal. However, the increase is a deceleration in year-over-year growth, to 15 percent from 45 percent in 2020. Last year, "surging digital sales amid COVID-19 and holiday demand from the October Prime Day aided revenue growth," Goyal said in the report.

In addition, while the best-performing categories in 2020's Prime Day were home, electronics, nutrition and wellness, and arts, crafts and sewing, which catered to homebound shoppers, Payal expects the pendulum to shift this year, "with a bigger push on apparel and travel, but sustained strength in home and electronics."

Typically, Amazon holds Prime Day in July, but it said this year it was it was holding the event earlier due to the Olympics, which starts next month and take people’s attention away. Amazon postponed Prime Day to October 2020 because of the pandemic and used the sales event to kick-off holiday shopping early. Amazon started the sales event in 2015 as its answer to Singles’ Day, a shopping holiday in China popularized by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. It’s a way for Amazon to get people to sign up for its $119 a year Prime membership, in addition to driving the retailer's top sales days of the year.

Total Retail's Take: Despite the deceleration in year-over-year growth, Prime Day 2021 is on track to be another successful venture. So, what can retailers take away from the success Amazon is having? According to Ryan Urban, CEO of Wunderkind, it's important for retailers "to evolve and not see Prime Day or legacy moments like Black Friday as the only opportunities for major promotions. Just as Alibaba established Singles Day, I’d love to see brands unite to establish their own major event independent of Amazon. And above all, in today’s digital environment every day is an opportunity to dazzle your customers and establish or reaffirm lasting brand loyalty."

With Prime Day 2021 approaching its conclusion, Maxime Accadebled, senior client manager at Jellyfish, said that for Amazon sellers, the war to get more market share on the platform continues. "Don’t waste your past efforts and make sure you're building your business for the long run," he said. "Follow-up actions after Prime Day are essential to establish real connections with your customers."