The Amazon website is seen on a computer screen on July 14, 2019 in Orlando, Florida. On July 15 and ... [+]
Amazon may have created Prime Day, but the retail giant’s closest competitors haven’t skipped a beat in dreaming up ways to lure summer shoppers back.
In fact, after five years of observing the tricks that Amazon pulls out of its infinite hat during Prime Day, other retailers—large and small—might just be beating Amazon at its own game.
Data from global search intelligence company Captify indicates that while Amazon’s search traffic (“search index”) was up 184% yesterday compared with the two days prior to Prime Day, Walmart achieved gains of 130% and Best Buy trumped all major retailers with an index increase of 255%.
Amazon competitors are not only copying Amazon’s massive 48 hours of hot deals, they are creating events of their own for consumers to look forward to. And it’s working. Best Buy, Walmart and eBay all saw significant increases in search index during the first 24 hours of Prime Day.
An email from Costco to its members on July 16th, promoting its Member Appreciation event.
Data from Adobe Analytics regarding the first day of Prime Day, July 15, also suggests that Amazon is no longer the sole winner of the summer shopping holiday.
The first day of Prime Day saw an increase in visits to online retailers across the board, which accounts for 66% of the lift in revenue. Twenty-seven percent of the lift is caused by an increase in conversion, and 7% due to higher average order value.
Large retailers ($1 billion+ in annual revenue) saw a 64% increase in sales versus an average Monday, compared to last year’s 54%. Additionally, even niche retailers (<$5 million in annual revenue) saw a 30% increase in online sales this year.
Adobe confirmed that sales on Prime Day have already surpassed $2 billion in revenue, a benchmark that has only been hit three times outside the Q4 holiday season. Adobe’s analysis is based on one trillion visits to over 4,500 retail sites and 55 million SKUs.
What's grabbing shoppers’ attention
Adobe’s analysis of the retail landscape overall found that retailers with physical locations are getting an edge: Buy-online/pickup-in-store (BOPIS) has become a go-to option for consumers, especially during key shopping periods. While consumers typically use BOPIS for less expensive items, Prime Day brought BOPIS average order values up 12%, from $115 to $131.
Adobe found the best discounts yesterday were on electronics (9%). Amongst electronics, smart devices saw the highest discounts (12% off smart watches, 10% off smart TVs, 9% off smart home items).
As for specific products searched for, Captify’s data set show that the Amazon Echo captured the highest “share of voice” for shopper search terms.
A general view of an Amazon Echo smart speaker alongside an ear thermometer and some pills. Amazon's ... [+]
A trending search term that should worry Amazon
Searches for "Canceling Amazon Prime" were 18 times higher yesterday than the day before Prime Day. This is according to Captify’s data set of 2.2 billion consumer searches from around the globe. Captify's data set looks across all channels, including voice search, desktop on-site search and in-app search (travel aggregators, retail review sites etc). The data set doesn’t include Google data.
"If Amazon is hoping to use Prime Day as a way to sign up and retain new Prime Members, they might need to rethink their retention plan," says Anand Siddiqui, Captify’s global VP of insight and analytics. "According to search, consumers are signing up for Prime, getting their deals and then canceling membership shortly after."
