Insights from Prime Big Deal Days 2024

This year’s Prime Big Deal Days event fell amid economic uncertainty, a looming presidential election and ongoing inflationary woes. Not surprisingly, once the event closed, our data revealed patterns in shopper behavior that indicate consumers are looking to save on everyday items—shopping with intent for deals and discounts to stretch their dollars wherever they can. 

The Beauty, Pet, Grocery, Electronics and Health & Personal Care categories all saw significant growth—and even though unit sales surged, revenue barely ticked up, indicating that Amazon is actively liquidating stock in preparation for the holiday season. 

Here’s a deeper look at the major data points and patterns we uncovered following Prime Big Deal Days (vs. the 2023 event)—and recommendations for brands to meet shoppers where they are and improve performance heading into an uncharted holiday season:

💡Insights

Traffic reflects customer intent, and with 80% of Amazon purchases originating from search, it’s evident that Prime Big Deal Days shoppers arrived with a clear understanding of essential items they wanted to buy.

Products in these categories generated significantly more traffic than last year’s event, suggesting a stronger emphasis on shopper intent to purchase specific items rather than casual browsing or showrooming.

💡Insights

With average selling prices (ASPs) under $25, the Beauty, Pet, Grocery, Electronics and Health & Personal Care categories are seeing significant growth—reflecting a continued shift toward value-conscious spending.

Additionally, small luxuries like Beauty and Pet products are benefiting from the “lipstick effect,” where consumers indulge in affordable treats during times of economic uncertainty.

💡Insights

Unit sales during the event surged by 32%, but revenue only increased by 2%, indicating sharper discounts compared to the previous period—likely in an effort to clear out inventory from Amazon’s fulfillment centers to make way for holiday merchandise.

Even at the expense of gross margins, Amazon appears to be actively liquidating inventory, and plans to bring on an unprecedented 250,000 seasonal workers in anticipation of a strong Q4. For brands, this should result in a surge in purchase orders to stock Amazon’s holiday shelves.

💡Insights

With an average selling price (ASP) of $80.30 and a conversion rate of just 5%, the Home & Kitchen category’s overall sales decline further demonstrates that customers are not seeking expensive, non-essential items. We anticipate that increases in discount percentages throughout Turkey 5 will boost sales in this category; stay tuned for updates as the story unfolds.

It’s clear that as the holiday season approaches, lower-priced products will play a crucial role in driving growth, offering brands the opportunity to capitalize on price-conscious consumer demand while optimizing their marketing investments for higher returns. In the meantime, we’ll be keeping an eye on the latest trends and patterns in shopper behavior heading into the Turkey 5 and upcoming winter holidays … stay tuned for more insights to help you drive growth on Amazon and beyond.

Ready to see how CommerceIQ can help maximize performance this holiday season? Request a demo.

Sourced from CommerceIQ’s proprietary Amazon data, reflecting a period vs. period comparison of Prime Big Deal Days 2023 vs. the 2024 event.