Amazon Tries ‘Prime Day' Event

Effort to turn mid-July day into another Cyber Monday draws interest, competition

Amazon sought to turn a random Wednesday in July into another Cyber Monday or Black Friday of online sales deals, with some success but apparently not enough to make Wall Street investors happy.

Initial reports from ChannelAdvisor showed the promotions were drawing Amazon a net 55 percent increase in U.S. sales over the same day least year, factoring out over 2015 over 2014 sales growth. Major sales event like Cyber Monday usually drive a 200 percent to 500 percent increase in website traffic – which may have explained why Amazon shares fell close to 1 percent Wednesday on a day the overall market was flat.

The event was generating interest and chatter with shoppers. “It's a fun experiment -- we'll see how it goes, right?’’ said Laurie pass of Woburn, Mass., whom we caught up with outside a Market Basket in nearby Burlington. She said she doesn’t have anything she really needs to buy right now, but, as she said, “Everybody loves a sale, right? So I'll probably go looking, and since I can go do it online, that's even easier than going around the stores. So I'll probably take a look at what's out there.’’

The key catch here, of course: To get the sales prices and deals, you have to be, or become, a member of Amazon Prime, the $99-a-year service that offers free shipping and other benefits.

Rob Garf, vice president of industry strategy with Demandware, a Burlington, Mass., e-commerce platform company, said: “Prime Day is all about increasing the membership of Prime.’’

Why Amazon craves more prime customers? According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, 63 percent of Prime members visiting the website buy something during a browsing session, compared to just 13 percent of other shoppers logging on to Amazon. Prime members also spend over twice as much, CIRP says: $1,500 a year on Amazon.com, compared to $625 for non-Primesters.

J.P. Alexander of Lexington, Mass., who works in retail and is an Amazon Prime member, said he was impressed by the deals he was finding on the Amazon site. “The deals are looking pretty good,’’ Alexander said. “I might need some electronics, maybe, some home stuff, so I will check it out.’’

Of course, the middle of July is also a great time to do anything to drive sales, period. “In retail, we're in the dog days of summer,’’ Garf said, “so it's a perfect spot between Father's Day and back-to-school season for Amazon to really goose up demand.’’

Evelyn LoRusso of Burlington, shopping with her daughter Briana at Market Basket, said, “It is a weird time of year, but why not? Anything to generate business.’’

Alexander said the element of surprise appealed to him. “I think people are always looking for deals, so whenever you hear about one -- especially at random -- you might spend more, you know? I kind of like it. It's a little spontaneous. It's a little different.’’ And one more reason he’s happy to stay a member of Amazon Prime.

Contact Us