Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has released findings on Prime Day 2024 based on its new report, The Opportunity and Impact of Digital Sales Events, which analyzes six key online retail events in the US from Amazon, Walmart, and Target. In 2023, July sales events overlapped for all three retailers and lifted omnichannel traffic by 11% overall, compared to the average week. Amazon benefited the most from its July Prime Day event, while Target and Walmart saw better traffic and sales with their October Circle Week and Holiday Kickoff events, respectively. The analysis leverages verified purchase data from these retail sales events, as well as sentiment surveys of these same buyers.

Key Findings Include:

• 2 in 5 US households are expected to shop Prime Day 2024. In July 2023, 40% of consumers shopped at least one online sales event, with nearly all of these consumers shopping on Prime Day 2023. These July event shoppers were 11% more likely than the average shopper to be Gen X or Millennial and 23% more likely to have children aged 0–5.
  • Pre-event awareness drives event success – especially for Prime Day. 100% of Amazon Prime Day 2023 shoppers said they were aware that the event was happening, doubling Amazon’s average household penetration of 21% to 40.1% on Prime Day (a 91% lift). In comparison, 88% of Target Circle Week shoppers were aware of the event (+26% lift in penetration for Target.com) and 56% of Walmart+ Week shoppers were aware (+6% for Walmart.com).
  • Consumers are split on their feelings regarding retail sales events throughout the year. 35% of respondents said there are too many events, 33% said they wish there were more events, and 32% said the number of events is just right.
• More than half of Prime Day 2024 shoppers will likely be comparing prices on other retailers – but still buying on Amazon. On Prime Day 2023, 54% of shoppers said they compared prices at other retailers before purchasing. However, despite price comparisons, most shoppers bought at Amazon. 78% of July retail event shoppers purchased on Amazon only, 6.7% purchased on Amazon and Walmart.com, 5.5% purchased on Amazon and Target.com, 5.7% purchased only on Walmart.com, and 3.5% purchased only on Target.com.
• The majority of Prime Day 2024 shoppers will be looking for low prices and item variety. While the top cited reason for shopping at a retailer's sales event is price (75% of shoppers), 57% want a wide variety of items on sale, 44% want fast shipping, 39% like the online shopping experience, and 37% want an easy return process.
• CPG brands are poised to continue their Prime Day growth this year. Three consumable departments (pet supplies, beverages, and vitamins & supplements) made the top seven departments purchased during Prime Day 2023, compared to just one consumable making the top seven in 2019.
  • Consumable products are likely to appear in the Prime Day 2024 top items list. Two consumables were in the top five items purchased during Prime Day 2023. Temptations Cat Food and Liquid IV were the second and fourth most purchased items during Amazon’s July 2023 event, respectively.
• Walmart and Target’s July 2024 events are unlikely to top their October sale events. In October 2023, Amazon saw 12% less household penetration during their Prime Big Deal Days event compared to their July Prime Day event. In contrast, Walmart saw a 15% increase and Target saw a 21% increase on their October events compared to their July events.
  • Walmart is top of mind when it comes to holiday sales events. 74% of consumers said they think of Walmart for holiday sale events (+25 percentage points vs. non-holiday sales events), and 58% think of Target for holiday sale events (+19 points). Comparatively, 70% of people think of Amazon for holiday sales events (-9 points).
  • October events play an important role in building retailer loyalty. Compared to non-sales event shoppers, Target.com shoppers are 2.6x more loyal to Target.com if they shopped the 2023 October Circle Week. Walmart.com’s shoppers are 2.5x more loyal if they shopped the 2023 Holiday Kickoff event, and Amazon’s shoppers are 1.6x more loyal if they shopped the retailer’s Prime Big Deal Days in October.

Numerator’s Amazon Prime Day Tracker will provide real-time coverage of the 2024 event, on July 16 and 17, including average order size, orders per household, top items purchased, consumer sentiment around the sale, and more.

About Numerator:

Numerator is a data and tech company bringing speed and scale to market research.  Numerator blends first-party data from over 1 million US households with advanced technology to provide 360-degree consumer understanding for the market research industry that has been slow to change. Headquartered in Chicago, IL, Numerator has 2,000 employees worldwide; 80 of the top 100 CPG brands’ manufacturers are Numerator clients.

Bob Richter
Numerator
212-802-8588
press@numerator.com