Insight Flash: Amazon notches another Prime Day victory, claiming all-time sales records and seeing market share gains, holding off rival Temu

Prime Day continues to be the dominant promotional event in the ecommerce space, driving Amazon market share and ticket size gains at the expense of peers like Target, Wayfair and Walmart. Meanwhile, although ultra-low-cost entrant Temu has generated headlines by making inroads in the U.S. ecommerce space, Amazon looks to be weathering the storm on the back of brand recognition and the allure of culturally salient events like Prime Day.

Big-Box Retailers Feeling the Heat

Amazon has concluded another successful Prime Day promotion, with headlines broadcasting record sales and subscriber gains for the e-commerce behemoth. Amazon also saw material market share appreciation versus peers during the promotional period, increasing by nearly 9% from the prior week, surpassing last year’s 8% bump.

Big-box retailers like Walmart and Target were the biggest victims of Amazon’s market share gains during the period, although some of Walmart’s relative weakness may be attributable to demand pull-forward from its own recent promotional event, Walmart+ Week, which ran from June 17-23rd. Electronics retailer Best Buy was the only other name in the basket set to have gained share over the prior week, suggesting that Amazon’s dominance over electronics may have been less pronounced than for other categories.

This takeaway would square with comments that this year’s Prime Day may have seen lower volumes of high-ticket item sales as shoppers opted for meaningful discounts on things like staples and home or personal care products.

Prime Day Caused a Big Bump in Amazon’s Average Transaction Size

While large-ticket items may have taken a back seat this year, Amazon shoppers still increased the average spend amount per transaction over the prior week by the largest margin in recent years. The average Amazon purchase size during the Prime Day period increased nearly 30% over the prior week as shoppers stocked up on discounted goods and took advantage of Prime Day’s signature deals.

Amazon Shoppers Remain Likely to Cross-Shop at Temu, but Temu’s Rate of Penetration Growth Has Stagnated

While the narrative of Prime Day primacy remains salient, market watchers have also been keen to see the impact ultra-low-cost retailer Temu has had on Amazon and on the broader U.S. ecommerce space. While the Chinese platform made meaningful inroads with existing Amazon shoppers through much of 2023, it appears as though their expansion has moderated since then.

The percentage of Amazon shoppers who also transacted at Temu has held steady at under 3%, which is roughly where it was at the end of last year. Similarly, while Amazon shoppers are much more likely to shop at Temu, relative to the overall population, that high propensity appears to have stabilized through 2024 and actually decreased, slightly, in June.

Prime Subscribers are More Likely to Shop at Temu than Non-Prime Amazon Shoppers

Among Amazon shoppers, Prime subscribers are slightly more apt to shop at Temu, versus non-Prime subscribers. 5% of Prime subscribers shopped at Temu (at least once) between April and June of 2024, while 4.5% of non-Prime Amazon shoppers transacted at Temu over the same period.

The incidence of cross-shop, during the three-month period, has increased equally for both groups, up 0.8% Year over Year. This suggests that cross-shop behavior between the merchants may not be due to lack of brand loyalty, but rather to price sensitivity or an increased comfort with digital shopping.

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About the Authors

Michael Gunther is the VP Head of Insights for the CEIC. Explore more of his insights here and follow him on LinkedIn.

Alex Breslin-Johnson is a Senior Insights Analyst for the CEIC. Follow him on LinkedIn.

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