To invent a holiday and then reap the benefits: it is what Alibaba did with Singles Day and what Amazon has now done with Prime Day. Its third edition broke several records and generated a higher turnover for Amazon than Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
60 % growth
Amazon has not yet revealed precise figures for Prime Day, but analysts estimate a turnover of around one billion dollars (880 million euro). That sum would place it ahead of the traditional highlights, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. One side note is that Prime Day spanned 30 hours, slightly more than a regular day like Cyber Monday. Compared to the last edition, this year’s Prime Day grew 60 % and led to many people buying a Prime subscription. According to Amazon, tens of millions of subscribers placed an order.
Even better for Amazon was the revelation of the best-selling item during its Prime Day: its very own Amazon Echo Dot, one of the intelligent speakers with Alexa. It is likely Amazon was selling the device at a loss during Prime Day, but it is very important to get the device in people’s homes, because these buyers will use Amazon more often that way.
