Prime Numbers: Prime Day 2018 Analysis

Despite some early website snafus, Prime Day 2018 was apparently one for the books. During the 36-hour event, Prime members ordered over 100 million products worldwide, leading Amazon to surpass all prior sales records in their 24-year history (including Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays). And, most importantly to their overall strategy, the company said it gathered more newly minted Prime members on July 16 than it had on any previous day in its history. 

In the wake of the event, we reviewed our promotional, pricing and shopper panel data to analyze the deals that were offered by Amazon and how Prime Day shoppers reacted to the event. Below are some key insights from our findings:

These findings solidify what we already know – that Prime Day is less a sales event than it is a recruitment tool. Primarily, it's a mechanism for signing up new Prime subscriptions and encouraging current members to become even more entrenched in its ecosystem.