Amazon announces record-breaking Prime Day as Target cashes in on sales fever

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jul 19, 2018

Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com reported its busiest ever 36 hours on Prime Day, with customers purchasing over 100 million items worldwide, including in the beauty and apparel categories which sold more than 5 million products each.

 
Toys, kitchen products, PCs and computer accessories also passed the 5 million purchase mark, while Amazon’s own devices, the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and the Echo Dot proved to be the most popular products overall.
 
The day and a half of deals topped Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and last year’s Prime Day for sales, persuading a record number of Prime members in 17 countries to make purchases, with Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands and Luxembourg all participating for the first time.

Amazon devices also won out in the US, with the 50 and 43-inch models of the Toshiba 4K Ultra HD Fire TV Edition becoming the most successful TV deals in the platform’s history, together beating out last year’s record holder with six times more sales.
 
Top US product purchases from Amazon’s own private-label brands included a jersey t-shirt dress from womenswear label Daily Ritual, a ceramic geometric table lamp from Stone & Beam and an AmazonBasics pre-seasoned cast iron skillet, reflecting global trends that saw the apparel, home and kitchen categories prove popular with consumers.
 
Amazon did, however, face competition on its home turf in the shape of Target.com, which announced a major one-day sale to coincide with the last 24 hours of the e-commerce giant’s Prime Day. Target.com also reported its highest single day of traffic and sales, with top sellers including small appliances, beauty and personal care products, and items in the tech and home categories.
 
Top-selling beauty products on the platform included items from men’s grooming brand Harry’s Razors and beauty boxes, while favorite purchases in the home category ranged from Project 62 armchairs to wall mirrors and items from Target-exclusive brands.

Interestingly enough, around 90% of the day’s orders will be fulfilled directly through Target’s brick-and-mortar store network, a testament to the company’s strategy of leveraging existing infrastructure in order to ensure reduced shipping times.
 
Indeed, to compete with Amazon Prime’s free two-day delivery, Target not only matched this offer on purchases over $35 made during sale event, but also awarded a six-month membership for free same-day delivery to anyone making purchases of over $100.
 
Not to be beaten, however, Amazon also launched a number of new initiatives for this year’s Prime Day, including a week of savings for Prime members at Whole Foods Market, which the online retailer acquired last year.
 
Amazon also celebrated Prime Day with a series of activations in the week that preceded the 36-hour sale, with millions of Prime members streaming events ranging from an exclusive concert featuring Ariana Grande in New York to a tournament of popular online battle royale game PUBG attended by Deadmau5 in LA. Further events took place in London, Tokyo and Milan.