Prime Early Access Sale doesn’t match Prime Day results

Amazon’s second Prime Day sales event was ultimately smaller than the July Prime Day event.

The Amazon Prime Early Access Sale, held Oct. 11-12, had lower overall awareness and spending than the summer Prime Day sales extravaganza (July 12-13),  according to a final recap from Numerator.   Numerator analysis indicates shoppers placed fewer, smaller orders and purchased lower-priced items than they did during the summer Prime Day.

[Read more: Prime Day update: Discounting produces record results]

Initially announced in September 2022, the Prime Early Access Sale offered Prime members hundreds of thousands of deals. 2022 marks the first year that Amazon essentially hosted two full-blown versions of its members-only Prime Day promotion.

While Numerator data shows the Prime Early Access sale drove a sales increase from an average benchmark Amazon two-day period, metrics were down from July Prime Day. Prime Early Access shoppers placed an average of 2.7 orders per household, compared to 1.8 during the benchmark period and 3.3 during Prime Day 2022.

Similarly, Prime Early Access shoppers spent $135 per household, compared to $164 during the benchmark period but $200 during Prime Day 2022. Average Prime Early Access order size was $51, compared to $34 during the benchmark period and $60 during Prime Day 2022.

Inflation appeared to be less of a determining factor in Prime Early Access purchases than Prime Day purchases, according to Numerator. Thirty-four percent of Prime Day shoppers and 29% of Prime Early Access shoppers said they bought something they had been waiting to buy at a lower price, while 22% of Prime Day shoppers and 13% of Prime Early Access shoppers compared prices from other retailers to find the best deal.

Although the Prime Early Access Sale had a promotional tagline of “Two days of early holiday deals,” Numerator data suggests most participating consumers did not use the event to get a jump on holiday shopping. Only 28% of shoppers used the event to buy holiday gifts, while 70% said they have completed less than half of their holiday shopping and 80% “definitely” plan to shop on Amazon again in the upcoming months for holiday items.

Comparison with Target and Walmart
Numerator also performed some comparative analysis of Amazon Prime Early Access Sale to the Target Deal Days and Walmart early holiday promotion which occurred at roughly the same time. While only 35% of Prime Early Access shoppers and 31% of Walmart holiday sale shoppers said the event was the primary reason they shopped, more than half (53%) of Target Deal Days shoppers primarily made purchases at Target due to the promotion.

In addition, Prime Early Access Days had a lower deal satisfaction rate (27%) than the Walmart (36%) or Target (39%) events.

Observed shopping behavior came from Numerator’s static panel of more than 100,000 active shoppers. Numerator also fielded surveys of roughly 5,200 Amazon Prime Early Access Sale shoppers, 5,700 Amazon Prime Day shoppers, 650 Target Deal Days shoppers, and 650 Walmart early holiday sale shoppers. To see Numerator’s complete Early Access Sale data, click here.