“Now more than ever, with inflation, consumers are looking to buy products that they truly need,” she said. This year, Amazon forged partnerships with top brands like Apple and KitchenAid that helped draw people in, she said by phone. That will almost certainly mean lower sales of such items in coming weeks, as people work through what they’ve stocked up on at home, he noted.Ĭonsumers were also planning ahead, and leveraging Prime Day to check things off shopping lists beyond household essentials, according to Natalie Kotlyar, who leads the retail industry group at consultancy BDO. These things are staple purchases rather than impulse purchases, which suggests more consumers are focusing on things they need rather than things they want.” “The mix of things bought is also of interest,” GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders said by email, noting that Amazon flagged household essentials as a best-selling category. Moreover, inflation’s influence went beyond undermining the raw headline numbers to reshaping consumer behavior. A little over a third of Prime Day customers waited for the sale to get a certain item at a discount, while 28% passed on a good deal because it wasn't a necessity, Numerator found.

reached 9.1% in June, according to the latest consumer price index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The burst of online spending during Prime Day was not quite as robust as it seems, given that inflation in the U.S.

Amazon prime day