Amazon Prime Day Drives $26.4B in U.S. Online Spending
Total U.S. online retail spending during Prime Day hit $26.4B, edging past Adobe's forecast as electronics and apparel led discounts.
U.S. consumers spent $26.4 billion online across all retailers during Amazon's four-day Prime Day event, narrowly topping Adobe's pre-sale estimate of $26.3 billion, according to new spending data. The figure marks a 9.3% jump over last year's Prime Day total, underscoring the sale's continued grip on American shopping behavior even amid persistent economic uncertainty.
Electronics and apparel carried the deepest markdowns during the event, drawing budget-conscious shoppers who steered spending toward big-ticket categories. The breadth of discounts across competing retailers suggests Prime Day has evolved well beyond Amazon's own platform into an industry-wide promotional moment that lifts e-commerce broadly.
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Buy now, pay later options captured 6.6% of all orders placed during the sale, reflecting growing consumer reliance on installment-style financing tools for discretionary purchases. The trend points to shoppers stretching dollars carefully rather than spending freely, even when faced with headline discounts.
Despite the strong aggregate numbers, average household spending on Amazon itself fell 8.3% compared to the prior year's event. That divergence — more total dollars spent across the web but less per household on Amazon — hints that shoppers may be splitting carts across competing retailers rather than consolidating purchases on the platform that launched the sale.
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