Seeing double: Amazon announce second Prime Day

Amazon’s decision to add a second Prime Day event comes as it looks to usurp competitor eBay as Australia’s number one online retailer, riding a wave of traffic share gains even as traffic to retail websites in the country as a whole saw declines in August. The initial Prime Day event for this year was held in early July, with that event ultimately becoming the single biggest Prime Day event in Amazon’s history with more than 300 million items worldwide snapped up by Prime Members during the event’s two days.

The success of the retailer’s first Prime Day event for 2022 reflected consumer trends increasingly looking for opportunities to save, with cost of living pressures rising amidst a turbulent economic climate and outlook.

“We know that Australians are looking for value right now and we are thrilled to offer Prime members bigger and better Prime Day deals this year,” Country Manager for Amazon Australia Janet Menzies said in anticipation of July’s event. Those bigger and better deals resulted in reported savings of US$1.7 billion for Amazon Prime members worldwide.

However, appetites for the event locally continue to lag behind elsewhere in the world – even as Amazon looms as likely to usurp competitor eBay as the country’s top online retailer potentially by as soon as the end of this year. In a survey conducted by finder.com.au earlier this year ahead of the July Prime Day event, only 15 percent of respondents reported plans to shop the deals, notably lower than the global average of 29 percent. 

This modest appetite for Amazon’s headline sales event in Australia appears to have done little to disrupt the online retailer’s growth domestically, with monthly traffic to the website increasing six percent between June and August, compared to an almost two percent decline in traffic to direct competitor eBay. The gains from Amazon also come even as August saw a slight decline in the retailer’s traffic share percentage in the month of August compared to the average for Q3, largely thanks to even greater declines in this metric for eBay as both ultimately fall victim to a fluctuating consumer market.

Appearing to recognise changed consumer behaviours impacted by the current economic climate, Amazon’s launch of its second Prime Day event across October 11 and 12 comes as a timely strategy to try and reach increasingly cost-conscious consumers with opportunities to save.

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