Amazon has reached a new record for its Prime Day sale, Forbes reports.
In one day, Amazon sold $6.4 billion, 6% more than last year. Overall, US spending has been down across the board, due to inflation and the uncertain economic situation. Americans have also been shopping directly from their phones a lot more, which include Chinese brands such as Shein and Temu.
Americans have also been relying on credit more, especially with installment “buy now, pay later” models. Amazon’s own credit card puts this front and center, usually interest free over 6 or more months. While this can show business savviness is more common, it also shows a dangerous trend in the increase of credit cards, where rates can go as high as 30%.
Prime Day has been a recurring event since 2015, with a delay in 2020 due to COVID. Functioning as a Black Friday in Summer, Amazon marks down many products in rotating categories. Customers must be Amazon Prime members to access those deals, driving both sales volume and membership subscriptions.
Amazon’s dominance of online retail has grown since the COVID pandemic shut down many brick and mortar stores. Its competitors such as Walmart and Target have adopted some of Amazon’s own practices. Target ran a similar sale, and Walmart has rolled out a Walmart paid membership service with certain perks and discounts.
