close
close

Amazon says this year’s Prime Day was the company’s biggest ever, with a record $14 billion spent online

NEW YORK — Amazon announced Thursday that it had record Prime Day sales this week, with its members purchasing more products than ever before.

The Seattle e-commerce giant, which does not disclose how much it makes during the popular discount campaign, also said that “millions” of customers joined Prime over the past three weeks to take advantage of the discount campaign, which ended just before midnight Pacific time on Thursday.

“Prime Day 2024 was a huge success thanks to millions of Prime members around the world who turned to Amazon for great deals,” said Doug Herrington, an Amazon executive who leads Prime and the company’s online shopping business, in a statement accompanying the announcement.

Data from some independent entities also indicates that consumers spent more money during the two-day event this year.

Online sales tracking company Adobe Analytics said consumers spent $14.2 billion on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, up 11% from a year ago.

Adobe noted that the increase was partly fueled by back-to-school shopping, with big increases in spending on items like backpacks, lunch boxes and other stationery. Consumers also spent more on electronics and home appliances, it added.

Adobe’s numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation. However, the company said consumer spending this year wasn’t driven by higher prices, but by new demand. The company pointed to its own data showing online prices have fallen for 22 straight months, falling 4.2% year over year in June.

Last week, the Labor Department reported that overall consumer prices fell 0.1% from May to June after being unchanged in the previous month.

Copyright © 2024 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.