Amazon Prime Day Report 2020: Survey & Analysis

Amazon's ecommerce dominance continues to grow amidst the pandemic, and Prime Day in October may prove to be a powerful strategy. Will Amazon’s later stage Prime Day boost sales overall, or simply take away budgets that are usually reserved for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

In this survey we asked 1,195 consumers in the US various questions around Prime Day and related shopping questions and analyzed the results to understand how Amazon Prime Day is being perceived in 2020.

We came away with some interesting results and our findings are cited below:

Most US shoppers are Prime members, more will be soon, and Amazon’s branding of “Prime” continues to be impressive.

• About 3 of 4 (74%) consumers are Amazon Prime members
• Another 9% of respondents stated they would join as Prime member on or before Prime Day this year
• Less than 1% didn’t know what an Amazon Prime member was

Most US shoppers are familiar with Prime Day and will participate in it.

• 80% of Amazon Prime members and those planning to become Prime members stated they would participate in Amazon Prime Day this year.
• Only 11% of all consumers stated they did not know what Amazon Prime Day is (only 8% of Amazon Prime members)

While the majority of Prime members have purchased on Prime Day in the past, many did not know Prime Day was moved this year.

• Slightly over half (51%) of Prime member respondents stated that they have shopped and purchased on Prime Day in the past two years, while 27% stated just browsing, and 17% did not participate at all, and around 5% didn’t know what Prime Day was.
• However, over half (52%) of Prime member respondents stated that they did not know Prime Day was moved this year, and only 1 in 5 (20%) knew it was going to be in October.

Prime Day has become a well known “deal” holiday, but Black Friday still remains king.

• The majority, and roughly the same amount, of consumers stated they would participate in Amazon Prime Day (59%), Black Friday (58%) and Cyber Monday (61%).
• Only 1 in 5 (20%) stated they would shop at all on Christmas Day, and only 1 in 4 (26%) stated they would shop on Thanksgiving day.
• 38% of shoppers see Black Friday as the day that offers the best deals compared to 1 in 3 (33%) who feel Cyber Monday offers the best deals and 29% who feel Amazon Prime Day offers the best deals.

Prime Day Shopper Habits Explored

We also explored when shoppers do most of their holiday shopping, how Prime Day plays a role in their overall holiday season budget, and how decisive Prime Day shoppers would be when finding a deal.

Shoppers do the majority of holiday season shopping in November, but a good portion still happens in October.

• Over half of consumers (55%) stated they do the majority of their holiday season shopping in November, while about 1 in 5 (21%) stated they do the majority of their holiday season shopping in October, and about 1 in 4 (24%) stated they do the majority of their holiday season shopping in December

Shoppers anticipate dedicating over half of their holiday season budget spending on Amazon, and Prime Day is important.

• On average US consumers anticipated budgeting 55% of their total holiday season spend toward shopping on Amazon.
• For anticipated Prime Day participants, their Amazon budget climbs to 60% of their total holiday season spend. And these Prime Day participants anticipate spending 45% on their total holiday budget on Amazon Prime Day alone.

Most Prime Day shoppers won’t take a chance waiting for a better deal later in the season.

• 2 of 3 (66%) anticipated Prime Day participants stated they would purchase a good deal on Prime Day, while 1 in 3 (33%) stated they would hold out for a better deal on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
• 58% of anticipated Prime Day participants stated they would purchase on Prime Day over Black Friday and Cyber Monday because they thought Prime Day may have better deals, while 45% were concerned the item may be out of stock during the later shopping holidays, and about 1 in 3 (33%) simply preferred to get their holiday shopping done earlier.

Prime Day shopping this year will primarily be about shopping for family members.

• 70% of anticipated Prime Day shoppers stated they would be shopping for family members, while 60% stated they would be shopping for themself.
• About 1 in 4 (27%) stated they would shop for friends, 1 in 5 (18%) stated they'd shop for Pets and only 5% stated they shop for Co-workers on Prime Day.

The pandemic will be a factor for Prime Day shoppers- spending online will increase due to limitations on in-store shopping over fears of COVID-19 spread, however, financially strained wallets may lead to less spending overall.

• About 43% of anticipated Prime Day shoppers stated they would decrease spending, while about 24% stated they would increase spending on Prime Day.
• 40% stated the reason they would be changing their spending habits this year because of budget/spending constraints as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic
• About 1 in 5 stated they would change their spending habits because of in-store shopping constraints as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prime Habits By Generation

The younger Millennial cohort (aged 24-29) was the most likely to be a Prime Member with 89% stating already being a Prime member or plan to be by Amazon Prime Day (77% were already a Prime member, and another 12% stating they'd join to be a Prime member on or before Amazon Prime Day).

Gen-Z were the largest group of window shoppers with 1 in 3 (33%) Gen-Z generation consumers browsing on Amazon Prime Day, but not making a purchase in the past two years. Meanwhile, the Boomer generation was the least likely to participate at all with 1 in 3 (32%) stating they have not participated in Amazon Prime Day in the past two years.

Gen-X was the most likely generation to participate in Prime Day, with 3 of 4 (75%) stating they would participate in Prime Day this year, followed closely by 73% of Millennials stating the same.

Final Thoughts

Amazon continues to take hold of more consumers' holiday spending budget and having Prime Day so close to the holidays may turn out to be yet another big win for Amazon. This win could come at the expense of other retailers, and continue to force the smaller businesses to sell through Amazon’s third-party marketplace.

Methodology

For this survey, CouponFollow polled 1,195 adults aged 18+ on September 25th and September 26th, 2020 from all over the United States. Representing a broad economic scope, with an annual household income ranging from 0-$200,000+, participation was almost evenly split amongst respondents who identify as male or female (48% and 52%, respectively). The survey was conducted online by SurveyMonkey Audience.

846 respondents were identified as anticipated Prime Day shoppers stating they were intending to shop Amazon Prime Day this year.

Survey data include certain limitations due to self-reporting, including exaggeration, selective memory, and telescoping. For the scope of this article "consumers" are considered US respondents of the survey, and "anticipated Prime Day participants" is anyone who responded "Yes" to the survey questions asking if they planned to participate in Amazon Prime Day this year.

Fair Use Statement

Feel free to share our survey data, but a citation link back to the original story or statistic is appreciated.