Amazon Prime Day spurs early holiday buying

Black Friday, the traditional kickoff to the holiday season, is more than a month away, but Amazon Prime Day — delayed until Oct. 13-14 — got at least some shoppers to get a head start. Nearly 30% of people who shopped at Amazon on Prime Day purchased holiday gifts, according to a report from Chicago-based research firm Numerator.

“Amazon’s strategy to hold Prime Day as a precursor to the holiday shopping season seems to have paid off. … While most Prime Day buyers still plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they plan to spend less than last year,” Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer said in an emailed statement.

It’s not clear how much consumers spent at Amazon, but one estimate said the company could see sales of close to $10 billion from the event.

The average Amazon order was $44.21, down from $59.02 in 2019, and had 1.6 items.