Amazon Prime Day Braces For Slowdown Like Alibaba On Pandemic Recovery, Inflation Concerns

Amazon.com, Inc's AMZN Prime Day has hit a slowdown as consumers cut down on their order size, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Amazon, too, appears to have curtailed its investments in the event. Most of the deals have focused on the company's products. 

Also Read: Here's How Alibaba And Others Fared In China's June Shopping Extravaganza

Data proves that the discounts on many items failed to surpass those on other days at Amazon, excluding electronics.

Amazon will hold its Prime Day on July 12 and 13, continuing the trend of extending the event by a day to maximize its revenue.

Amazon's sales will likely reach $7.76 billion in the U.S. from Prime Day, up 17% year on year, Insider Intelligence assumed. Revenue was once growing at a roughly 65% clip, Insider Intelligence reports. 

The 2021 average order size totaled $54.15, compared with an order size of $58.77 in 2019, research firm Numerator disclosed. Shoppers spent $30.83 per item in 2021 versus $33.88 in 2019, Numerator data prove. 

Contrastingly, Amazon acknowledged "great success with Prime Day" and looks to offer its lowest prices ever this Prime Day on products from various brands. It also disclosed that Amazon's third-party sellers had their most significant Prime Day sales. Amazon also continued heavy investment in the event by expanding the number of countries and adding new experiences, WSJ notes.

 Sales on Amazon typically increase by twice the usual amount on Prime Day, according to CommerceIQ.

Copycat deals from Walmart Inc WMT and Target Corp TGT capitalizing on the Prime Day will likely grow by 17.8% in 2022 versus 72% in 2018 and 2019 as they battle excess inventory due to pandemic recovery.

Prime Day's slowdown coincides with overall challenges at Amazon, which curtailed investment in its massive delivery operations to cut costs due to changes in shopping trends following pandemic recovery and inflation.

Price Action: AMZN shares traded higher by 0.85% at $117.45 in the premarket on the last check Monday.

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