How many households will shop Prime Day?

Amazon will see a substantial boost in Prime Day traffic and sales.

New analysis indicates a sizable percentage of U.S. households will make at least one purchase during the upcoming Prime Day 2024 sales event.

According to predictions for Amazon Prime Day 2024 from market research firm Numerator based on analysis of the 2023 Prime Day event and consumer sentiment surveys, 40% of U.S. households are expected to shop this year’s Prime Day event.

While the top cited reason among surveyed consumers for shopping at a retailer’s special sales event such as Prime Day is price (75% of surveyed shoppers), 57% want a wide variety of items on sale, 44% want fast shipping, 39% like the online shopping experience, and 37% want an easy return process (more than one answer permitted).

A full 100% of surveyed Amazon Prime Day 2023 shoppers said they were aware that the event was happening, nearly doubling Amazon’s average household penetration of 21% to 40.1% on Prime Day (a 91% lift).

On Prime Day 2023, 54% of surveyed shoppers said they compared prices at other retailers before purchasing. However, despite price comparisons, most shoppers bought at Amazon. 

Close to eight-in-10 (78%) of surveyed July 2023 retail event shoppers purchased on Amazon only, 6.7% purchased on Amazon and Walmart.com, 5.5% purchased on Amazon and Target.com, 5.7% purchased only on Walmart.com, and 3.5% purchased only on Target.com.

Surveyed July 2023 event shoppers were 11% more likely than the average shopper to be Gen X or millennial and 23% more likely to have children aged five and younger. Thirty-five percent of respondents said there are too many sales events, 33% said they wish there were more events, and 32% said the number of events is just right.

Numerator also performed some comparative analysis of Walmart and Target sales events:

• Three-quarters (74%) of surveyed consumers said they think of Walmart for holiday sale events (+25 percentage points vs. non-holiday sales events), and 58% think of Target for holiday sale events (+19 points). Comparatively, 70% of people think of Amazon for holiday sales events (-9 points).
• Compared to non-sales event shoppers, Target.com shoppers are 2.6x more loyal to Target.com if they shopped the 2023 October Circle Week event. Walmart.com’s shoppers are 2.5x more loyal if they shopped the 2023 Holiday Kickoff event, and Amazon’s shoppers are 1.6x more loyal if they shopped the retailer’s Prime Big Deal Days in October.