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. That doesn't count sales at rival retailers with competing sales, including Walmart, Best Buy and Target.
Here's a look at what people shopped for at Amazon on Prime Day, and why, based on Numerator's data from consumer orders and surveys:
_The average Amazon order was $44.21, down from $59.02 in 2019, and had 1.6 items. Average household spending, $110.02, declined as well, but that figure is expected to increase, since Numerator collects receipts from shoppers for up to two weeks.
_Of the 29% of people who bought holiday gifts, 25% said they knocked out at least half their holiday shopping on Prime Day. Still, most are still shopping: 80% and 88% of Prime Day buyers expected to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, respectively.
_Some of the early holiday shopping could hit Black Friday and Cyber Monday: 17% of Prime Day shoppers said they expect to spend less on those days because of their Prime Day purchases.
_About 62% of people shopped for themselves or their household.
_Only 52% bought something that was part of a Prime Day deal.
_21% of Prime Day shoppers also bought something from another retailer. Another 16% hadn't shopped elsewhere when surveyed but said they might.
_Like last year, the most popular items all came from Amazon: the Echo Dot smart speaker, Amazon Smart Plug, Fire TV Stick, Echo Show and either new or reloaded gift cards. Nearly one in three Prime Day shoppers bought Amazon-branded electronics, which tend to be discounted on Prime Day.
_Household essentials, health and beauty products, toys and video games and home and garden products were other popular categories: each saw a purchase by at least 1 in 5 shoppers.
