How Did Retailers Compete With The Prime Early Access Sale?
On October 11 and 12, Amazon held its Prime Early Access Sale, intended to “[give Prime] members a chance to kick off the holiday shopping season early.” Last year, we found that 30% of US online adults started their holiday shopping in October or earlier, so it’s not surprising that Amazon, along with other major retailers, announced major sales events for this month.
To get a closer look at what retailers and brands did during the Prime Early Access event, we reviewed 50 retailer’s and brands’ websites, spanning numerous categories. Among other highlights, we found that:
- Nearly two-thirds of these 50 retailers and brands participated. Of these retailers and brands, 60% ran some form of a promotion, but only 8% held a sitewide sale. Instead, many offered sales on select products or ran additional promotions on their already-discounted sales sections. Additionally, a mere 6% offered free shipping with no minimum