Amazon, $AMZN, announces record-breaking sales for 2024 prime day

Online spending in the U.S. soared 11% year over year to $14.2 billion during Amazon's 48-hour Prime Day event, exceeding estimates and setting a new record, according to Adobe Analytics.

Adobe attributed the strong performance to back-to-school shopping and an "apparent product refresh cycle," as consumers rushed to purchase new tablets, TVs, and Bluetooth speakers. This marks a shift from last year, when inflation-wary shoppers used the discount event to stock up on household essentials like pantry staples and office supplies.

The company had projected that U.S. shoppers would spend $14 billion online during the two-day event. Adobe's tracking includes transactions not only on Amazon but also across a broad range of U.S. retail sites. Amazon's Prime Day event, held on Tuesday and Wednesday, has become a significant revenue driver for other retailers, who often run competing sales timed around Prime Day.

On Thursday, Amazon reported "record-breaking" Prime Day revenue but did not disclose the total sales from the event. The company highlighted its Rufus shopping assistant, which employs generative artificial intelligence to suggest products and provide order updates, claiming the tool "helped millions" of shoppers navigate the site. Last week, Amazon made Rufus available to all U.S. users after initially testing it with a subset of shoppers.

Numerator, which tracked purchases across more than 35,500 households, noted that shoppers spent more per order this year, with an average order size of $57.97, up from $54.05 during last year's event. Shoppers bought Amazon-branded Fire TV sticks, Premier protein shakes, and Liquid IV packets, with home goods, household essentials, apparel, and shoes among the top categories.

"Shoppers purchased fewer big-ticket items than in past years, and fewer participants placed multiple orders throughout the sale, indicating a shift to more conscious shopping and a preference for saving over splurging," Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer said in a statement.