Amazon Prime Day Household Spending Down 16% as Shoppers Pull Back

Amazon’s Prime Day is off to a soft start. Amazon shoppers are spending less per household this year, and the early data points to a more cautious consumer leaning on essentials over splurges.

What the data shows

The average household tracked by Numerator had spent about $89 as of 4 p.m. New York time, the firm said on Tuesday, down about 16% from the same time during last year’s event, which began in July.

Average household spend was $89.04, down 16% from $106.41 at the same point in last year’s sale. Average order value was $48.36, down 17% from $58.37 at this point in last year’s sale.

By day three, the gap had narrowed but not closed. Average household spend was roughly $121.26, down 13% from $139.71 the prior year.

Why shoppers are pulling back

The data indicates a clear shift in consumer behaviour, with shoppers prioritising lower-cost, everyday essentials such as trash bags, pet food and personal care items instead of discretionary or high-ticket purchases.

Numerator data highlights cautious consumer behaviour during Prime Day, with shoppers seeking 30–50% discounts and shifting to lower-cost items amid rising fuel costs and global pricing pressures. As a result, average discounts are generally in the range of 15% to 20%, compared with higher markdowns in previous years, prompting some consumers to trade down to cheaper alternatives.

Lofty oil prices and continued tariff uncertainty made offering steep discounts difficult this year, according to one third-party seller cited in the survey coverage.

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The conflicting signal from Adobe

Not every dataset agrees. Analysis of the first day of Prime Day from Adobe indicated sales had increased 5.3% from the first day of the 2025 edition to $8.3 billion, suggesting total GMV may still grow even as per-household tickets shrink.

The split between rising total sales and falling per-household spend points to more shoppers buying fewer, cheaper items, a pattern consistent with weakening discretionary demand. For more consumer reads, see other news.

Options market and stocks to watch

Watch for follow-through across the consumer and e-commerce complex into Q2 prints and holiday guidance.

• AMZN: Watch for how management frames Prime Day on the next call, and whether retail margins benefit from shoppers trading down to lower-cost SKUs.
• WMT: Watch for share gains if essentials-focused shoppers route more spend to Walmart’s competing deal events.
• TGT: Watch for read-throughs on discretionary categories where Target is overexposed.
• COST: Watch for membership and essentials demand as consumers hunt for value.
• SHOP: Watch for merchant commentary on third-party seller margins given tariff and input-cost pressure flagged by Prime Day sellers.

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