Analysis: Prime Day vs. Prime Early Access Sale 2022

Amazon’s Prime Day 2022

Amazon’s popular online shopping event took place this year on July 12th and 13th, back in Q3 as usual. Two years ago, Prime Day was moved to October, and in 2021 it was already brought forward to June. 

According to Amazon’s own statement, Prime Day 2022 was the most successful Prime Day ever. 

Prime Early Access Sale 2022

This year, Amazon also held a “second Prime Day” on October 11th and 12th, termed the “Prime Early Access Sale 2022”. The aim was to encourage customers to buy their first early Christmas gifts on Amazon before they are tempted by the competition on Black Friday and the upcoming deal weeks. In addition, the Prime Early Access Sale (PEAS) with its offers exclusively for Prime subscribers was a measure to attract new members to the subscription program and retain existing ones. This is especially in light of the recent price increases and stagnant growth in Prime membership this year.

While the online giant described the deal event as a good start to the festive season in hindsight, many U.S. media outlets reported that the results lagged behind Prime Day in July.

Our analysis: Prime Day vs. Prime Early Access Sale

Using our Amazon tool Remdash, we analyzed the Prime Day and Prime Early Access Sale in the EU5 markets of Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and France. In each case, the deal day figures were compared to an average day in the previous month.

Higher average sales increase on Prime Day

The sales increase on the two Prime Day days compared to an average June day was + 397 %:

• PD Day 1: +435%
• PD Day 2: +359%

This means that both offer days were more successful than Prime Day 2021 (PD Day 1 +420%, PD Day 2 +178%).

Sales growth on the Prime Early Access Sale was + 237% compared to an average September day:

• PEAS Day 1: +259%
• PEAS Day 2: +215%

Prime Day was therefore the significantly more successful event. The reasons for this are numerous but presumably the current inflation and economic situation played a role. This, combined with the rather short notice of the new Prime Early Access Sale, meant that customers were able to prepare more in advance of Prime Day, which is familiar from previous years, and use this event as the opportunity to save up for a larger purchase. 

Biggest sales uplift in the UK and Italy

The largest sales uplift occurred on Prime Day 2022 in the Italian Amazon marketplace: On average, +623% more sales were generated there via the deal event compared to a normal shopping day in September.

The smallest effect was visible in France, where the sales uplift was “only” +194%.

The distribution on the Prime Early Access Sale was different: The biggest bargain hunters at this time were the British. On amazon.co.uk, sales increased by 354% during the deal days. Although this is the highest uplift in comparison of the European countries, this value is still significantly below the sales increase that was attributed to Prime Day in the UK (+592%).

The Amazon marketplace with the lowest sales increase on the Prime Early Access Sale was the German one with only +189%.

In all Amazon marketplaces surveyed, Prime Day was more successful than the Prime Early Access Sale – with one exception: France. Sales increased +206% during the October deal day – compared to just a +194% shift during the July Prime Day. 

Deal Day 1 vs. Day 2

On average, the first day of deals was more successful than the second on both deal events.

Prime Day:

• Day 1: +435%
• Day 2: +359%

Prime Early Access Sale:

• Day 1: +259%
• Day 2: +215%

However, when looking at the countries individually, this conclusion cannot be applied across all the markets. On Day 2 of the events for instance, the larger sales increase was visible on Prime Day in France, Italy and Spain, and on the Prime Early Access Sale in Italy and Spain. In these countries, shoppers seem to wait longer for good deals, whereas German and British customers are more likely to strike quickly on Day 1. In addition, there are external influences such as the weather or public holidays, for example in Spain on PEAS Day 2.

Conclusion: Prime Day more successful than Prime Early Access Sale

All in all, the Prime Early Access Sale was not a failure – but it certainly did not exceed expectations either. The current economic situation, the rather late communication of the deal event and the upcoming Black Friday led to restraint among customers. The increase in sales is clearly visible, but also clearly lags behind that of Prime Day in July.

In contrast, the usual Prime Day was a complete success this year and generated even greater sales increases on the European Amazon marketplaces than in 2021. 

We suspect that the 2022 Prime Early Access Sale was a one-time deal event to boost sales and attract new Prime subscribers in the challenging economic climate.