Amazon Shoppers Tend to Shift Spending Habits During Prime Day: High Inflation to be Blamed?

Amazon Prime Day just finished last Wednesday, July 13, and now it's time to evaluate what items most shoppers bought during the shopping spree.

Surprisingly, it appears that consumer spending habits have shifted this time. Many people seem to be more interested in purchasing diapers, dishwasher pods, and other items than the most-sought robot vacuums and Echo speakers.

What could be the reason behind the shift in product preference?

Amazon Buyers Skipped Top-Selling Items

Throughout the two-day shopping bonanza, Amazon noticed that the consumer price index had dramatically risen to 9.1% last month. The consumer spending habit also went sideways since many customers have been slowly ditching other optional items on the shelves.

Analysts said that inflation is likely an important factor in why there's a shift in consumer spending habits during Prime Day 2022. At the time, they were more than willing to skip buying an Amazon Echo speaker despite seeing huge discounts, per CNBC.

Although the declining economic growth is evident in the US, Amazon was surprised that it managed to sell over 300 million products over the past three days.

In 2021, the Seattle-based company only sold 250 million items. This year is a game-changer, hence the "biggest" ever to happen in the history of the Prime Day event.

Clearly, inflation did not affect the sales of Amazon, but it changed the way consumers spend their money. Instead of going for luxuries, they tend to grab common household items including dishwasher pods, trash bags, and more.

"Sales are still very strong, but the shift mix in category is related to inflation, especially around food. If they could've figured out how to give away gas, it would've been the best Prime Day ever," Pacvue president Melissa Burdick said.

For those who don't know, Pacvue is an enterprise platform that specializes in helping companies with e-commerce advertising and sales.

Amount Spent During Amazon Prime Day

The tech industry is pumped up during the recent sales event as data firm Numerator says that people are still looking for more electronic gadgets in the store, per Fortune.

Of course, these items remain to be the most purchased in 2021. Health and beauty products are only second behind them. On average, the customer spends $34.08 per item.

This Prime Day, the average order cost a person spends hits $52.22. Numerator said that it slightly declined since 2021 the average money spent at that time was $54.15 per order.

CommerceIQ Guru Hariharan noted that consumers discovered some options outside Amazon, where the deals were much cheaper. It's more economical, and it's very practical to look for alternatives that will complement your budget.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry