Amazon’s 2019 Prime Day sales topped its 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday’s combined (AMZN)

This is an excerpt from a story delivered exclusively to Business Insider Intelligence Payments & Commerce subscribers. To receive the full story plus other insights each morning, click here.
This makes both days of the Amazon-founded sales event, which ran July 15-16, the third and fourth days ever to reach this milestone outside of the holiday season, according to data from Adobe Analytics sent to Business Insider Intelligence.

The event was first introduced by Amazon in 2015, but now many retailers compete for sales during Prime Day, and the impressive sales totals suggest there may be enough interest from consumers to justify the competition.

Amazon noted that Prime Day 2019 was "once again the largest shopping event in Amazon history," racking up more sales than it did during Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 combined.

The e-tailer sold more than 175 million items, showing that it’s still the focal point of its sales holiday. While Amazon didn’t reveal an exact number of items sold during Prime Day 2018 or 2019, it did increase its reported baseline from "more than 100 million products" to "more than 175 million items," so it appears Amazon’s performance during the event is still gaining. It’s important to note that the 2019 edition of the event ran for 48 hours while the 2018 iteration was just 36 hours. Competing e-tailers are increasingly trying to attract consumers during Prime Day, so this rising performance is important for Amazon as it may mean it’s not losing its grip on the event.
Amazon added more Prime subscribers during Prime Day 2019 than ever before, so the event is still a strong recruiting tool that can boost its volume long term. On the first day of the event, Amazon signed up more Prime subscribers than on any previous day, and the second day brought in more than any prior day but the first day. Prime subscribers are incredibly valuable to Amazon because they’re estimated to spend more than nonsubscribers, but the subscription may be approaching saturation in the US market. To access Amazon’s Prime Day deals, consumers need a Prime subscription, making it a good opportunity to boost its ranks. It’s unknown if most of the new subscribers are coming from the US or other countries where Prime is still gaining popularity, but Prime Day was a boon for Amazon’s subscription service regardless, which should further grow Amazon’s share of e-commerce around the world.

Other retailers thrived during the event too, with increased traffic and conversion boosting their volume. Over the two-day event, "large retailers" and "niche retailers" — defined as retailers with greater than $1 billion in annual revenue and less than $5 million, respectively — saw significant revenue lift, up 68% year-over-year (YoY) for the former and 28% YoY for the latter, according to Adobe Analytics.

And increases in visits were estimated to have been responsible for 49% of these lifts, while better conversion rates made up 46% of the rise. These increases could be thanks to factors like improved marketing, more attractive deals from retailers as they become more familiar with selling on Prime Day, as well as Prime Day’s growing profile, all of which would drive sales. And as non-Amazon e-tailers get more practice at selling on Prime Day, these results may rise even higher in future years.

Interested in getting the full story? Here are two ways to get access:

Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to the Payments & Commerce Briefing, plus more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you’ll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >>Learn More Now
Current subscribers can read the full briefing here.