Reports: No Prime Day in sight, what should merchants do?

For the past few years, Amazon's Prime Day in the late summer has been a harbinger of what merchants can expect for the overall holiday season. This year, though, there has been no Prime Day and no information about when - if at all - Prime Day might happen. And that has had an impact on the overall success of many merchants' summer sales plans.

by Kristina Knight

According to new data out from Cardlytics back-to-school spending has been steady but with few spikes to indicate hot products moving forward. Apparel spending, for example, was up by 3% during the week of July 30, book spending was up 10% and mass merchandisers saw about a 6% increase in spending. The biggest winners from early back-to-school spending has in office supplies (100% YoY increase) and online education spending (132% YoY increase).

Meanwhile, data out from Piplsay indicates consumers are hoping that Prime Day still happens; about half of those surveyed for Piplsay's new report said they would shop a Prime Day event and about half say they've already begun making Prime Day wishlists. Most (77%) say they'd 'be comfortable' with home deliveries of products despite the Coronavirus pandemic.

More Piplsay data can be accessed here.

Amazon has yet to announce plans for a US Prime Day, although they did offer a Prime Day for India earlier this year.

Tags: Amazon Prime Day 2020, Cardlytics, ecommerce, ecommerce trends, Piplsay, retail tips, retail trends