Amazon Prime Day Sales Up Despite Supply Chain Issues
Global Supply Chain issues are still plaguing purchasing efforts across the globe. Despite shortages across many industries and limited discounts on popular products, Amazon still saw strong sales growth due to this summer’s “Prime Day” sales.
Amazon uses Prime Day to boost the number of subscriptions to its loyalty program. This year’s event was met with stiffer competition from rivals such as Target.
Larger retailers saw online sales jump 28% this year during the prime event. In past years, sales increased by 54% and 64% in 2018 and 2019 respectively, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index.
Analysts are predicting that sales from Prime Day will total between $9.5 billion and $12 billion, which would set a record for the online shopping event.
On the first day of Prime Day this year, the biggest discounts on products were applied to toys, home appliances and electronics. According to Adobe, the discounts applied were relatively low compared to years past.
“Prime members are saving big and taking advantage of the widest selection of deals we’ve ever had on Prime Day,” Amazon said in a statement.
Despite increased sales, some sellers on Amazon have reported challenges this year due to COVID-19 related supply chain issues that have caused high shipping costs, limited warehouse capacity and shortages of items such as computer chips.
“(High costs) are squeezing small- to medium-sized Amazon sellers, who don’t have enough capital to offer the really big savings,” said Kurt Trauth, senior vice president of customer experience strategy and analytics at Stratifyd.
Story via Reuters
