CNBC는 아마존(Amazon)이 지난 ‘프라임데이(Prime Day)’ 동안에 $100 million(약 1천억 개)이상의 제품이 판매됐고 ‘역대 최고의 매출’을 달성했다고 전했다.
구체적인 수치 공개는 되지 않았지만, 아마존은 이번 행사를 통해 상당수의 프라임 신규 회원을 모객한 것으로 보인다.
판매 인기 상품으로는 파이어 TV 스틱(Fire TV Stick), 에코 쇼(Echo Show), 에코 스팟(Echo Spot)과 같은 아마존 고유 상품에서 매출이 급상승했고, 이 외에도 멀티쿠커(Multicooker), 라이프스트로(LifeStraw) 필터 정수기와 같은 비 아마존 제품 판매량도 늘었다.
작년 프라임데이 기간에 아마존은 평일 대비 총매출이 60% 이상 증가했는데, 이는 블랙프라이데이(Black Friday)와 사이버먼데이(Cyber Monday)의 매출을 합친 것보다 큰 수치다. 그리고 $100 million(약 100억 명)이 넘는 신규회원을 유치했다고 밝힌 바 있는데 올해 매출액은 아직 공개되지 않은 상태다.
아마존은 올해 행사에 홀푸드(Whole Foods)와 첫 제휴를 맺고 프라임데이 동안에 가령 $10(약 1000원)의 음식을 구매했다면, 같은 가격의 쿠폰을 지급하고 식료품 구매 시 할인받을 수 있는 혜택 프로모션도 진행했다.
업계 관계자들은 작년의 매출 상승세를 기반을 바탕으로 아마존이 올해 최소 $3.6 billion(약 4조)의 매출을 올릴 것으로 내다봤다.
아마존은 프라임데이 프로모션 시작 직후 웹사이트 상 결함과 지속적인 서버 문제로 소비자들이 대거 이탈하는 상황을 겪었지만, 정상화되고 난 이후 12시간 동안 매출이 약 90% 상승했다고 전했다.
아마존 측은 “고객들에게 불편을 끼친 점에 대해 반성하고 있으며, 내년 행사에서는 이번 일을 토대로 실수를 줄이도록 하겠다”라고 말했다.
한편, 아마존은 프라임데이가 시작된 17일 동안에 사이트 내 입점한 중소기업에서 $1 billion(약 10억) 이상의 매출이 일어났고, 다음날 아침에는 매출 최고치를 기록해 아마존의 거래액이 지난해 대비 80% 상승한 $900 billion(약 900억)을 달성했다고 밝혔다.
유통 경쟁사에서도 프라임데이에 대응하기 위한 할인 행사들이 이어졌다. 17일 단 하루 동안 할인 행사를 진행한 타깃(Target)은 올해 중 최다 트래픽과 더불어 최고 매출을 올렸다고 전했다.
어도비 디지털 인사이트(Adobe Digital Insights) 이사 테일러 슈레이너(Schreiner)은 “아마존 프라임데이에의 인기가 높아지면서 많은 업체들이 자체 이벤트를 제공하기 시작했다”라며 “일제히 많은 고객들이 아마존을 방문하고 있는 만큼 입점 업체들이 매출을 올릴 수 있는 좋은 기회”라고 전했다.
Amazon said Wednesday that this year’s Prime Day was its “biggest in history” as Prime members purchased more than 100 million products during this year’s event.
The Seattle giant did not provide specifics, and added it had more sign-ups for Prime on July 16 than any previous day in the company’s history. Amazon uses the discount celebration to grab new members and promote its products and services.
The day was a boon for some of Amazon’s own products, with some of its best-sellers being the Fire TV Stick, Echo Show and Echo Spot. Non-Amazon products also sold well including the Instant Pot multicooker and LifeStraw personal water filtration system.
Last year, Amazon said sales grew more than 60 percent during the event, breaking a record at the time and surpassing Amazon’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales combined. The company had also added “tens of millions of Prime members” to its platform — helping it surpass 100 million people for the first time earlier this year.
When reached for further details about Amazon’s sales growth this year, a spokeswoman for Amazon told CNBC the website has not “shared percentage growth this year.”
It was also the first Prime Day that Amazon owned Whole Foods, which has been touting its own deals throughout the week and offered shoppers $10 to spend on Amazon if they spent $10 on groceries. At Whole Foods, the best-selling deal was organic strawberries, the company said.
Industry analysts had been anticipating Amazon could ring up at least $3.6 billion in sales globally through midnight Tuesday.
A series of glitches on Amazon’s website Monday around 3 p.m. ET stalled many users from purchasing items or searching deals right away. But an early report said Prime Day sales on Amazon’s third-party marketplace were up nearly 90 percent during the first 12 hours of the event from a year ago. (In 2017, Prime Day kicked off at 9 p.m. ET.)
“We know there were some disappointed customers and we regret any bad experience, even for just one customer,” the Amazon spokeswoman said. “Fortunately, many Prime members were able to access our deals – that’s apparent in the numbers we’re seeing. And we have some key learnings for next year.”
Amazon said late in the day Tuesday that small- and medium-sized businesses globally had already exceeded more than $1 billion in sales. (CNBC also this week reported on Amazon sellers who say they were unfairly suspended before Prime Day.)
Amazon shares hit a record high Wednesday morning, topping a market capitalization of $900 billion. Its stock had already been up about 80 percent from a year ago.
Retailers competing with Amazon have also been trying to soak up some sales this week, offering their own deals events online. Target, which had a one-day sale running on its website, said Tuesday it was the “highest single day of traffic and sales of 2018” online so far for the company.
According to Adobe Analytics, retailers with more than $1 billion in revenue saw a 54 percent increase in sales compared with an average Tuesday. The service did not say whether that increase includes Amazon. Adobe measures online transactions for 80 of the largest 100 U.S. web retailers.
Retailers with less than $5 million in revenue, though, saw online sales drop 18 percent on Prime Day.
“As a result of Amazon’s holiday increasing in popularity, numerous retailers offered deals on their own sites to combat Amazon, turning mid-July into a mini holiday shopping season. People love to comparison shop, with many turning to Amazon’s competitors to compare deals and prices. Prime Day has turned into a huge opportunity for all online retailers,” said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights.
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