Recently, I went shopping at our local Best Buy to look for a new toaster oven and cordless and bagless vac. All the salesperson showed us was pictures of what they could get with nothing in stock to satisfy our immediate needs. No doubt I and my wife were a bit taken back as the store seems to have changed from its neighborhood installation years ago of having everything most consumers need to buy! So, where did we go to get what was in our immediate needs box? You guessed it! Amazon! They filled the order promptly and we received it in a relatively quick timetable. If local stores can't provide needed products as we move further into the middle of the 21st Century, the local shopping experience is in for a big change, affecting jobs and local economies!  Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D.

Amazon Prime Day: Ad Spend Contributes to An Estimated $14B Consumer Spend Online

• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, over 1 hour ago

On the first day of Amazon Prime Day brands bought ads, and consumers showed their loyalty to brands by purchasing lots of products.

Adobe Analytics data released Wednesday shows the impact of marketing dollars spent during the first day of the Amazon Prime Day event.

Across major marketing channels, social networks saw the biggest lift at 16% when it came to revenue contribution.

Display ads also got a lift in revenue share, rising 12.5%. Affiliates and partners, which includes influencer marketing, was another major contributor, up 9.8%, while paid search lagged rising a mere 6.2%.

Consumers spent $7.2 billion on July 16, the first day of the Prime Day event. This represents 11.7% growth year-over-year (YoY) and marks the single biggest ecommerce day in 2024.

It also marked the biggest mobile shopping day of the year, so far, contributing $3.5 billion in online spend. It represents 49.3% share versus desktop shopping.    

Based on Adobe Analytics data, the analysis covers more than one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories.

Adobe estimates consumers will spend $14 billion online across the two-day event, growing 10.5% year-over-year (YoY) during the two-day Amazon Prime Day event, setting a new record.

This comes after a strong year so far for ecommerce, where consumers have already spent $502.9 billion online from January 1 to June 30, 2024, up 7.4% YoY.

In the next 3 months -- from July 1 through September 30, 2024 -- Adobe is forecasting $229.1 billion in online spend, up 7.2% YoY. 

On the first day, online sales were driven by electronics, which rose 33% compared with the average daily sales in June 2024. The greatest influence came from headphones while bluetooth speakers jumped 164%. Televisions rose 83%; fitness trackers, 81%; tablets, 71%; e-readers, 65%; and computers, 64%.

Video games rose 134%, while small kitchen appliances were up 82%; perfume and cologne, up 49%; and power tools, 37% higher.

Back-to-school spending also got a boost, with spend up 210% on July 16 compared with daily sales levels in June 2024. Popular products included backpacks, lunchboxes, and stationery.