Other retailers ride Amazon Prime Day coattails

Dive Brief:

Retailers are riding Amazon’s third annual Prime Day coattails, with J.C. Penney re-instituting its “Penney Palooza” online sale again this year (the event spurred a 13% increase in site conversions compared to its daily average, according to Multichannel Merchant), online electronics retailer Newegg is reprising its " FantasTech" sale, and kitchen supplies retailer Sur La Table bringing back its “Lime Day” specials. Macy’s, Kohl’s and Best Buy are also advertising markdowns around the July 11 shopping holiday, according to Money Magazine. Notably, Walmart seems to have ditched its Prime Day “Dare to Compare” strategy from last year.
On Amazon Prime Day, major e-commerce sites gain at all phases of the conversion funnel, according to research from digital advertising and analytics firm Criteo emailed to Retail Dive. Last year, the total number of shoppers visiting major e-commerce websites rose 15%, total number of add-to-basket events increased 40%, average conversion rate rose 27%, total number of transactions increased 45% and total order value increased 55%, Criteo found.
Meanwhile, Amazon continues to unveil various benefits to its event: Customers in more than 30 U.S. cities will be able to shop exclusive Prime Day deals for ultra-fast delivery, and Prime members will get $10 off their first Prime Now order and $10 off their next order using promotional code 10PRIMEDAY, the e-commerce giant said in an email Thursday.

Dive Insight:

If you’re a retailer that's not Amazon, what to do about Prime Day? It’s not exactly the same question as whether to open on Thanksgiving, but some rivals clearly believe they must do something to counter Amazon's blockbuster self-made sales event.

After Prime Day 2016 was over, Amazon called it the single biggest day in company history, with global merchandise sales eclipsing the first Prime Day event by more than 60% worldwide and more than 50% in the U.S. It was also the biggest day ever for Amazon devices globally. In all, Prime members across the globe saved more than double on deals over Prime Day 2015, the online retailer said.

The data from Criteo suggests consumers are online and shopping beyond Amazon regardless of whether the other retailers are trumpeting Prime Day-related specials.

As with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Singles Day, which heavily overshadows even Black Friday with its record $18 billion in sales for Alibaba alone last year, Prime Day is becoming an increasingly important date on the retail calendar. Singles Day, a shopping holiday concocted by Alibaba six years ago and named for all the “ones” in the date Nov. 11, has also shown benefits to other retailers. Rival JD.com and Western brands like Zara, Macy’s, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus all held sales and reaped benefits that same day. "Amazon Prime Day serves as a rising tide that lifts all retail boats," Criteo said in an email.