Prime Day Easily Beats Out Black Friday

Move over, Black Friday—Amazon's Prime Day has pulled decisively ahead as the company's biggest online sales event, reports Quartz. Over four days in July, US shoppers spent $24.1 billion online—a 30% year-over-year leap and more than double Black Friday's take for 2024, according to stats from Adobe Analytics.

• Wide range: Adobe's report, based on over a trillion retail site visits, suggests shoppers weren't just picking up low-cost items: Sales of TVs (up 90%), appliances (112%), and electronics (95%) surged, along with those of more modest things such as office supplies (105%).

• Back to school: Prime Day seems to have become a "back-to-school shopping moment," notes Reuters. Sales of supplies such as backpacks and calculators jumped 175%, and dorm room gear (mini fridges, bedding) rose 84%.
• AI helpers: The sales surge also got a helping hand from technology: Shoppers increasingly leaned on AI-powered assistants, with traffic from these tools soaring 3,300%, reports TechCrunch.