How Amazon Prime Day compares to holiday sales
For reference, July 8 — the first 24 hours of this year’s Amazon Prime Day event — generated more online sales than Thanksgiving did in 2024 ($6.1 billion), according to Adobe Analytics data sets for both days. And $4 billion (or 50.2%) of ecommerce sales on July 8 came from mobile devices.
The $7.9 billion that U.S. consumers spent online on July 8 also exceeds sales from each of the weekend days during last year’s Cyber 5. The Cyber 5 refers to the five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. Consumers had spent about $5.3 billion on Small Business Saturday and about $5.6 billion on that Sunday, Digital Commerce 360 previously reported.
After the first of Amazon’s four-day Prime event, Adobe reaffirms its forecast that the entire period will generate $23.8 billion in U.S. online sales. If accurate, that would represent about the same sales total as two Black Fridays.
Amazon Prime Day 2025 sales trends
Adobe said it’s “tracking the impact of marketing investments during the Prime Day event, profiling how different channels contribute to revenue share.”
Paid search remained the top driver of retail sales, Adobe said, representing 28.1% of sales. That’s 1.8% growth year over year. Affiliates and partners as a category — which includes social media influencers — had a smaller share of sales but a larger growth rate (19.8% and 3.7%, respectively). That was the same case for social media networks (3.2% share, 10.3% growth). Furthermore, Adobe data found that influencers led shoppers to convert at a rate of 9x that of social media networks.
Adobe data found that consumers traded up to higher-ticket items on the first Prime Day. Across all categories, Adobe said, the share of the most expensive goods increased by 20% compared to average levels year to date.
In electronics, that share rose by 55%, according to Adobe. It increased 35% for appliances, 30% each for sporting goods and furniture, and 20% for toys. To a lesser extent, consumers spent more on higher-ticket personal care items (15%) and apparel (10%).
On the other hand, consumers “embraced lower-priced products” in two categories: home and garden (where the share of most expensive goods decreased 2%) and grocery (down 6%).
Also on the first Prime Day of summer 2025, generative AI usage “spiked,” Adobe said.
“Consumers are embracing generative AI-powered chat services and browsers as a shopping assistant,” Adobe said. “Yesterday [July 8], generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites (measured by shoppers clicking on a link) increased by 4,100% YoY. And while AI-driven traffic remains modest compared to other channels (paid search, email), the growth shows the impact of AI on shoppers looking for deals or specific product details.”
Similarly, consumers leaned into buy now, pay later (BNPL). Adobe data found that consumers used BNPL for 6.4% of online orders on July 8, driving $613.4 million in revenue. That’s up 13.6% year over year.
Most popular products for Prime Day sales
“‘Back-to-school’ shopping has also seen a substantial uptick,” Adobe said. Spending has increased 190% for school supplies, which include backpacks, lunchboxes and stationery. At the same time, sales of dorm essentials — which include mattresses, microwaves, mini fridges and bedroom linens — grew 105%.
Certain categories had particularly high sales growth compared to average daily sales in June 2025.
- Appliances (up 135%)
- Electronics (up 95%)
- Tools & home improvement (up 85%)
- Home & garden (up 75%)
- Furniture (up 55%)
- Apparel (up 45%)
- Toys (up 35%)
Meanwhile, some products were “hot sellers,” according to Adobe.
- Kids’ apparel (up 305%)
- Home security products (up 260%)
- Refrigerators & freezers (up 200%)
- Computers (up 180%)
- Vacuum cleaners (up 175%)
- Headphones & speakers (up 155%)
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