Amazon’s extended Black Friday and Cyber Monday holiday promotional drive this year was its largest ever, the e-commerce giant announced on Tuesday, as the company rolled out deeper discounts to entice price-conscious consumers.
On a global basis, customers ordered more than a billion items on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the sales event, which lasted from Nov. 17 through Nov. 27.
The company noted that demand was particularly high for products like skin treatments, video doorbells, carpet cleaners, and recent movie titles such as “Barbie” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” on its Prime Video service. It was also boosted by the National Football League’s inaugural Black Friday game between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, which was streamed on Prime Video.
In a statement, Amazon said that shoppers saved almost 70% more on its platform compared to the same 11-day period last year, although it did not state how much was spent in total on the website during that time.
The announcement comes as media reports suggest that spending by U.S. consumers is expected to have surged to a record high of over $12 billion on Cyber Monday, while American retail sales both online and in stores on Black Friday grew by 2.5% annually.
Helping to push up expenditures this year has been a move by retailers to slash prices and roll out “buy now, pay later” short-term financing schemes in order to persuade inflation-squeezed consumers to open up their wallets.
Analysts at Wedbush noted that much of the spending activity has not been on big-ticket items like electronics and appliances, echoing recent outlooks for the key holiday shopping season from several U.S. retailers. As a result, the Wedbush analysts flagged “modest risk” to sales forecasts for the holidays and “incremental” pressures from the heavy promotions.
“It is still too early to determine whether retail sales will be as strong as forecasted for this full holiday season, especially given a volatile consumer and competitive environment,” the Wedbush analysts said.
However, they argued that Amazon and other companies with strong online offerings and a “best-in-class” fulfillment service are well-positioned to “finish the year on a strong note.”
