US online sales hit $7.2 billion on first day of Amazon Prime Day event, Adobe says

(Reuters) -Shoppers spent about $7.2 billion online across retailers during the first day of Amazon (NASDAQ:)’s Prime Day in the United States, according to a report from Adobe (NASDAQ:) Analytics on Wednesday.

Major retailers including Walmart (NYSE:) and Target have launched deals and shopping events through July to attract customers by offering deep discounts to compete with the Amazon sales event.

Amazon has been able to take away market share from other retailers during the month as customers get access to sizable discounts during Prime Day, which began a decade ago, and can place orders for items available for same- or one-day delivery.

Back-to-school spending has also seen a major uptick and was up 210% on Tuesday compared to daily sales levels in June 2024, according to Adobe Analytics, which studies e-commerce transaction data.

Adobe said total online sales rose 11.7% on July 16. In 2023, shoppers spent $12.7 billion online across retailers over two days when the Prime Day event was on.

This year Amazon has also offered early access to deals even before the two-day event began to pull forward some demand.

Average spend per order for Amazon was $60.03 during the first 32 hours of the Prime Day event, compared with $56.64 in 2023, according to data firm Numerator.

Adobe, which relies on direct-to-consumer transactions based on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, said shoppers will find major deals on Wednesday, with discounts of around 23% for electronics, 20% for apparel and 15% for toys.