Latest news with #JamilGhani
Mint
10-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Amazon's four-day Prime Day gamble sees day one sales plunge, all you need to know
Amazon's decision to extend Prime Day to four days backfired on Day 1, with sales plunging 41% compared to last year's opening, according to e-commerce firm Momentum Commerce. The company, which manages $7 billion in annual Amazon sales for brands like Crocs and Beats, reported shoppers adopted a "wait-and-see" approach rather than rushing to buy. Amazon disputed these figures as "highly inaccurate" but didn't provide counter-data. Wall Street remained optimistic, pushing Amazon's stock up 1.5%, while analysts cautioned it's too early to judge the full event. Shoppers flooded Amazon but bought cautiously, filling carts without checking out immediately. Nearly two-thirds of purchases were under $20, with Dawn dish soap, Premier protein shakes, and Finish dishwasher aids topping sales charts. The average item cost dropped to $25.46 from $28 last year as buyers prioritized essentials over big-ticket electronics. Momentum Commerce CEO John Shea noted the four-day format eliminated "fear of missing out," encouraging "treasure hunting" behavior. Tariff uncertainties also led some brands to offer smaller discounts (21% average vs. 24% in 2024), further dampening urgency. Despite Amazon's slow start, total US online sales jumped 9.9% to $7.9 billion on Day 1 as Walmart, Target, and Wayfair ran competing sales . Adobe Analytics projects thatthe four-day period could hit $23.8 billion across all retailers. Momentum observed a "halo effect" where Prime Day buzz boosted non-Amazon sites, with direct-to-consumer brands seeing stronger growth . Amazon Prime VP Jamil Ghani defended the extended format, noting shoppers wanted more time and highlighting growth in everyday categories like teeth-whitening strips. Trade policy uncertainty loomed over the event, with brands trimming discounts due to fears of revived tariffs on Chinese imports. This marked Prime Day's first test as a prolonged "mid-year Black Friday" amid declining consumer confidence. While Amazon aimed to boost membership value with themed "Today's Big Deals," shoppers treated the event as a pantry-stocking opportunity rather than a splurge. The outcome hinges on Days 3-4: Momentum still forecasts a possible 9.1% overall sales gain if late deals trigger pent-up demand.
Bloomberg
09-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Members Needed More Time For Deals: Amazon Prime VP
Jamil Ghani, vice president of Amazon Prime, discusses the extension of Amazon's Prime Day from two to four days and how its Rufus AI tool is helping shoppers search deals. He joins Caroline Hyde on "Bloomberg Tech." (Source: Bloomberg)
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Amazon extends Prime Day discounts to 4 days as retailers weigh tariff-related price increases
Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day sales and offering new membership perks to Gen Z shoppers amid tariff-related price worries and possibly some consumer boredom with an event marking its 11th year. The ecommerce giant's promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members starts at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. For the first time, Seattle-based Amazon is holding the now-misnamed Prime Day over four days; the company launched the event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019. Before wrapping up Prime Day 2025 early Friday, Amazon said it would have deals dropping as often as every 5 minutes during certain periods. Prime members ages 18-24, who pay $7.49 per month instead of the $14.99 that older customers not eligible for discounted rates pay for free shipping and other benefits, will receive 5% cash back on their purchases for a limited time. Amazon executives declined to comment on the potential impact of tariffs on Prime Day deals. The event is taking place two and a half months after an online news report sparked speculation that Amazon planned to display added tariff costs next to product prices on its website. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denounced the purported change as a "hostile and political act" before Amazon clarified the idea had been floated for its low-cost Haul storefront but never approved. Amazon's past success with using Prime Day to drive sales and attract new members spurred other major retail chains to schedule competing sales in July. Best Buy, Target and Walmart are repeating the practice this year. Like Amazon, Walmart is adding two more days to its promotional period, which starts Tuesday and runs through July 13. The nation's largest retailer is making its summer deals available in stores as well as online for the first time. Here's what to expect: More days might not mean more spending Amazon expanded Prime Day this year because shoppers "wanted more time to shop and save," Amazon Prime Vice President Jamil Ghani recently told The Associated Press. Analysts are unsure the extra days will translate into more purchases given that renewed inflation worries and potential price increases from tariffs may make consumers less willing to spend. Amazon doesn't disclose Prime Day sales figures but said last year that the event achieved record global sales. Adobe Digital Insights predicts that the sales event will drive $23.8 billion in overall online spending from July 8 to July 11, 28.4% more than the similar period last year. In 2024 and 2023, online sales increased 11% and 6.1% during the comparable four days of July. Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, noted that Amazon's move to stretch the sales event to four days is a big opportunity to "really amplify and accelerate the spending velocity." Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights and strategy at software company Salesforce , noted that July sales in general have lost some momentum in recent years. Amazon is not a Salesforce customer, so the business software company is not privy to Prime Day figures. "What we saw last year was that (shoppers) bought and then they were done, " Schwartz said. "We know that the consumer is still really cautious. So it's likely we could see a similar pattern where they come out early, they're ready to buy and then they take a step back." Tariffs don't seem to be impacting costs much (so far) Amazon executives reported in May that the company and many of its third-party sellers tried to beat big import tax bills by stocking up on foreign goods before President Donald Trump's tariffs took effect. And because of that move, a fair number of third-party sellers hadn't changed their pricing at that time, Amazon said. Adobe Digital Insights' Pandya expects discounts to remain on par with last year and for other U.S. retail companies to mark 10% to 24% off the manufacturers' suggested retail price between Tuesday and Friday. Salesforce's Schwartz said she's noticed retailers becoming more precise with their discounts, such as offering promotion codes that apply to selected products instead of their entire websites. Shoppers might focus on necessities Amazon Prime and other July sales have historically helped jump-start back-to-school spending and encouraged advance planners to buy other seasonal merchandise earlier. Analysts said they expected U.S. consumers to make purchases this week out of fear that tariffs will make items more expensive later. Brett Rose, CEO of United National Consumer Supplies, a wholesale distributor of overstocked goods like toys and beauty products, thinks shoppers will go for items like beauty essentials. "They're going to buy more everyday items," he said. A look at the discounts As in past years, Amazon offered early deals leading up to Prime Day. For the big event, Amazon said it would have special discounts on Alexa-enabled products like Echo, Fire TV and Fire tablets. Walmart said its July sale would include a 32-inch Samsung smart monitor priced at $199 instead of $299.99; and $50 off a 50-Inch Vizio Smart TV with a standard retail price of $298.00. Target said it was maintaining its 2024 prices on key back-to-school items, including a $5 backpack and a selection of 20 school supplies totaling less than $20. Some third-party sellers will sit out Prime Day Independent businesses that sell goods through Amazon account for more than 60% of the company's retail sales. Some third-party sellers are expected to sit out Prime Day and not offer discounts to preserve their profit margins during the ongoing tariff uncertainty, analysts said. Rose, of United National Consumer Supplies, said he spoke with third-party sellers who said they would rather take a sales hit this week than use up a lot of their pre-tariffs inventory now and risk seeing their profit margins suffer later. However, some independent businesses that market their products on Amazon are looking to Prime Day to make a dent in the inventory they built up earlier in the year to avoid tariffs. Home fragrance company Outdoor Fellow, which makes about 30% of its sales through Amazon's marketplace, gets most of its candle lids, labels, jars, reed diffusers and other items from China, founder Patrick Jones said. Fearing high costs from tariffs, Jones stocked up at the beginning of the year, roughly doubling his inventory. For Prime Day, he plans to offer bigger discounts, such as 32% off the price of a candle normally priced at $34, Jones said. "All the product that we have on Amazon right now is still from the inventory that we got before the tariffs went into effect," he said. "So we're still able to offer the discount that we're planning on doing." Jones said he was waiting to find out if the order he placed in June will incur large customs duties when the goods arrive from China in a few weeks.
Yomiuri Shimbun
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Amazon Extends Prime Day Discounts to 4 Days as Retailers Weigh Tariffs and Price Increases
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day sales and offering new membership perks to Gen Z shoppers amid tariff-related price worries and possibly some consumer boredom with an event marking its 11th year. For the first time, Seattle-based Amazon is holding the now-misnamed Prime Day over four days. The e-commerce giant's promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members started at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday and ends early Friday. Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019. The company said this year's longer version would have deals dropping as often as every 5 minutes during certain periods. Prime members ages 18-24, who pay $7.49 per month instead of the $14.99 that older customers not eligible for discounted rates pay for free shipping and other benefits, will receive 5% cash back on their purchases for a limited time. Amazon executives declined to comment on the potential impact of tariffs on Prime Day deals. The event is taking place two and a half months after an online news report sparked speculation that Amazon planned to display added tariff costs next to product prices on its website. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denounced the purported change as a 'hostile and political act' before Amazon clarified the idea had been floated for its low-cost Haul storefront but never approved. Amazon's past success with using Prime Day to drive sales and attract new members spurred other major retail chains to schedule competing sales in July. Best Buy, Target and Walmart are repeating the practice this year. Like Amazon, Walmart is adding two more days to its promotional period, which starts Tuesday and runs through July 13. The nation's largest retailer is making its summer deals available in stores as well as online for the first time. Here's what to expect: More days might not mean more spending Amazon expanded Prime Day this year because shoppers 'wanted more time to shop and save,' Amazon Prime Vice President Jamil Ghani recently told The Associated Press. Analysts are unsure the extra days will translate into more purchases given that renewed inflation worries and potential price increases from tariffs may make consumers less willing to spend. Amazon doesn't disclose Prime Day sales figures but said last year that the event achieved record global sales. Adobe Digital Insights predicts that the sales event will drive $23.8 billion in overall online spending from July 8 to July 11, 28.4% more than the similar period last year. In 2024 and 2023, online sales increased 11% and 6.1% during the comparable four days of July. Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, noted that Amazon's move to stretch the sales event to four days is a big opportunity to 'really amplify and accelerate the spending velocity.' Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights and strategy at software company Salesforce, noted that July sales in general have lost some momentum in recent years. Amazon is not a Salesforce Commerce Cloud customer, so the business software company doesn't have access to the online giant's e-commerce sales and so is not privy to Prime Day figures. 'What we saw last year was that (shoppers) bought and then they were done, ' Schwartz said. 'We know that the consumer is still really cautious. So it's likely we could see a similar pattern where they come out early, they're ready to buy and then they take a step back.' Tariffs don't seem to be impacting costs much (so far) Amazon executives reported in May that the company and many of its third-party sellers tried to beat big import tax bills by stocking up on foreign goods before President Donald Trump's tariffs took effect. And because of that move, a fair number of third-party sellers hadn't changed their pricing at that time, Amazon said. Adobe Digital Insights' Pandya expects discounts to remain on par with last year and for other U.S. retail companies to mark 10% to 24% off the manufacturers' suggested retail price between Tuesday and Friday. Salesforce's Schwartz said she's noticed retailers becoming more precise with their discounts, such as offering promotion codes that apply to selected products instead of their entire websites. Shoppers might focus on necessities Amazon Prime and other July sales have historically helped jump-start back-to-school spending and encouraged advance planners to buy other seasonal merchandise earlier. Analysts said they expected U.S. consumers to make purchases this week out of fear that tariffs will make items more expensive later. Brett Rose, CEO of United National Consumer Supplies, a wholesale distributor of overstocked goods like toys and beauty products, thinks shoppers will go for items like beauty essentials. 'They're going to buy more everyday items,' he said. A look at the discounts As in past years, Amazon offered early deals leading up to Prime Day. For the big event, Amazon said it would have special discounts on Alexa-enabled products like Echo, Fire TV and Fire tablets. Walmart said its July sale would include a 32-inch Samsung smart monitor priced at $199 instead of $299.99; and $50 off a 50-Inch Vizio Smart TV with a standard retail price of $298.00. Target said it was maintaining its 2024 prices on key back-to-school items, including a $5 backpack and a selection of 20 school supplies totaling less than $20. Some third-party sellers will sit out Prime Day Independent businesses that sell goods through Amazon account for more than 60% of the company's retail sales. Some third-party sellers are expected to sit out Prime Day and not offer discounts to preserve their profit margins during the ongoing tariff uncertainty, analysts said. Rose, of United National Consumer Supplies, said he spoke with third-party sellers who said they would rather take a sales hit this week than use up a lot of their pre-tariffs inventory now and risk seeing their profit margins suffer later. However, some independent businesses that market their products on Amazon are looking to Prime Day to make a dent in the inventory they built up earlier in the year to avoid tariffs. Home fragrance company Outdoor Fellow, which makes about 30% of its sales through Amazon's marketplace, gets most of its candle lids, labels, jars, reed diffusers and other items from China, founder Patrick Jones said. Fearing high costs from tariffs, Jones stocked up at the beginning of the year, roughly doubling his inventory. For Prime Day, he plans to offer bigger discounts, such as 32% off the price of a candle normally priced at $34, Jones said. 'All the product that we have on Amazon right now is still from the inventory that we got before the tariffs went into effect,' he said. 'So we're still able to offer the discount that we're planning on doing.' Jones said he was waiting to find out if the order he placed in June will incur large customs duties when the goods arrive from China in a few weeks.
NBC News
08-07-2025
- Business
- NBC News
Amazon extends Prime Day discounts to 4 days as retailers weigh tariffs and price increases
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is extending its annual Prime Day sales and offering new membership perks to Gen Z shoppers amid tariff-related price worries and possibly some consumer boredom with an event marking its 11th year. For the first time, Seattle-based Amazon is holding the now-misnamed Prime Day over four days. The e-commerce giant's promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members started at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday and ends early Friday. Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019. The company said this year's longer version would have deals dropping as often as every 5 minutes during certain periods. Prime members ages 18-24, who pay $7.49 per month instead of the $14.99 that older customers not eligible for discounted rates pay for free shipping and other benefits, will receive 5% cash back on their purchases for a limited time. Amazon executives declined to comment on the potential impact of tariffs on Prime Day deals. The event is taking place two and a half months after an online news report sparked speculation that Amazon planned to display added tariff costs next to product prices on its website. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denounced the purported change as a 'hostile and political act' before Amazon clarified the idea had been floated for its low-cost Haul storefront but never approved. Amazon's past success with using Prime Day to drive sales and attract new members spurred other major retail chains to schedule competing sales in July. Best Buy, Target and Walmart are repeating the practice this year. Like Amazon, Walmart is adding two more days to its promotional period, which starts Tuesday and runs through July 13. The nation's largest retailer is making its summer deals available in stores as well as online for the first time. Here's what to expect: More days might not mean more spending Amazon expanded Prime Day this year because shoppers 'wanted more time to shop and save,' Amazon Prime Vice President Jamil Ghani recently told The Associated Press. Analysts are unsure the extra days will translate into more purchases given that renewed inflation worries and potential price increases from tariffs may make consumers less willing to spend. Amazon doesn't disclose Prime Day sales figures but said last year that the event achieved record global sales. Adobe Digital Insights predicts that the sales event will drive $23.8 billion in overall online spending from July 8 to July 11, 28.4% more than the similar period last year. In 2024 and 2023, online sales increased 11% and 6.1% during the comparable four days of July. Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, noted that Amazon's move to stretch the sales event to four days is a big opportunity to 'really amplify and accelerate the spending velocity.' Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights and strategy at software company Salesforce, noted that July sales in general have lost some momentum in recent years. Amazon is not a Salesforce Commerce Cloud customer, so the business software company doesn't have access to the online giant's e-commerce sales and so is not privy to Prime Day figures. 'What we saw last year was that (shoppers) bought and then they were done, ' Schwartz said. 'We know that the consumer is still really cautious. So it's likely we could see a similar pattern where they come out early, they're ready to buy and then they take a step back.' Tariffs don't seem to be impacting costs much (so far) Amazon executives reported in May that the company and many of its third-party sellers tried to beat big import tax bills by stocking up on foreign goods before President Donald Trump's tariffs took effect. And because of that move, a fair number of third-party sellers hadn't changed their pricing at that time, Amazon said. Adobe Digital Insights' Pandya expects discounts to remain on par with last year and for other U.S. retail companies to mark 10% to 24% off the manufacturers' suggested retail price between Tuesday and Friday. Salesforce's Schwartz said she's noticed retailers becoming more precise with their discounts, such as offering promotion codes that apply to selected products instead of their entire websites. Shoppers might focus on necessities Amazon Prime and other July sales have historically helped jump-start back-to-school spending and encouraged advance planners to buy other seasonal merchandise earlier. Analysts said they expected U.S. consumers to make purchases this week out of fear that tariffs will make items more expensive later. Brett Rose, CEO of United National Consumer Supplies, a wholesale distributor of overstocked goods like toys and beauty products, thinks shoppers will go for items like beauty essentials. 'They're going to buy more everyday items,' he said. A look at the discounts As in past years, Amazon offered early deals leading up to Prime Day. For the big event, Amazon said it would have special discounts on Alexa-enabled products like Echo, Fire TV and Fire tablets. Walmart said its July sale would include a 32-inch Samsung smart monitor priced at $199 instead of $299.99; and $50 off a 50-Inch Vizio Smart TV with a standard retail price of $298.00. Target said it was maintaining its 2024 prices on key back-to-school items, including a $5 backpack and a selection of 20 school supplies totaling less than $20. Some third-party sellers will sit out Prime Day Independent businesses that sell goods through Amazon account for more than 60% of the company's retail sales. Some third-party sellers are expected to sit out Prime Day and not offer discounts to preserve their profit margins during the ongoing tariff uncertainty, analysts said. Rose, of United National Consumer Supplies, said he spoke with third-party sellers who said they would rather take a sales hit this week than use up a lot of their pre-tariffs inventory now and risk seeing their profit margins suffer later. However, some independent businesses that market their products on Amazon are looking to Prime Day to make a dent in the inventory they built up earlier in the year to avoid tariffs. Home fragrance company Outdoor Fellow, which makes about 30% of its sales through Amazon's marketplace, gets most of its candle lids, labels, jars, reed diffusers and other items from China, founder Patrick Jones said. Fearing high costs from tariffs, Jones stocked up at the beginning of the year, roughly doubling his inventory. For Prime Day, he plans to offer bigger discounts, such as 32% off the price of a candle normally priced at $34, Jones said. 'All the product that we have on Amazon right now is still from the inventory that we got before the tariffs went into effect,' he said. 'So we're still able to offer the discount that we're planning on doing.' Jones said he was waiting to find out if the order he placed in June will incur large customs duties when the goods arrive from China in a few weeks.
