1. Gift Cards were popular this Prime Day
Overall, the Gift Card category on Slickdeals was up 36% in sales year-over-year. Out of our top 10 performing deals, 4 were gift cards, with one taking first place. On Prime Day 2020, the most popular gift cards were for home improvement, video games, self-care, and shopping. This year, the majority were food-related: UberEats, Chipotle, and Domino’s.
The top performing gift card for both years was an Amazon offer. Amazon Prime Members who purchased or reloaded a $40 Amazon gift card received a free $10 credit. Given that the gift card market is currently worth over $680B and is expected to grow over $3T in value by 20231, we expect to see continued growth in the gift card category throughout this year’s holiday season.
2. Two deals from Prime Day 2020 resurfaced this year
The Waterpik Aquarius Water Flosser and the $40 Amazon gift card made their deal debut for Prime Day last year, and performed pretty well, but how did they fare being published 8 months later for the same shopping event?
Both engagement and sales for the waterpik decreased YoY. Could it be a shift in what shoppers are looking for? Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, self-care was a hot shopping trend. As normalcy creeps in, consumers may be more interested in refreshing their wardrobes, dining out, and continuing to upgrade their homes. When we looked at our most engaging categories for Prime Day this year, we noticed that Health & Beauty was knocked out of the top 5, suggesting this potential shift in priorities.
The Amazon gift card deal fared significantly better in terms of sales YoY, despite having lower overall engagement. This could point to shoppers having a higher intent to purchase, resulting in more meaningful clicks. Overall, this deal generated the most sales on Slickdeals for Prime Day 2021.
3. The Grocery category fell out of the top 5
In 2020, the Grocery category ranked #4 in the top 5 selling categories on Slickdeals for Prime Day. This year, Grocery fell down to spot #7 in sales, despite being ranked as one of our most engaging categories. Moreover, engagement with specific types of deals within the grocery category shifted from food items to household products when compared to last year. A high level of engagement but lower sales could point to a decreased urgency to buy.
4. Other retailers are expanding their Prime Day market share on Slickdeals
Big box retailers Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and eBay increased their collective share of sales on Slickdeals by 10.38% for Prime Day this year. With the rollout of annual sales events in direct competition with Prime Day, such as Target’s Deal Days and Walmart’s Deals for Days, we saw an increased number of non-Amazon deals surface on the Slickdeals site for the major two-day shopping event.
5. More women shopped on Slickdeals for Prime Day
Although Slickdeals typically sees a larger male audience, we were surprised (and excited) to see increased traffic from women on Prime Day. Overall, the women’s share of audience increased by over 13% compared to a normal day. Likewise, the share of audience in-market for beauty and personal care products grew by 56% which could correlate with the swell of female visitors.
1“2021 Key Market Trends in Prepaid and Gift Cards.” Prepaid2Cash Blog, 16 Apr. 2021, blog.prepaid2cash.com/2021-key-market-trends-in-prepaid-and-gift-cards/.