The online retail event of the summer is nearly upon us, and it’s a key time to check the pulse on the eCommerce industry. Even if you’re not selling on Amazon, it doesn’t mean you’re sitting this one out. Prime Day may be Amazon’s party, but it shifts the entire digital landscape—for better or worse.
Events in eCommerce and digital marketing are typically interconnected. When consumers are flocking to Amazon to find deals, they usually don’t stop there. They search around, compare prices, and sanity-check a product’s value before pulling the trigger. For direct-to-consumer brands, that can mean rising tides: more traffic, more intent, more opportunities—if your media is built to capitalize on it.
While Prime Day is obviously a boon for brands running Amazon Marketplace campaigns, it has a noticeable impact across other digital marketing channels. At ADM, we’ve seen firsthand how Prime Day influences our clients’ performance across SEM and Paid Social. That context matters heading into July 8–11.
What Marketing Learned From Prime Day 2024
Prime Day 2024 (July 16th and 17th) was a record-setting eCommerce event, with U.S. shoppers spending $14.2 billion online over the two days—an 11% increase over 2023. While Amazon still raked in the majority of that (~59%), its slice has been shrinking. That could signal that competing retailers and direct-to-consumer brands are learning how to siphon their own revenue off the overall increase in interest and intent. Notably, mobile accounted for nearly half of all sales, and social traffic saw a measurable uptick—both trends that we think will continue to matter just as much in 2025.
Beyond volume, last year’s event offered a window into changing buyer psychology. A lot of purchases were made, but the majority of them were very small: nearly two-thirds of items sold were priced under $20. At the same time, buy-now-pay-later usage jumped 17% YoY, suggesting that even in a high-intent environment, affordability remains a gating factor. For brands operating off-Amazon, it was a clear reminder that you don’t have to be on Marketplace to benefit so long as you are prepared to strategize and compete.
Performance Trends We Observed During Prime Day 2024
The underlying marketing metrics we observed during Prime Day 2024 back up the industry-wide sales numbers. Looking back on ad performance during those two days last July, ADM’s internal benchmarks demonstrated clear patterns across our portfolio of direct-to-consumer eCommerce and healthcare clients.
On SEM, cost-per-clicks (CPCs), click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates (CVRs) all increased—a clear indicator of heightened online shopping behavior across the board.
For Paid Social, cost-per thousand impressions (CPMs) rose by about 10% while CVRs dipped. Cost per acquisition (CPA) also climbed by about 18%. As brands (and Amazon itself) poured money into Prime Day social advertising, it meant that garnering attention was expensive—and harder to convert.
What We Expect This Year
Online shopping impulses aren’t going anywhere. Neither, ironically, are the value-minded shopping tendencies we saw last year. With gas, travel, and general household expenses running higher—not to mention many product costs—consumers may continue to be more selective this summer. That doesn’t mean they’re not buying, but value and justification matter more than ever. Low-priced, small margin items may continue to be the main driver of sales.
Search volume will climb.
With a flurry of shopping behavior, expect to see eCommerce-related searches to increase (and CPCs to rise along with them). If you’re looking to capitalize, make sure you have the budgets to remain competitive—and be prepared with urgency- and value-led messaging.
Paid Social will get noisy.
Based on the volume of sales the industry observed last year, it’s logical that both Amazon sellers and DTC brands will push hard on social advertising to try to get their piece of the pie. Budgeting wisely—including a strong push early in the week, just before Prime Days begin—will be important. You’ll also want to ensure you’re deploying your sharpest creative to break through.
Volatility is normal.
During huge sales events, you never want to suffer from runaway budget or get drowned out by your competitors. During this particular sales period, you’ll want to be monitoring performance even more closely than you would most summer weekends. Use pacing tools and make daily optimizations to stay on top of performance.
Adjusting Your Marketing Around Amazon Prime Day
Prime Day drives behavior—whether you’re on Amazon or not. And because it lands mid-year, it can also act as a preview and a test case preview for what’s to come this holiday season. This is a great time to pressure test your messaging and creative and spot which of your products are moving (and which aren’t). It’s also an ideal time to stress test new marketing tools and work out their kinks. Ultimately, Prime Day offers the opportunity to get smarter about where to lean in—or pull back—before Q4 hits.
Brands that win are the ones ready to meet big marketing moments with clarity, agility and strategy. If you’re looking for an agency partner that specializes in just that, don’t hesitate to reach out to the ADM team today:
