Amazon’s Prime Day Leaves Walmart+ Deal Days in Summer Haze

As Amazon and Walmart compete to win consumers’ retail spending, it seems the former may have had more success with its summer deals event than the latter, widening the gap beyond even last year’s marked disparity.  

The eCommerce behemoth shared Thursday (July 18) that Prime Day participation reached new heights, “with record sales and more items sold during the two-day event than any previous Prime Day event.”

“We love helping Prime members save money, and Prime Day is the ultimate celebration of the savings, selection, and convenience that Prime membership provides customers looking for shopping, entertainment, food delivery, and more,” Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said in a statement.

Further reports indicate that the company saw an 11% increase in spending over the 48-hour sale, reaching $14.2 billion.

Walmart, meanwhile, appears to have seen a decrease in summer sales event participation, at least among its paid Walmart+ members. The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Walmart+ Week 2024,” which drew from a survey of more than 7,700 United States consumers, found that roughly 30% were Walmart+ members, and of those, 45% participated in the retailer’s recent members-only sale. As such, 14% of consumers made a purchase during the savings event.

This share marks a notable decrease from the 20% of consumers that PYMNTS Intelligence research showed last year. Conversely, Amazon’s Prime Day garnered twice the participation, with 40% of U.S. consumers participating, per the study “Summer Deal Days 2023: How Amazon Still Dominates.” If Amazon’s event has only grown this year, and Walmart’s has fallen, it seems the disparity between the two continues to grow wider.

Yet Walmart was not ready to call it quits after the event. Shortly after the close of its Walmart+ week, it announced another summer savings event, Walmart Deals, which ran earlier this month and was open to everyone, including those who are not members of the Walmart+ program. Walmart has not released any information about how the event fared.

Amazon, for its part, has been doubling down on deals days as well. This year, it added a spring savings event, the Big Spring Sale. PYMNTS Intelligence’s study “Amazon First Annual Big Spring Sale: A Sale Too Many?” found that 28% of U.S. consumers shopped during the event, a 29% decrease from Amazon’s last major sales event, though the event was the first one open to non-Prime members. Still, Amazon’s record-breaking Prime Day this year would suggest that the sale did not cannibalize any sales from the company’s blockbuster events.

Plus, Amazon holds the lead in consumer retail spending overall. PYMNTS Intelligence’s report “Whole Paycheck Report: New Consumer Spend Data Finds Amazon Way Ahead of Walmart” estimated the two retail giants’ market share in various categories based on earnings reports in conjunction with  U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis data. The findings showed that, by the end of last year, Amazon held a 10% share of U.S. consumers’ retail spending to Walmart’s 7.3%. Plus, the difference is growing wider over time, with Amazon gaining ground while Walmart’s share holds roughly steady.

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