This is the final installment in a series of reports where PYMNTS Intelligence compares data from this year’s Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week special sales events. It aims to elevate key insights and takeaways for executives, merchants and consumers.
Our first report revealed that though fewer consumers participated in Walmart’s event than Amazon’s, Walmart shoppers spent more on average. In the second installment, we found that shoppers used both summer sales events to purchase discounted and regular-priced items, with health and beauty products particularly popular. As both Walmart+ Week and Amazon Prime Day were member-only events, member participation was key to their success.
As this series closes, PYMNTS Intelligence examines how sales events play a role in a consumers’ decision to sign up for subscriptions. It also reveals what payment methods participants use when shopping the sales events.
Overall, data suggests consumers mostly view sales events as a membership perk rather than the reason to become a member. Special event shoppers primarily look for deals to stock up on products they purchase regularly. A growing share turn to a pay later option to complete a purchase. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) usage during the events among struggling paycheck-to-paycheck shoppers doubled compared to last year. This suggests that consumers who are more financially constrained tend to find pay later options more attractive.
Amazon Prime and Walmart+ Week — More A Perk Than A Membership Driver
When asked why they participated in Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week special events, consumers’ answer was simple: Good deals on things they already buy. Roughly 75% of shoppers for both events said deals on products they need were an influential reason to participate. Yet, these sales events are the not the main reason consumers join Amazon Prime and Walmart+.
We found that 80% of consumers say they subscribe to Amazon Prime mostly for free shipping. In fact, 57% named it the most important reason they subscribe. For Walmart+, free shipping (named by 61%) and grocery delivery (49%) are the most popular reasons consumers subscribe.
Meanwhile, less than one-third of consumers (30%) say they joined Walmart+ because of sales events like Walmart+ Week. Similarly, approximately one-quarter of Amazon Prime shoppers (23%) report subscribing to the service because of Amazon Prime Day. This suggests that consumers view summer sales events as membership perk — but not necessarily as a motivator to subscribe. In other words, there is room for Amazon Prime and Walmart+ to make these events even more impactful for their subscribers, especially if they want to convert non-subscribers into members.
BNPL Usage Among Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week Shoppers on the Rise
Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week shoppers had a wide variety of payment options when completing purchases during these sales events. Debit cards, a traditional option, were most popular. Most Walmart+ Week shoppers (62%) and Amazon Prime Day shoppers (52%) made a purchase during their respective events via debit.
Credit cards came in second. Amazon Prime Day participants were slightly more likely to use a credit card to complete their purchases than Walmart+ Week shoppers, at 46% versus 43%, respectively. Meanwhile, 4 in 10 shoppers used a digital wallet at Walmart+ Week, with 28% using PayPal and 24% using Walmart Pay. Digital wallets are not a payment option at Amazon.
Nontraditional options gained steam, with the share of consumers using BNPL increasing from last year. This year, 5.2% of Amazon Prime Day shoppers used BNPL to complete a purchase, up from 3.3% last year. Among Walmart+ Week shoppers, 7.2% used BNPL to pay for their purchases, up from 5.0% last year. Although there is certainly much room for growth, shoppers are using pay later options to strike when sales are hot and stock up on essentials.
Twice as Many Paycheck-to-Paycheck Shoppers Used BNPL This Year During the Events
At both Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week, BNPL usage increased among all event participants. This was especially true among struggling paycheck-to-paycheck consumers. This year, 12% of Amazon Prime Day shoppers who live paycheck to paycheck with issues paying bills used BNPL for their purchases — nearly doubling last year’s share. These consumers repeated this pattern at Walmart+ Week, where roughly 14% of paycheck-to-paycheck consumers living with difficulty used BNPL for purchases compared to 6.2% last year, a 126% increase.
Sales event shoppers who do not live paycheck to paycheck were very unlikely to use BNPL. At both events, just 2% of these consumers paid for an item via BNPL. That finding is consistent with previous years, as these sales event shoppers who can save consistently do not use BNPL. As consumers are completing large purchases to stock up essentials at both events, it seems shoppers are using spending power how they can: struggling paycheck-to-paycheck consumers lean more on BNPL while other consumers use different tools available to them.
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PYMNTS Intelligence has covered this clash of the titans both inside and outside the context of sales events. For more, read any of these data reports chronicling their often neck-and-neck race for consumer retail spend, including a deeper dive into how Amazon Prime Day sales stacked up versus the Walmart+ Week event.
