Amazon Prime Day 2024 sends online spending soaring as UK shoppers splash out £1.3 billion across two day period

Data from Adobe, powered by Adobe Analytics, shows that online spending around Prime Day reached record highs again this year, hitting £1.3 billion as retailers across the e-commerce universe joined Amazon in offering deals during the two-day event. 

The summer Prime Day sale has become a key annual shopping holiday, with retailers ranging from small independent brands to e-commerce giants offering deep discounts to stimulate sales over 16th-17th July.

Online spending jumped 8.8% above 2023 levels as discounts of up to 18-19% in electronics, apparel, and TVs encouraged Brits to head online to bag a deal.

The first 24 hours of this year’s Prime Day event saw £633.4 million spent online, making it the biggest day for online shopping so far in 2024. The second day saw a further £618 million spent online, coming in at a close second place.

The top performing categories were electronics, apparel, and home/furniture, with the largest discounts seen in electronics and apparel. 14.9% of online sales across the 48-hour period were funded through buy now, pay later services, accounting for £186.4 million in spend, up 6.5% year over year.

The record spending over 16th-17th July could signal an upturn in fortunes for UK retailers, who have faced sluggish growth in online spending this year. 

Despite the progress of the England team through the Euros and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour landing in the UK, online spending for June grew by a meagre 1.3% YoY, reaching a total of £9 billion.

“Prime Day has once again proven to be the biggest online shopping event for the UK market with the two-day sales period seeing significant growth and an increase of £101.3 million in sales compared with last year,” says Vivek Pandya, Lead Analyst, Adobe Digital Insights.

“With the first UK leg of the Eras Tour and England’s performance in the Euros failing to deliver the levels of growth retailers were hoping for, these major shopping events become even more important.”

“This year’s boost will come as welcome relief for retailers who have faced sluggish growth in the first half of 2024, but the heavy discounting needed to generate these sales will put a bigger squeeze on margins."