Other Retailers Compete for Prime Day Dollars

A record 300 retailers and counting are offering their sales on Prime Day this year, about a 29 percent increase over last year, according to internal data from RetailMeNot.

Amazon Prime began their July event exclusively for Prime members back in 2015. Since then the mid-July sale has drawn consumers to the site in droves and now competes with Black Friday and Cyber Monday as major retail days. Last year, retailers made $4 billion more in July than in December.

Some analysts worry that other retailers may be hurting themselves down the road. Consumers who spend across multiple retailers in July may be less likely to go back later in the summer when back-to-school shopping dominates consumer spending. Stores like J.C. Penny and Staples are rolling out their own mid-July sales blitz, but are placing core back-to-school items on the sales page, potentially cutting into consumer spending in late August.

Whether retailers mark down prices or not, Adobe and Salesforce both estimate that eCommerce overall benefits from a Prime Day halo-effect. Adobe estimates a 79 percent revenue bump for other retailers during Prime Day this year, while Salesforce ballparks the growth for non-Amazon retailers at 51 percent for Prime Day.