Adobe: Prime Day event drove $24.1 billion in online spend across U.S. retailers.
07-14-2025
The Prime Day event is an industrywide moment for e-commerce, with discounts happening broadly across U.S. retailers. Adobe released data covering the period from July 8 to 11, with insights on consumer spending online, mobile shopping, generative AI traffic, and more.
Adobe’s report provides the most comprehensive view into U.S. e-commerce by analyzing direct transactions online, covering over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs, and 18 product categories.
A new benchmark for summer e-commerce.
U.S. retailers drove $24.1 billion in online spend from July 8 (Tuesday) to July 11 (Friday), representing 30.3% growth year-over-year (YoY). This is more than two Black Fridays—which drove $10.8 billion in online spend during the 2024 holiday shopping season—and sets a new benchmark for the summer shopping season. Mobile was the dominant transaction channel during the Prime Day event, driving the majority of sales (53.2% share vs desktop shopping) and contributing $12.8 billion in online spend.
Competitive discounts (details below) across U.S. retailers drove price-sensitive shoppers to spend in categories such as appliances, where online sales were up 112% (compared to average daily sales in June 2025). Other categories with strong growth included office supplies (up 105%), electronics (up 95%), books (up 81%), tools & home improvement (up 76%), home & garden (up 58%), and baby & toddler (up 55%).
Hot sellers included products such as kids’ apparel (up 250%), home security products (up 185%), refrigerators & freezers (up 160%), games (up 160%), headphones & speakers (up 155%), car seats (up 145%), luggage (up 145%), vacuum cleaners (up 140%), power tools (up 135%), computers (up 125%), washers & dryers (up 125%), smartphone accessories (up 120%), storage furniture (up 120%), TVs (up 90%), small kitchen appliances (up 90%), and exercise equipment (up 80%).
The Prime Day event has also been cemented as a “back-to-school” shopping moment, as consumers took advantage of deals and got a head start on purchases for the upcoming school season. School supplies (such as backpacks, lunchboxes, binders, calculators, and kids' apparel) were up 175%. And dorm essentials (microwaves, mini fridges, bedroom linens, twin/full mattresses, laundry & cleaning products, and storage products) were up 84%.
Consumers embraced generative AI and social influencers.
Shoppers are increasingly using generative AI-powered chat services and browsers as a shopping assistant. During the Prime Day event, generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites (measured by shoppers clicking on a link) increased by 3,300% YoY. And while AI-driven traffic remains modest compared to other channels (paid search, email), the growth shows the impact of AI on shoppers looking for deals or specific product details.
Social influencers also played a major role in driving traffic to U.S. retail sites during the Prime Day event. While paid search remained the top driver of retail sales online (28.5% share of revenue, up 5.6% YoY), affiliates and partners—which includes social media influencers — saw a greater lift (19.9% share, up 15% YoY). Adobe’s data also showed that influencers converted shoppers (individuals making a purchase after seeing influencer content) 10 times more than social media overall.
Additional Adobe insights.
- Competitive discounts drove online demand: U.S. retailers leaned into discounts to drive growth, with a consumer that remains price sensitive. Shoppers found great deals that trended above last year’s Prime Day event, with discounts for apparel peaking at 24% off listed price (vs. 20% in 2024). Strong discounts were also seen in electronics at 23% (vs. 23%), toys at 19% (vs. 15%), televisions at 18% (vs. 16%), appliances at 17% (vs. 14%), furniture at 16% (vs. 16%), computers at 13% (vs. 11%), and sporting goods at 11% (vs. 11%).
- Consumers gravitated towards pricier goods: Strong discounts during the Prime Day event drove many shoppers to “trade up” to higher-ticket items. Across all categories tracked by Adobe, the share of the most expensive goods increased by 20% (compared to average levels year-to-date). In electronics, the share of the most expensive goods rose significantly by 57%. Adobe also observed consumers trading up in categories such as appliances (up 36%), sporting goods (up 30%), furniture (up 28%), toys (up 19%), personal care (up 13%), and apparel (up 11%). Categories where consumers embraced lower priced products included grocery (share of most expensive goods down 7%), and home & garden (down 2%).
- Buy Now Pay Later usage saw uptick: Consumers continue to embrace more flexible ways to manage their budgets. During the Prime Day event, ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) orders accounted for 8.1% of online orders (up from 7.4% in 2024). This amounted to $2.0 billion in online spend from July 8 to 11, representing 33.3% growth YoY. In an Adobe survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers (conducted June 2025), respondents reported using BNPL most in product categories such as apparel, electronics, home goods, and health & beauty.
Impact of inflation: Strong spending during the Prime Day event was driven by net-new demand, as opposed to higher prices. The Adobe Digital Price Index, which tracks online prices across 18 product categories, shows that e-commerce prices have fallen for 34 months—down 2.1% YoY in June 2025. Adobe’s numbers are not adjusted for inflation, but if online inflation were factored in, there would be even higher growth in topline consumer spend.
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