California Apparel News

Amazon said that it broke its records during the retail giant’s recent Prime Day 2019, which was held during a 48-hour period from July 15 to 16. During the sale, Amazon sold more goods to its Prime Members than it sold during Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined, according to the Seattle-headquartered retail giant.

The company declined to state Prime Day revenues in a July 17 statement, but it was estimated that it made $6.1 billion, which represents an increase of $2 billion over Prime Day 2018, according to market research firm IgnitionOne.

During Black Friday 2018, American shoppers spent $59.6 billion, a figure that includes physical retail and digital retail, according to estimates by GlobalData Retail. Online sales on Black Friday took in $6.22 billion in online sales, according to Adobe Analytics.

During Prime Day 2019, Amazon offered discounts to its Prime Members, which ranged from 50 percent off electronics to 40 percent off vitamins and 15 percent off apparel from the company’s house brands including Lark & Ro, Amazon Essentials and Goodthreads.

Prime Day 2019 made a lot of waves, as Target and Walmart.com produced sales to compete against Amazon’s sale. Walmart.com offered consumers free shipping if they spent more than $35 during the sale. Target offered a Sumer Faves Sale, which featured kids’ T-shirts starting at $4, men’s tees starting at $5 and women’s tees starting at $6.

Amazon Prime Day was influential enough where it was possible to take a chunk of business from the important Back-to-School season, said Jeff Van Sinderen of financial-services firm B.Riley FBR. “Prime customers anticipate this event, and it unleashes some serious demand, including for Back-to-School. I think most retailers are painfully aware of it,” he said. “As long as Prime Day continues to gain momentum, “I think it might become a permanent change to the landscape, where it pulls forward and compresses a significant piece of Back-to-School business. That business would otherwise have gone to more traditional retailers.”

Sales were not the only Amazon news made during Prime Day. Amazon warehouse workers protested poor working conditions with a strike at the retail giant’s warehouse in Shako­pee, Minn. Amazon employees in Germany also participated in a strike.