Delivery companies such as UPS and DHL in major markets around the world have been once again given a big summertime volume boost by Amazon’s record-breaking third Prime Day on July 11 which generated 60% more orders than last year.
Amazon's Prime Air fleet, which was officially introduced last summer, supported Prime Day in the United States for the first time helping deliver the Echo devices, flat-screen TVs and countless other goods.
“These planes are predominantly focused on our two-day network," Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations and customer service, told CNBC. "What it does is it allows us to make the [shipping] cut-off later, so you can order later and later and still get that in the two-day promise with our own air network."
Clark said the fleet of 24 planes allows Amazon to fly to cargo hubs, but also from "point to point." 16 planes will be added by mid-2018.
He estimated that the direct option can “shave 12 to 15 hours off of a cross-country journey”. This represents a crucial reduction when the turnaround is a tight 48 hours or less.
For small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide who participated in the event, Prime Day 2017 “was another record-breaking success,” Amazon said in a statement.
Tens of millions of Prime members made a purchase on Prime Day 2017, with the number of orders more than doubling compared to the previous year.
“To those customers who tried Prime for the first time and our long time members, thank you for a great Prime Day,” Greg Greeley, Vice President, Amazon Prime, said. “Our teams around the world will keep working to add more and more to your membership, so Prime continues to make your life better every day. We are already looking forward to our Prime Day celebration next year.”
Outlining some of the global Prime Day 2017 highlights, Amazon said that it sold seven times more Amazon Echo devices globally than on Prime Day 2016, with the Echo Dot as the best-selling Amazon device. Customers also purchased more than 3.5 million toys, saving hundreds of millions of dollars on product discounts globally. The one-day sale took place in 13 countries.
In the USA, Prime members found deals organised by more than 20 of the “most-shopped-for themes” – from Pet Lovers to Gardeners and more. The most popular themes on Prime Day were Home Chefs, Techies and For the Home. Women purchased more than 200,000 dresses and 200,000 lightbulbs were also sold on Prime Day 2017 in the USA.
In the UK, more people tried Prime on Prime Day 2017, compared to Black Friday 2016, Cyber Monday 2016 and any day this year. One of the fastest Amazon Prime Now deliveries on Prime Day was an Amazon Echo which was delivered in less than 15 minutes after the order has been placed.
“Prime members in the UK have loved Prime Day, in fact the day was our biggest day of the year so far and by 9pm customers had already ordered more items than Prime Day last year,” Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon, said. “Alexa devices have been particularly popular – Echo and Echo Dot have been our best-selling Prime Day products on Amazon.co.uk, and we’re looking forward to many more customers being introduced to Alexa for the first time.”
In Germany, the top-selling product categories for Amazon were fashion & shoes with over 1 million articles sold, home appliances (over 900,000), beauty and health products (over 800,000), sports articles (over 600,000) and toys (over 400,000).
In Spain, Amazon Prime members in Madrid, Barcelona and the metropolitan areas profited for the first time during Prime Day from deliveries in one or two hours thanks to the ultra-fast Prime Now service. The fastest delivery was mad within 21 minutes, with Prime Now delivering a smartwatch to a customer in Madrid.
"Amazon Prime members on Amazon.es have enjoyed a global celebration with the best deals we've seen. We would like to thank our customers for choosing us once again to make their summer purchases and make Prime Day the biggest selling day in history at Amazon.es,” François Nuyts, Country Manager of Amazon Spain and Amazon Italy, said. "The event featured thousands of incredible offers, including deals from SMEs and entrepreneurs selling their products on Amazon. We look forward to continuing the tradition of Prime Day next year."
