For years, Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday sales in November have marked the official start of the holiday shopping season overseas. However, many merchants threw out discounts early in the year, undermining the importance of the two major shopping days. This year, Amazon also launched an "early access" event for Prime members earlier.

Prime Early Access launches October 11-12 in the US, Canada, and 13 European countries. The event didn't generate the buzz that Prime Day in July did, but many shoppers took advantage of the discounts to stock up on household essentials, with fewer big-ticket purchases.

Amazon said more than 100 million items were traded during the Prime membership sale.

Market research firm Numerator conducted multiple surveys of U.S. consumers during the "early access" shopping promotion.

The average order size during the October event was $46.68, down from $60.29 on Prime Day in July, the data showed. 56% of households placed more than two orders, and the average household spend was about $110.

Consumers said their top purchase categories included household essentials, health and beauty, clothing and shoes, and toys and games. 23% of consumers choose to buy daily necessities. 29% of consumers said they bought holiday gifts. Sales of televisions, desktop computers and other high-end goods were a bit "distressed".

(Data source / Numerator)

The top 5 items to buy during the Prime Early Access promotion are:

• Amazon Gift Card

• Melissa & Doug toys

• Carter's fun pajamas

• Echo Dot smart speaker

The best-selling products in the top 100 transaction orders were Macbook Air M1, Peloton Bike, Bose earbuds and headphones, and Shark hair dryers, vacuum cleaners and air purifiers.

The top-selling items globally are clothing, home goods, toys and electronic devices owned by Amazon.

15% of consumers surveyed said they would only buy discounted items. Among respondents who participated in both the Prime Early Access promotion and Prime Day in July, 36% of consumers spent more during the early access promotion, while 64% spent the same or less.

Showing their price sensitivity, 29% of consumers said they waited to buy a particular item at a discounted price. 48% of consumers only consider the Amazon platform when shopping, while 52% consider other retailers.

At the same time, Amazon is also attracting new Prime members. Membership growth has plateaued despite the addition of many new features, such as a free Grubhub+ membership and exclusive access to Thursday night NFL football. In the first game of the season, Amazon had its highest number of new Prime subscriptions in three hours.

So whether this year's year-end peak season can surpass previous years, let us wait and see.

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