The history of Prime Day: Celebrating 9 years of Amazon’s biggest deal event

Prime Day 2023 kicks off today! Learn everything you need to know about Prime Day, find out the best ways to score great deals, then check back here after the event to see what records we break this year.

When and where: July 12-13, 2022, in more than 20 countries

Prime members purchased more than 300 million items worldwide, making last year’s event the biggest Prime Day event in Amazon’s history. And, more shopping meant more savings—Prime members saved over USD$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion), more than during any previous Prime Day event.

2022 was also the biggest Prime Day event for Amazon's independent sellers, most of whom are small- and medium-sized businesses, whose sales growth in Amazon’s store outpaced Amazon's retail business.

Prime Day 2022 highlights

Worldwide Prime Day trends

Shopping

• Prime members worldwide purchased more than 100,000 items per minute during this year's Prime Day event.
• Some of the best-selling categories worldwide this Prime Day were Amazon Devices, Consumer Electronics, and Home.
• Prime members worldwide did the most shopping from midnight to 1am on Wednesday, July 13, during the entire Prime Day event.
• Some of the best-selling items worldwide were from premium beauty brands, including LANEIGE and NuFACE; Apple Watch Series 7; diapers and wipes from Pampers and The Honest Company; kitchen essentials from Rachael Ray, Le Creuset, and Hamilton Beach; VTech and LeapFrog toys; Vital Proteins Collagen Whey; Levi's apparel and accessories; Chemical Guys car wash products; and pet products from NUTRO, TEMPTATIONS, and GREENIES.
• Select Fire TV, Echo, and Blink devices were some of the best-selling items on Amazon worldwide.

Small businesses

• Customers supported small businesses in the three-week lead-up to Prime Day, generating more than USD$3 billion in sales for small businesses included in the Support Small Businesses to Win Big sweepstakes.
• Customers purchased more than 100 million small business items in the three weeks leading up to Prime Day.

Amazon Live

• Amazon Live Prime Day streams had more than 100 million views.
• Thousands of creators streamed throughout Prime Day 2022.

When and where: June 21-22, 2021, in 20 countries

The two-day event delivered Prime members over 2 million deals across every category, along with the best in entertainment benefits and never-before-seen exclusives across Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Prime Gaming.

Prime Day 2021 was the biggest two-day period ever for Amazon’s third-party sellers at the time. Prime members shopped more in 2021 than any previous Prime Day and scored deep discounts across home, fashion, beauty, and electronics. Members purchased more than 250 million items worldwide and saved more than during any Prime Day before.

Prime Day 2021 highlights

• The two weeks leading up to Prime Day 2021 were a boon for small business sellers thanks to the Amazon-funded Spend $10, Get $10 promotion. Customers spent over USD$1.9 billion on more than 70 million small business products during the promotional period, more than a 100% year-over-year increase on sales compared to the Prime Day October 2020 promotion.
• Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote was the most popular item purchased during Prime Day with customers purchasing more Fire TV 4K streaming media players on Prime Day this year than any previous Prime Day.
• Best-selling categories worldwide for Prime Day 2021 included tools, beauty, nutrition, baby care, electronics including Amazon Devices, apparel, and household products.
• Top-selling products worldwide for Prime Day 2021 included iRobot Roomba 692 Robot Vacuum, Keurig K-Slim Coffee Maker, Apple Cider Vinegar Gummy Vitamins by Goli Nutrition, and Crest 3D White Professional Effects Whitestrips.
• Prime members worldwide saved while gearing up for back to school, purchasing more than 600,000 backpacks, 1 million laptops, 1 million headphones, 240,000 notebooks, 40,000 calculators, and 220,000 Crayola products.
• Tens of millions of customers viewed Prime Day product demonstrations and try-on hauls, heard directly from creators, and more during Amazon Live livestreams throughout Prime Day.
• Amazon Music promotions drove more sign-ups for Amazon Music Unlimited globally than on any other Prime Day.
• The 2021 Prime Day show was a three-part immersive musical event featuring Billie Eilish, H.E.R. and Kid Cudi. Artists performed in their own episodes as a part of a series available on Prime Video.

When and where: October 13-14, 2020, in 19 countries (Prime Day in India was held in August)

In 2020, the pandemic shifted Prime Day from its usual date in July. Despite the necessary adaptation, Amazon delivered big sales for small businesses and big savings for Prime members yet again.

In 2020, Amazon invested USD$18 billion to help small- and medium-sized businesses succeed in its store and designed this Prime Day to support small businesses even more—including funding a promotion that helped drive over $900 million in sales for small businesses in the two weeks leading up to Prime Day.

This Prime Day again delivered the two biggest days ever for third-party sellers, nearly all of whom are small- and medium-sized businesses. Sellers saw record-breaking sales, surpassing USD$3.5 billion in total across 19 countries. Prime members around the world saved over USD$1.4 billion during the event and got a jump start on their holiday shopping.

Prime Day 2020 highlights

• Independent third-party sellers—most of whom are small- and medium-sized businesses—surpassed USD$3.5 billion in sales on Prime Day—a nearly 60% increase over Prime Day 2019, growing even more than Amazon's retail business.
• Top-selling categories for third-party sellers include Bedding, Wireless Accessories, Nutrition & Wellness, Arts, Crafts & Sewing, and Health Care.
• Tens of millions of customers supported small businesses in the two-week lead-up to Prime Day, generating more than USD$900 million in sales for small and medium-sized businesses included in the Spend $10, Get $10 promotion.

When and where: July 15-16, 2019, in 19 countries

For the first time ever, Prime Day ran for a full 48 hours. Prime Day 2019 was the largest shopping event at the time in Amazon history with more than one million deals exclusively for Prime members. Over the two days of Prime Day, sales surpassed the previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

Prime Day 2019 highlights

• Members worldwide purchased more than 175 million items, from devices to groceries and more, throughout Prime Day.
• Prime Day was the biggest event ever for Amazon devices—top-selling deals worldwide were Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, and Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote.
• Prime members in the U.S. received tens of millions of dollars in Prime Day savings by shopping from Whole Foods Market—best-selling Prime Day deals were organic strawberries, red cherries, and blueberries.
• Millions of people around the world streamed Prime Day events including the Prime Day Concert presented by Amazon Music and headlined by 10-time GRAMMY Award-winning artist Taylor Swift.

When and where: July 17-18, 2018 (36 hours), in 17 countries

Prime Day 2018 was even bigger and better than the year before, extending to 36 hours of amazing deals.

Prime Day 2018 highlights

• Members worldwide purchased more than 100 million products during Prime Day.
• Best-sellers worldwide were the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and Echo Dot—making this, with 12-hour early access to device deals, the biggest event ever for Amazon devices.
• Small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon far exceeded USD$1.5 billion in sales this Prime Day.
• Customers purchased more than five million items in each of the following categories: Toys, Beauty, PCs and computer accessories, Apparel, and Kitchen products.
• For the first time, U.S. Prime members celebrated Prime Day with a week of savings at Whole Foods Market. Members saved millions of dollars at Whole Foods Market with Prime Day deals, of which the best-selling deal was organic strawberries.
• Members purchased more than 300,000 Instant Pot 6 Qt 7-in-1 multi use pressure cookers.

When and where: July 11-12, 2017 (30 hours), in 13 countries

For the first time, Prime Day expanded beyond a 24-hour event in order to give Prime members even more opportunities to save.

Prime Day 2017 highlights

• Echo Dot was the most popular Prime member purchase.
• Tens of millions of Prime members made a purchase on Prime Day 2017, more than 50% higher than the prior year.
• We added Mexico and China to the growing number of countries enjoying Prime Day.
• More than 3.5 million toys were purchased by customers worldwide.
• Tens of millions of customers used the Amazon App on Prime Day, with customer orders on the app more than doubled compared to 2016.
• Prime members’ most popular purchase was the Echo Dot, which was the best-selling product from any manufacturer in any category across Amazon globally.
• Instant Pot DUO80 7-in-1 multi-use programmable pressure cooker was a top seller in the U.S. and Canada.

When and where: July 12, 2016, in 10 countries

The second Prime Day event surpassed Prime Day 2015 by more than 60% worldwide, and more than 50% in the U.S.

Prime Day 2016 highlights

• Prime members saved more than double on deals over Prime Day 2015.
• More than two million toys and more than one million pairs of shoes were purchased by customers.
• It was the biggest day ever for Amazon Devices globally and a record Prime Day for each Amazon device category including Fire TV, Fire tablets, Kindle e-readers, and Alexa-enabled devices.
• 215,000 Instant Pot 7-in-1 multi-functional pressure cookers were sold.
• Prime members purchased an average of one Alexa-exclusive deal per second during Prime Day, using their voice.
• Small businesses and sellers on Amazon offering deals to Prime members saw orders nearly triple, year-over-year, on Prime Day.

Amazon turned 20 and on the eve of its birthday, the company introduced Prime Day, a global shopping event. Our only goal? Offer a volume of deals greater than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members.

Our first Prime Day was July 15, 2015, and lasted 24 hours, spanning nine countries including the U.S., the UK, Spain, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and Austria.

Prime Day 2015 highlights

• Customers bought more items than on Black Friday 2014, our biggest Black Friday ever at the time.
• More than 34.4 million items were ordered across Prime-eligible countries, with 398 items ordered per second.
• Customers ordered hundreds of thousands of Amazon Devices—making it the largest device sales day ever, worldwide.
• 24,000 Instant Pot 7-in-1 programmable pressure cookers were sold.
• Amazon sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) enjoyed the biggest day ever with record-breaking unit sales growing nearly 300% worldwide.