Prime Day Reveals Shopper Habits: Essentials & Discounts

For e-commerce sellers, Prime Day 2026 showed that U.S. shoppers were still willing to spend, but they compared prices more carefully, favored practical products, and needed stronger reasons to buy higher-priced goods.

Prime Day Became a Mid-Year Shopping Peak

In 2025, U.S. consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday and $14.25 billion online on Cyber Monday, for a combined total of about $26.05 billion.

By comparison, Amazon Prime Day 2026 generated $26.4 billion in U.S. online retail spending over four days.

This means Prime Day slightly exceeded the combined online spending of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2025, underscoring its growing role in the U.S. retail calendar.

Sales Rose Without Much Deeper Discounts

During Prime Day 2026, average discounts were about 24% for electronics and apparel and about 20% for toys, broadly in line with 2025 levels, according to Reuters.

The data suggests that the increase in online retail spending was not driven purely by deeper discounts.

Sonia Lapinsky, managing director of retail at consulting firm AlixPartners, told Reuters that consumers may have used Prime Day to stretch limited budgets by buying products at better prices.

Low-Cost Essentials and Daily-Use Categories Led Demand

This year, Prime Day shoppers appeared to be stocking up on products they needed to buy anyway.

Numerator’s 2026 Prime Day tracker showed that 69% of items purchased during Prime Day were priced under $20, while only 3% were priced above $100.

The most commonly purchased categories were apparel and shoes, household essentials, and health and wellness products.

Top-selling items included Premier Protein Shakes, Liquid I.V. Packets, and Temptations Cat Treats.

On the first day of Prime Day 2026, the categories that were more popular than average June daily sales included:

• Personal hygiene products (oral care, shampoo, antiperspirant) increased 130%

• Electronics rose 105%

• Appliances increased 95%

• Tools and home improvement rose 75%

• Home and garden increased 65%

• Household goods increased 65%

Baby-related products saw particularly strong gains:

• Strollers increased 220%

• Car seats rose 140%

• Formula increased 90%

• Diapers and wipes rose 85%

These categories show that Prime Day demand was closely tied to daily life, family needs, home maintenance, and household restocking.

Higher-Priced Products Needed Stronger Reasons

Prime Day 2026 also showed that shoppers would buy more expensive products when the discount or value message was strong enough.

Adobe data reported by Retail Dive showed that the sales share of the most expensive products increased 19% compared with average 2026 levels.

In electronics, the share increased 51%. Trading-up behavior in toys, appliances, and furniture.

For sellers, everyday essentials can convert because consumers already need them.

Higher-priced products need a clearer reason to buy, such as a stronger discount, a clear timing reason, or a stronger value message.

Shoppers Compared More and Ordered More Carefully

Numerator reported that the average Prime Day 2026 order size was $47.66, down from $53.34 in last year's Prime Day early read.

Nearly 63% of shopping households placed two or more separate orders, while average household spending fell to about $143.45 from $156.37 last year.

This shows shoppers spent more carefully, often splitting purchases and comparing prices before buying.

Consumers also looked beyond Amazon. About 49% shopped or planned to shop Walmart Deals, and 32% considered Target Circle Deal Days.

The rise of cross-platform price comparison also helps explain why Amazon put more emphasis on low-priced products.

During Prime Day this year, Amazon Haul offered deals at $3, under $5, and under $10 across fashion, home, beauty, and electronics.

Amazon also gave extra savings on larger Haul orders: 5% off orders of $50 or more and 10% off orders of $75 or more.