Periscope® By McKinsey has announced the findings of its Amazon Prime Day 2019 pre-event consumer survey. The report, entitled “The Amazon Prime Day Effect: Consumer Anticipation and Excitement Grows in 2019”, found that this year, consumers in the US, UK, France and Germany plan to spend in more categories and will embrace technologies such as voice-assistance to further streamline their purchasing experience.
The clock is counting down for Amazon Prime Day 2019 on July 15! Last year’s global sales event was celebrated in 17 countries and, according to Amazon, was its ‘biggest in history’ yet, with more than 100 million products purchased. The new research report from Periscope By McKinsey explored attitudes amongst 2,587 consumers toward Amazon Prime Day 2019 and found them to be overwhelmingly positive, with 66 per cent of respondents being either excited or eager to get engaged and 70 per cent or more of consumers expecting to participate in this year’s shopping bonanza.
Other Headline Figures Revealed by the Survey Include:
- Interest in hunting down Prime Day offers on Amazon’s own branded devices, products and services is high—with Amazon Video and Music and Amazon Echo/Alexa topping one-third or more of consumers’ wish lists.
- Most consumers intend to pre-plan and research the products categories they will shop—just 21 per cent expect to shop spontaneously on the day.
- While 30 per cent of shoppers anticipate spending a bit more than they did last year, an enthusiastic 15 per cent have plans to spend much more.
Amazon Customers Embrace Voice-Assisted Shopping
Today’s hyper-connected consumers regularly use their mobile devices to make everyday purchases—and a growing number of Amazon customers are utilizing Alexa to enjoy an even more convenient voice-shopping experience. The research found that an impressive 40 per cent or more of all consumers surveyed now ask the voice-assistant Alexa to order products from Amazon.
The fast and frictionless advantages of voice shopping exert a strong appeal for consumers aged 18-39, although those aged 40-49 were not averse to using voice to get real-time shopping assistance.
The Majority of Consumer’s 2019 Shopping Activity Will Equal or Exceed Previous Events
Asked about their spending plans for Prime Day 2019, compared to the last time they shopped in a Prime Day event, 33 per cent of shoppers in the UK together with 30 per cent of those in France, 29 per cent in Germany and 28 per cent in the US say they’re planning to spend a bit more. Interestingly, a significant cohort of consumers (US, 16 per cent; Germany, 15 per cent; UK, 12 per cent; France, 10 per cent) had not yet locked down their budget and were undecided about how much money they intend to ringfence for shopping around the event.
That said, a noteworthy number of consumers in all markets (US, 18 per cent; France, 17 per cent; UK, 16 per cent; Germany, 9 per cent) say that they expect to spend much more during Prime Day 2019.
Research in Advance RisesUp the Consumer Agenda
Today’s experienced online shoppers don’t anticipate engaging with Amazon’s summer sales shopping spectacular without first undertaking some degree of planning in advance– 75 per cent or more of all consumers in the markets surveyed say they will be researching potential purchases ahead of the game.
Shoppers in the U.S. (25 per cent), Germany (23 per cent) and the UK (22 per cent) were the most likely to shop spontaneously on the day, compared to just 15 per cent of shoppers in France. For the vast majority of consumers, however, planning will begin up to a month in advance of Prime Day 2019.
Consumer Electronics Tops the Category List– but Amazon Grocery Services Gain Traction
Evaluating which products will prove the most enticing for this year’s Prime Day 2019 shoppers, unsurprisingly ‘Consumer electronics’ tops the bill for consumers in all markets surveyed.
In the US and Germany, the top three categories where consumers plan to shop for deals are: #1 Consumer electronics (Germany: 60 per cent, US: 58 per cent), #2 Clothing and accessories (US: 54 per cent, Germany: 51 per cent), and #3 Books/movies/music (Germany: 46 per cent, US: 43 per cent). In the UK, the ranking looked somewhat similar although, while Consumer electronics ranked #1 with 53 per cent of shoppers, Books/movies/music came it at #2 (43 per cent), and Clothing and accessories ranked #3 (42 per cent).
French shoppers, meanwhile, are bucking the general trend. While Consumer electronics was rated as #1 by 58 per cent of French consumers, followed by Clothing and accessories #2 (51 per cent), the third most popular shopping category for 48 per cent of French shoppers is likely to be Kitchen appliances (48 per cent).
Interestingly, consumer awareness of Amazon’s online grocery delivery and pick up service also appears to be fast gaining traction. This year, around one-fifth of shoppers in France (22 per cent), the US (21 per cent), Germany (17 per cent) and the UK (17 per cent) say they have plans to explore and shop Amazon Fresh deals.
Shopping Holidays and Deals Go Hand in Hand – And Consumers Want More!
Looking beyond Prime Day, consumer awareness of, and participation in, shopping holiday events appears widespread. Black Friday/Cyber Monday appears by far the most popular and well-established event in consumers’ minds, with over 70 per cent of consumers in all markets surveyed saying they regularly participate and shop for deals.
The research shows that 63 per cent of US shoppers and 61 per cent of UK shoppers are eager to try out different deal events, indicating that these markets, in particular, represent a golden opportunity to generate additional online revenue. Similarly, with 53 per cent of French shoppers and 47 per cent of German shoppers saying they’re excited by the prospect of more online shopping holiday possibilities, retailers in these markets should seriously consider kicking-off their own special events. With consumer enthusiasm clearly riding high for online shopping holidays, there are significant opportunities for other retailers to get in on the act.
“Excitement for Prime Day keeps growing and is fuelling a hunger for other online sales events,” said Brian Elliott, partner and head of innovation at Periscope By McKinsey. “But for Amazon itself, it is a highly effective promotion engine that not only fuels more sign-ups to Prime membership, but it also incentivizes customers to purchase and subscribe to additional Amazon own-brand products and services.”
He continued: “The extremely positive result for other brands and retailers is that consumers have clearly indicated that they have the appetite for more of these kind of shopping events. For eCommerce organizations who are able to deliver an optimized customer journey and provide a seamless experience over online, mobile and now voice, the opportunities are ripe and ready for the picking.”
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