Let’s be real – Prime Day isn’t just a summer sale anymore. It’s the unofficial start for the holiday shopping season. For football fans, think of it like the preseason: a time to experiment with strategies, learn what works (and what doesn’t), and lay the groundwork for the regular season – and eventually, the Super Bowl of shopping: Black Friday, Cyber Monday. This year’s Prime Day (July 8-11) wasn’t just big – it was massive, breaking all previous records.
Adobe reported total US online spending at $24 billion, up 30% year over year. That’s more than double what Black Friday and Cyber Monday pulled total last year. Categories like appliances, electronics, and office supplies were up dramatically compared to last year.
If you looked at those numbers, you’d think everyone crushed, right? Well, the answer is not so simple.
Prime Day Results: Success was Mixed for Sellers
While Amazon as a whole smashed records, many individual sellers and key categories fell well below expectations.
Day 2 in particular was soft for many brands. Bloomberg reported a 41% drop in day 1 sales compared to 2024 for some sellers. Some saw solid traffic but lower conversion rates, with shoppers clicking around and taking their time, likely due to the fact that Prime Day was extended to four days instead of two days in previous years.
Why? This year’s Prime Day was a four-day marathon. That extra time reduced urgency. Brand deals had to work harder than ever to stand out in an increasingly crowded seller marketplace, which is now pegged at 9.7 million, up from 9 million the previous year.
According to reports, total orders were up 99% from last year, however net revenue only grew about 29% (30% according to Adobe) which means people are buying more, but spending less per purchase. AOV dropped 35% from $64.87 to $41.94. One key observation was there was less discounting in general, with brands pulling back on promos. Margin protection was a clear priority.
Improve Your Amazon Sales
We’ll help you find the best Amazon fulfillment program for your brand and work with you to optimize it every step of the way—whether it’s FBA, FBM, MCF, Seller Central or Vendor Central.
Prime Day Successes and Why it Matters for Q4
If you’re a DTC brand, you already know Summer Prime Day is more than a sales event – it’s a dress rehearsal for the holidays. And results from this year’s summer event give us some clear signals about how Q4 may play out.
1. Price Sensitivity and the Value Shift
Shoppers are (even more) price sensitive and selective. According to Retail Dive, 82% of consumers say they’ll cut back on essentials to splurge later in the year. That mindset applies not only to Prime Day but also to key events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To win their attention, brands need to offer truly compelling deals—BOGO offers (buy one, get one free), value bundles, and steep markdowns are increasingly expected rather than exceptional.
Ongoing economic pressures such as tariffs, inflation, and supply chain disruptions have tightened consumers’ budgets, making them more deliberate in their spending. Brands are responding by refining their pricing and promotional strategies to emphasize value, offering meaningful savings that resonate with increasingly cautious shoppers heading into the holiday season.
2. Tariffs and Delays are Changing the SKU Mix
Tariffs and shipping delays aren’t just raising costs, they’re forcing brands to slim down their offerings. This isn’t just true for small or midsized brands, reports show that big CPG brands like CocaCola and General Mills are cutting underperforming SKUs and refocusing on their top sellers to protect margins and respond to inflation and tariffs. It’s not just limited to CPG companies — it’s a snapshot of all categories.
At the same time, shoppers are becoming more value-conscious, often choosing fewer but more cost-effective options over a broad variety. Brands are responding by strategically cutting prices on select, lower-cost items and reallocating advertising spend to highlight these value assortments. This approach balances delivering savings to the shopper while maintaining interest and profitability.
In essence, the marketplace is moving toward smarter, more focused product strategy driven by economic challenges and evolving consumer preferences – fewer SKUs, more aggressive pricing, and a greater emphasis on value for the shopper.
3. Multi-Channel Sellers Have the Edge
Prime Day proved (again) that it pays to spread out your bets. The brands that showed up on Walmart Marketplace, Target.com, TikTok Shop, and their own website rode out the event with way more stability than the ones living and dying by Amazon alone.
According to a recent Passport report, 81% of ecommerce leaders say tariffs are their top challenge this year, and many are planning Q4 price hikes to protect margins.
The smart move for the holidays? Spread promotions across multiple channels so if one platform slows down, whether from algorithm changes, ad cost spikes, or policy shifts, you’re not stuck.
4. SKU Discipline Will Pay Off
Prime Day was a reminder that in ecommerce, more isn’t always better. The sellers who came out ahead were laser focused on the products that actually move. Cutting underperforming SKUs frees up cash, storage space, and resources to double down on what sells.
A lean SKU lineup means your marketing budget works more efficiently because you’re not spreading it across products that won’t have the desired ROI. Inventory turns faster, which means less cash tied up in slow-moving stock and fewer fire sales to clear out the leftovers. Heading into the holidays, SKU discipline isn’t just an operational choice, it’s a competitive advantage. The less clutter in your catalog, the easier it is for customers to find (and buy!) your best (and most profitable) stuff.
4. Fulfillment Can Make or Break You
The brands that had successful Prime Days weren’t just lucky, they were prepared with an integrated fulfillment strategy. Mixing Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA), Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM), and a great 3PL gave them the flexibility to dodge bottlenecks and keep orders moving.
Too many sellers treat fulfillment as a last-minute checkbox. Centralizing inventory wherever possible gives you the agility to jump on hot channels or pull back from underperforming ones without being stuck in a single platform’s ecosystem. Avoid locking too much stock into one marketplace, and work with operationally experienced partners who can pivot fast.
For the holidays that means front-loading inventory, choosing fulfillment channels that balance speed and cost, and building redundancy into your supply chain. Done right, fulfillment isn’t just about delivering orders on time, it’s about protecting your momentum when demand spikes and ensuring you can scale profitably.
The Bottom Line
Prime Day 2025 was the perfect reminder that big topline numbers don’t tell the whole story. Amazon crushed it on total sales, but the view from the seller side was uneven. Not everyone came out with a win.
The lesson? Prime Day was a scrimmage, a way to fine-tune your playbook in preparation for the championship game. The lessons you take from Prime Day could be the difference between a record-breaking holiday and a frustrating one. The brands that will win this Q4 are already acting on what they learned—tightening their SKU mix, spreading their channel bets, and getting fulfillment locked down before the rush hits.
If you walked away from Prime Day with a list of what didn’t work, consider that a win. Fix it now, before November sneaks up on you. In a peak season where tariffs, costs, and competition are all climbing, the brands that are proactive will win during the holidays.
If you need help to evaluate your options, go to our Amazon Fulfillment Services page or please don’t hesitate to reach out to your DCL Logistics representative or contact us here.
This post was written by Brian Tu, Chief Revenue Officer at DCL Logistics. Brian brings over 20 years of sales and sales operations experience and now leads DCL’s sales, marketing and client service areas. Brian joined DCL from the digital media industry, most recently from Medium, where he ran their revenue operations business.
Tags: Expert Advice & Tips, Omnichannel Fulfillment, Online Marketplace
