Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026 Results: Code3 Sales and Advertising Benchmarks

Across Code3 clients, ordered sales grew 21% year over year, but Amazon search CPCs climbed 66%. Here's what Code3’s proprietary data reveals about shopper behavior, advertising efficiency and planning for the rest of the holiday season.

Amazon's October Prime event is in the books, and the results tell an interesting story. Across a comparable group of Code3 clients, ordered sales increased 21% year over year, while product traffic grew just 6.3%. Shoppers were buying, but reaching them through paid advertising became considerably more expensive.

Amazon search cost per click (CPC) increased 66%, while return on ad spend (ROAS) declined 32%. Amazon DSP showed a similar disconnect, with spending increasing even as ad-attributed sales declined.

The takeaway isn't that brands should spend less during major shopping events. It's that they need to be smarter about when, where and how they invest, especially as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach.

We dug into Code3's client performance data from the October 6–7 event to understand what worked, where efficiency slipped and what marketers should consider before their next major sales moment.

Key Findings From Code3's 2026 Prime Big Deal Days Data

Code3 analyzed year-over-year performance across a comparable subset of its U.S. clients during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026. Here's what stood out:

Three broader observations emerged from the data:

• Sales growth outpaced traffic growth. Ordered sales increased more than three times as fast as product traffic.
• Advertising became more expensive. Higher spending on Amazon search and DSP didn't translate into higher ad-attributed sales.
• Timing and category mattered. Day 1 generally delivered better advertising efficiency, while consumables outperformed several higher-ticket categories.

Source: Code3 proprietary client benchmarks, October 2026. Results compare like-for-like U.S. clients during Prime Big Deal Days 2026 (October 6–7) versus 2025 (October 7–8). These findings represent Code3's analyzed client group, not the overall Amazon marketplace.

Shoppers Showed Up, and Sales Outpaced Traffic

Let's start with the good news. Across the comparable Code3 client group, ordered sales increased 21% year over year, despite total product traffic increasing just 6.3%.

That's more than three times the rate of traffic growth.

The growth was also consistent across both days of the event:

• Day 1 ordered sales increased 20% year over year.
• Day 2 ordered sales increased 21% year over year.
• Product traffic increased 7.9% on Day 1 and 4.4% on Day 2.

Sales growth wasn't simply a function of getting more shoppers to product pages. The relationship between traffic and sales improved substantially.

Promotions likely played an important role. Strong offers and deal visibility gave shoppers a reason to convert, even as the increase in overall traffic remained relatively modest.

There is an important distinction here, though. These results reflect Code3's client portfolio, not Amazon's overall October event. Performance also varied by brand and category, with several larger accounts weighing on the aggregated results.

What Marketers Should Take Away:

Getting shoppers to a product detail page is only part of the equation. Competitive offers, retail readiness and a strong product experience can help turn existing traffic into more sales without relying entirely on additional media investment.

Not All Categories Performed Equally

While the overall sales numbers were encouraging, category performance told a more nuanced story.

Across Code3 clients, everyday essentials were among the strongest performers. Food, beverage, pet and household products performed well as shoppers purchased consumable items and replenished everyday needs.

Apparel also held up, particularly seasonal and giftable assortments. That could suggest some shoppers were beginning their holiday purchasing during the October event rather than waiting until November.

Higher-ticket categories, including electronics, baby gear and more expensive home products, generally saw softer results.

One possible explanation is that shoppers were willing to take advantage of deals on everyday purchases while holding off on bigger-ticket items until Black Friday and Cyber Monday. However, our data alone can't confirm that motivation.

What Marketers Should Take Away:

Not every category should approach October Prime events with the same expectations or promotional strategy. Brands selling consumables may have different opportunities than those competing for larger, more considered purchases. Category-specific benchmarks matter more than a single event-wide growth target.

Amazon Advertising Got More Expensive, Without Delivering More Sales

Here's where things get especially interesting.

While ordered sales grew across Code3's comparable clients, Amazon search advertising became substantially more expensive.

Brands in the analyzed group spent 39% more on search advertising but generated 16% fewer clicks and 5% less ad-attributed revenue.

That's a difficult equation.

With CPCs increasing 66%, advertising budgets had to work considerably harder to maintain traffic. Even increased investment wasn't enough to prevent declines in impressions and clicks across the client group.

And this wasn't isolated to search.

Amazon DSP spending increased 16% year over year, while ad-attributed sales declined 9% and ROAS fell 21%. DSP clicks also declined 45%, although click volume and ROAS don't tell the full story for campaigns designed primarily to drive awareness or consideration.

Taken together, the numbers highlight an important distinction: Higher retail sales don't automatically translate into better advertising returns.

For Code3's analyzed clients, ordered sales increased even as search and DSP ad-attributed sales declined. That makes it especially important to evaluate advertising performance alongside total retail outcomes, rather than treating ad-attributed ROAS as the only measure of success.

It doesn't establish exactly how much incremental revenue came from organic discovery, promotions or advertising. But it does reinforce the importance of understanding how those pieces work together.

What marketers should take away: More budget isn't necessarily the answer when advertising costs rise. Marketers need to evaluate where incremental spending creates value, how paid media supports total sales and whether their promotional strategy is doing enough to convert the traffic they're paying to acquire.

Day 1 and Day 2 Were Very Different Advertising Environments

One of the clearest findings from Code3's data was the difference between the two days of the event.

Traffic growth was stronger on Day 1, while advertising efficiency deteriorated more sharply on Day 2.

Consider the search advertising results:

DSP showed a similar pattern. ROAS declined 14% on Day 1 compared with 28% on Day 2. DSP ad-attributed sales also fell more sharply on the second day, declining 14% compared with 4% on Day 1.

Meanwhile, overall ordered sales grew at nearly the same rate on both days. In other words, Day 2 continued generating sales growth, but advertising became a less efficient way to capture that demand.

Deal timing also appeared to matter. Some Code3 clients performed better on one day than the other, suggesting that when promotions launched and how compelling those offers were influenced performance.

What Marketers Should Take Away:

A 50/50 daily budget split isn't necessarily the right strategy for every sales event. Based on these results, brands should consider weighting more investment toward Day 1, while remaining flexible enough to respond to conversion rates, inventory, promotional timing and actual campaign performance.

That doesn't mean automatically pulling back on Day 2. It means giving each day's performance a closer look before deciding where the next dollar goes.

The Bigger Opportunity: Build Demand Before the Deal

There's another important lesson in these results, and it extends well beyond October Prime events.

Across Code3's analyzed clients, ordered sales increased even as search advertising became significantly more expensive and generated fewer clicks. That raises an important question for marketers: How much are brands relying on major promotional events to create demand, rather than convert demand they've already built?

It's a distinction worth considering as brands finalize their holiday strategies.

When a shopper encounters a brand for the first time during a highly competitive sales event, that brand may have to work harder to earn the purchase. The shopper is comparing prices, evaluating alternatives and deciding whether the offer is compelling enough to act.

But when a shopper already knows the brand, understands its products and has considered purchasing, a strong promotion can provide the final push.

That's the thinking behind an always-on marketing strategy: building awareness, consideration and familiarity throughout the year, rather than concentrating the entire customer journey into a few expensive shopping days.

Code3's October data doesn't measure how much pre-event awareness contributed to purchases. But the combination of higher ordered sales and declining paid media efficiency reinforces why marketers should be asking how their investments before, during and after tentpole events work together.

For brands, that means thinking beyond the event itself:

• Before the event: Build awareness, introduce products, reach new audiences and give shoppers reasons to consider your brand before they're ready to purchase.
• During the event: Prioritize conversion, competitive promotions and high-intent audiences, using performance signals to direct spending where it's most productive.
• After the event: Continue engaging customers, encourage repeat purchases and measure whether the event contributed to growth beyond the promotional window.

This approach doesn't eliminate the need for strong event-day advertising. It gives that investment a better opportunity to perform.

What Marketers Should Take Away:

Don't make Black Friday and Cyber Monday responsible for introducing your brand, building consideration and closing the sale all at once. Use the weeks leading up to major shopping moments to establish demand, then give shoppers a compelling reason to convert when promotions go live.

What Brands Should Do Differently for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

October's results offer several practical lessons as brands head into the most competitive stretch of the holiday shopping season.

1. Plan for higher advertising costs. Search CPCs increased 66% across Code3's comparable client group. While that doesn't predict Black Friday and Cyber Monday costs, brands should stress-test their budgets against potential CPC increases and understand what those increases could mean for reach.

2. Coordinate media and promotional strategy. Strong offers, deal placement and product readiness can influence how efficiently paid traffic converts. Media and retail teams should be working from the same plan, not optimizing in separate silos.

3. Be intentional about timing. Day 1 showed smaller year-over-year efficiency declines across the analyzed search and DSP results. Use historical performance and live signals to determine when to concentrate spend rather than distributing budgets evenly by default.

4. Measure more than ad-attributed ROAS. When ordered sales increase while ad-attributed sales decline, looking at advertising performance in isolation misses part of the picture. Total sales, new-to-brand acquisition, incremental impact and longer-term customer value can provide a more complete view, depending on campaign objectives and available measurement.

5. Set different expectations for different categories. Consumables, apparel and higher-ticket products didn't follow the same performance patterns across Code3's clients. Promotional depth, inventory and media investment should reflect the realities of each category.

6. Don't neglect the days between major events. Use always-on media to build consideration and maintain visibility outside peak promotional periods. Tentpole events should be part of a larger growth strategy, not the entire strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026

How did Amazon Prime Big Deal Days perform in 2026?

Across a comparable subset of Code3's U.S. clients, ordered sales increased 21% year over year during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days 2026, while product traffic increased 6.3%. These results are specific to Code3's analyzed clients and do not represent overall Amazon marketplace performance.

Did Amazon advertising costs increase during Prime Big Deal Days 2026?

Yes, among Code3's analyzed clients. Amazon search CPC increased 66% year over year, while search advertising spend increased 39%. Despite higher spending, search clicks declined 16% and ROAS declined 32%.

Was Day 1 or Day 2 more efficient for Amazon advertisers?

Day 1 experienced smaller year-over-year declines in advertising efficiency across Code3's analyzed clients. Search ROAS declined 30% on Day 1 versus 34% on Day 2. DSP ROAS declined 14% on Day 1 compared with 28% on Day 2. These figures compare each day with its corresponding day in 2025, rather than measuring absolute efficiency between the two days.

Which product categories performed best during Prime Big Deal Days 2026?

Within Code3's analyzed client portfolio, consumables such as food, beverage, pet and household products were among the strongest-performing categories. Seasonal and giftable apparel also held up, while electronics, baby gear and higher-ticket home products generally showed softer performance. These are qualitative observations from Code3's client portfolio rather than marketplace-wide category rankings.

What should brands learn from Prime Big Deal Days 2026?

Code3's findings suggest brands should prepare for higher advertising costs, coordinate promotional and media strategies, evaluate daily budget allocation and build shopper consideration ahead of major promotional events. The results also reinforce the importance of measuring total retail performance alongside ad-attributed sales and ROAS.

The Bottom Line: Buy Smarter, Not Just Bigger

The lesson isn't that brands should stop investing in tentpole events. It's that winning these moments requires a coordinated approach to media, promotions, measurement and the demand-building work that happens long before the deals go live.

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, brands should be asking more than how much they're prepared to spend. They should be asking where that investment will work hardest, what will motivate shoppers to convert and how they'll measure whether the event actually delivered incremental value.

Because a bigger advertising budget doesn't guarantee a bigger return.

About the Data

Code3 analyzed aggregated U.S. performance from like-for-like clients with available data for Prime Big Deal Days 2025 (October 7–8) and 2026 (October 6–7).

Ordered sales: First-party ordered revenue and third-party ordered product sales. Traffic: First-party glance views and third-party sessions. Advertising: Amazon Ads reporting, using 14-day attribution for ad sales. Aggregation: Brands are summed rather than equally weighted, so larger accounts have greater influence on results.

Scope: Code3 clients with comparable data in both years, not the full Code3 client roster or the Amazon marketplace.

Source: Code3 BigQuery and Amazon Ads reporting, October 2026.