In a four-day sprint (or should we say, marathon), shoppers showed up, brands scrambled to keep up, and Amazon quietly shifted the entire industry’s gravitational pull. What started as a tentpole event for one retailer has now evolved into something bigger: a new "Summer Black Friday" that spans platforms, product categories, and shopping behaviors.
Let’s break down what happened, why it matters, and what your brand needs to do next.
A $24 Billion Wake-Up Call
Let’s start with the number that stopped everyone in their tracks: $24.1 billion in total U.S. online spending over four days. This is a 30.3% year-over-year increase, and it wasn’t just Amazon seeing green. The entire retail sector rode the wave, with Walmart, Target, and Best Buy all activating full-scale counter events of their own.
What does this mean for your brand? It means Prime Day (and all the additional variations like Prime Big Deal Days, Target Circle Week, Walmart Deal Days and much more) are no longer optional. Prime Day is the center of a retail week your consumers are already shopping, and if you’re not showing up, your competitors will.
From Splurging to Stocking Up
This year’s shopper didn’t come for the shiny object or item they don’t really need but desperately want. They came for the good deals on goods they already need. Top-selling categories? Household Essentials and Apparel & Shoes, each claiming 30% of share. Consumer Electronics slid to just 19%. The biggest winners weren’t flashy tech toys, they were Liquid I.V., Dawn Powerwash, and Premier Protein.
The takeaway: Shoppers are buying smarter. Brands in CPG, grocery, wellness, and essentials need to start treating Prime Day like their Super Bowl. Waiting for Q4 to pull out the playbook? You’re already late.
"Grazing" Is the New Shopping Behavior
Forget binge-buying. Consumers “grazed” across four days, placing multiple small orders instead of one big cart drop. Nearly two-thirds of households placed two or more separate orders during the four-day event, with 9% placing five or more orders in the first two days alone. Additionally, Average household spend was steady at $156.37 in 2025 versus 2024, but average order value dropped slightly to $53.34 from $57.97 in 2024.
This is a major behavior shift. Brands media and logistics strategy must now account for a longer buying window. A four-day Prime Day caught everyone by surprise, but it’s likely the new norm. In the future, make sure inventory holds, creatives stay fresh, and messaging keeps evolving to match the drawn-out decision cycle.
The Advertising Paradox: More Spend, Less Cost, Way More Clicks
Here’s where things get interesting: Amazon pushed brands to double their daily ad spend, and many did. But CPCs dropped 10% versus 2024, and click-through rates jumped 89%. Why? Because shoppers were more engaged, more intentional, and more click-happy than ever.
Code3 clients saw conversion rate and CPC results following a U-curve, with strong Days 1 and 4 and soft performance in the middle. Across the industry, the brand-new four day event caused many brands to overspend budget early and eat up inventory early, causing them to be unprepared for a Day 4 spike.
Lesson for advertisers: You can’t afford to play small. Prime Day is now a volume game. The window is longer, the stakes are higher, and the audience is ready, if you’re willing to invest to capture them.
Influencers and AI Took Over Discovery
Prime Day 2025 was also a clear sign that the era of search-only discovery is over. Amazon doubled influencer commissions across key categories, and the payoff was huge: affiliate/partner sales drove nearly 20% of all online revenue.
Even more eye-opening? Traffic to retail sites from AI-powered discovery tools exploded by 3,200% year-over-year. Think chatbots, AI browsers, and tools like Amazon’s own Rufus. These aren’t just fun experiments anymore, they’re real commerce drivers.
Hot take: If your PDPs, A+ content, or Brand Stores aren’t ready for AI discovery, you’re falling behind. AI is the new SEO, and the brands who adapt first will win.
What Comes Next: Brand Playbook for Fall Prime Day, Q4 and Prime Day 2026
Here’s what we’re advising our clients at Code3:
- Reprioritize July. It’s no longer just a summer slowdown. Prime Day week is now a peak moment, especially for essentials, wellness, and low-AOV items.
- Plan for a week-long campaign. From awareness to conversion, you need enough creative, budget, and inventory to sustain engagement for 6-7 days. Expert Tip: Take a deep dive into your Prime Day performance now, paying special attention to your budget flighting
- Rethink your promotions. Deep discounts on a few, high-impact SKUs outperformed blanket discounts and helped protect margin.
- Lean into influencers. Especially for mid-funnel product education and driving momentum mid-event.
- Audit your AI-readiness. This is your new product discovery frontier. Don’t sleep on it.
Final Thoughts
Prime Day 2025 proved that retail’s rules are being rewritten in real time. It’s no longer about who can offer the flashiest deal. It’s about strategic endurance, smart discovery, and showing up for a shopper who’s never been more pragmatic or more powerful.