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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Solely 23% of customers purchased presents throughout October Prime Day.
- In the meantime, 28% of customers stated they bought on a regular basis gadgets.
- The preferred merchandise bought by ZDNET readers have been cheap tech units.
Consumers used this week’s Prime Big Deal Days sale, which ran from Oct. 7-8, to fill up on sale gadgets and buy on a regular basis items as an alternative of massive vacation reward purchases, based on a brand new monitoring survey of over 5,000 October Prime Day customers conducted by data company Numerator.
Additionally: The best October Prime Day deals still live
In September, Amazon stated the Prime Massive Deal Days occasion was meant to launch the 2025 vacation buying season. “Prime Massive Deal Days kicks off the vacation buying season with unique offers for Prime members on must-have gadgets and common presents,” stated Carmen Nestares, vp of North America Advertising and Prime Tech, within the September release. The sale, nevertheless, appeared to level towards a distinct actuality.
A recent survey from our sister site CNET discovered that of these planning to buy early for the vacations, 56% deliberate to take action between August and October. Nonetheless, based on the Numerator data, 28% of October Prime Day customers bought on a regular basis items, like groceries or home goods, 25% stocked up on sale gadgets, and 45% bought an merchandise they have been ready to purchase on sale. The highest shopped classes have been additionally all necessities.
Numerator reviews the highest classes customers say they purchased in the course of the first day of Prime Massive Deal Days have been attire and footwear (26%), family necessities (26%), residence magnificence & cosmetics (22%), well being & wellness gadgets (21%), and residential items (21%). These are much like numbers reported in Numerator’s July Prime Day survey.
Additionally: Over half of holiday tech shoppers concerned by price hikes and tariffs, CNET survey finds
With turbulent financial circumstances, the upcoming vacation season, and rising inflation, it is no shock that customers targeted on necessities. In line with CNET’s survey, practically 87% of these planning to buy tech merchandise this yr stated they’re fearful about rising prices resulting from tariffs and inflation, and the provision of common merchandise, just like the Nintendo Switch 2.
A transfer from flagship tech to cheap devices
Lacking from Prime Day buying tendencies described above is flagship tech. ZDNET’s personal top-selling Prime Day merchandise from Prime Massive Deal Days yielded comparable outcomes. Although some purchases included discounted laptops and TVs, the preferred merchandise for ZDNET readers have been cheap devices and gizmos — primarily underneath $100.
Additionally: The top 10 products our readers bought during Prime Day 2025 (no. 1 is still pretty odd)
Our readers’ top purchase was a $15 ear digicam device. Smaller sensible units rounded out the majority of the list: a streaming stick, an AirPods cleaning tool, cheap USB-C accessories, smart plugs, cell equipment, and on a regular basis tech gadgets like AirTags.
Even ZDNET’s solely outlier, the costlier Google Pixel Tablet (our No. 4 top-seller), remained priced at $250 on sale.
ZDNET’s no. 1 promoting October Prime Day product is a $15 ear digicam device.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
Since these purchases are not early vacation buying indicators, I’ve to marvel if Amazon’s fall occasion is an instance of the infamous “lipstick effect” within the type of gizmos and devices.
Additionally: Our No. 1 selling Prime Day product wasn’t even on sale (and it’s sort of bizarre)
What does this imply for vacation buying?
Although CNET’s survey indicated that about half of customers plan to buy tech early between August and October, Numerator’s survey discovered that solely 23% of customers really took benefit of Prime Massive Deal Days to get a soar on vacation buying. Of these surveyed, 55% stated they weren’t but certain what they wanted or wished for the vacations, whereas one other 32% stated it felt too early to make their vacation purchases. Christmas and Hanukkah are about 11 weeks away.
Final yr, the National Retail Federation reported that 45% of customers deliberate to get a head begin on vacation buying earlier than November. This yr, the NRF will launch its vacation forecast on Nov. 6, a couple of weeks later than in years previous.
In line with Adobe’s 2025 Cyber Week Spend Forecast, US on-line gross sales are anticipated to hit $254.3 billion this vacation season between November and December, with Cyber Monday clocking in as the most important buying day of each the winter buying rush and the yr, with an anticipated $14.5 billion in shopper spending, up 6.3% yr over yr (YoY).
Additionally: Worried about rising tech prices? Try these 5 easy ways to shop smarter right now
Adobe anticipates that over half of on-line spending this buying season shall be comprised of furnishings, attire, and electronics classes, with the latter anticipated to rake in $57.5 billion, up 4% YoY. On the similar time, smaller classes like groceries and cosmetics are seeing speedy progress, with groceries anticipated to be up 9.2% this yr, totaling round $23.5 billion.
We’ll have to attend and see what this vacation buying season actually appears to be like like, however to this point, early fall gross sales are not attractive Individuals to buy presents, and most customers use them to save lots of on the staple gadgets they use daily. Cyber Week continues to be the commerce king, and occasions like Prime Day could have misplaced their luster.
In any case, “early” vacation buying is just possible in case you can afford to do it — and lots of Individuals seem like feeling the squeeze.
When was October Prime Day 2025?
October Prime Day (or Prime Massive Deal Days) ran from Tuesday, Oct. 7, by way of Wednesday, Oct. 8 this yr.
When is Black Friday 2025?
This yr Black Friday returns on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. Cyber Monday follows shortly after on Monday, Dec. 1.
