AUSTIN, Texas, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- According to internal data from RetailMeNot, Inc., Amazon Prime Day* in 2017 was RetailMeNot.com's biggest online shopping day of Q3 across a variety of retailers and categories. That was up significantly from its 21st position in Q3 of 2016. Continuing its meteoric rise, the day is poised to become one of the top e-commerce shopping days of the year—potentially rivaling Black Friday and Cyber Monday in popularity—and not just for Amazon. Prime Day has also become the unofficial kickoff of the back-to-school shopping season, with consumers and retailers alike taking note.

Amazon Prime Day Trending Up on RetailMeNot.com
In addition to increased consumer engagement on RetailMeNot.com, retailers are leveraging Prime Day to capture their own market share. The number of unique retailers issuing deals on RetailMeNot.com increased 340%, from 27 retailers in 2016 to 119 retailers in 2017. The Prime Day deals consisted of distinct messaging strategies: coupon codes contained the word "PRIME," and offers used phrases like "Prime Time," "Black Friday in July" and "Cyber Monday in July." Additionally, they were characterized by short-lived availability, aggressive discounts, sitewide codes and free shipping.

"Prime Day is a huge opportunity for all retailers," said Marissa Tarleton, chief marketing officer of RetailMeNot, Inc. "This relatively new shopping holiday has quickly become the kickoff for the back-to-school shopping season. In both sales and opportunity, this day is transformative not just for Amazon but for all retailers savvy enough to capitalize on it."

Retailers actively competing on Prime Day 2017 saw online traffic increase of more than 30% to their RetailMeNot.com store pages. Conversely, those who didn't participate experienced a 4% decrease in online traffic to their store pages on RetailMeNot.com. And while Amazon's store page received 4% of visits to RetailMeNot.com on Prime Day in 2017, the vast majority (96%) of consumer website demand was driven by retailers other than Amazon.

Parents Seek Prime Day Deals to Kick-Start Back-to-School Shopping
RetailMeNot, in conjunction with Kelton Global, conducted additional research to understand how both consumers and retailers are planning for Prime Day this year.

In 2018, shoppers making purchases on Prime Day plan to spend an average of $167 on their items, with $70 going specifically toward back-to-school items. School shopping lists remain a top driver of purchase decisions on Prime Day for the parents surveyed. In fact, 91% of those who will be shopping on that day will make a back-to-school-related purchase.

Retailers Recognize Opportunity Among Back-to-School Shoppers
Retail marketers are getting in on the action: 84% of retailers surveyed believe back-to-school shopping will begin on or before Prime Day in 2018, and 60% plan to run promotional offerings that target shoppers before Prime Day arrives. Further, more than half (54%) will run offers to coincide with Prime Day, and 53% will target shoppers in the following days who may have missed out.

"We expect Prime Day to rise in the rankings again this year with the potential to rival the popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday," said Tarleton. "The day is here to stay, and it benefits consumers and retailers alike."

Methodology
Key time-frame data and insights are based on an analysis of a subset of the 500,000 offers from 50,000 retailers within our internal data, including engagement insights from consumers who engaged with these retailers on RetailMeNot's desktop website platform between July and September 2017.

A RetailMeNot, Inc. retailer survey was conducted by Kelton Global between Friday, May 4, 2018, and Thursday, May 10, 2018. During this time, 200 interviews were captured via a 15-minute online survey. Key groups of interest were examined in this analysis, including senior managers/directors (and above) and retailers who have or have not partnered with RetailMeNot in the past 12 months. Additionally, a RetailMeNot, Inc. consumer survey was conducted by Kelton Global between Monday, May 7, 2018, and Friday, May 11, 2018. During this time, 1,005 interviews were conducted via a 10-minute online survey to parents who will be back-to-school shopping for their children who are under the age of 18.

*"Prime Day" is a registered trademark of Amazon. RetailMeNot's use of "Prime Day" in this press release is not sponsored or endorsed by Amazon.

Media Contacts:
Michelle Skupin
RetailMeNot, Inc.
mskupin@rmn.com
(808) 224-3215

Chelsie Baugh
RetailMeNot, Inc.
cbaugh@rmn.com
(512) 387-8378

SOURCE RetailMeNot, Inc.