The finding: While Amazon promoted its Prime Big Deal Days sale as an opportunity for consumers to “jumpstart your holiday shopping,” most people didn’t use the event to stock up for Halloween or the holidays.

• Only 23% of shoppers bought holiday items, and just 7% picked up Halloween goods such as candy or costumes, per a Numerator survey of 5,000 Prime Big Deal Days shoppers on October 7 and 8.
• That trend likely reflects consumers’ hesitation to plan too far ahead rather than any reluctance to shop for the holidays on Amazon. In fact, 59% say they definitely plan to buy holiday items on Amazon in the next three months, and another 25% say they probably will.

How consumers shopped: Nearly all (90%) of Amazon shoppers surveyed by Numerator were aware of the sale, but only about a third (35%) said it was their main reason for shopping. Both figures slipped slightly from last year, when 95% of shoppers knew about the event and 46% said Prime Big Deal Days was their primary shopping motivator.

• A majority of Prime Big Deal Days shoppers (56%) compared prices or products at other retailers before making their Amazon purchase. The most common comparisons were Walmart (68%), Target (43%), and warehouse clubs such as Costco or Sam’s Club (25%).
• Some also took part in competing sales during the same period: 27% said they planned to or had already shopped at the Target Circle Week event that runs through October 11, and 36% said the same of Walmart Holiday Deals that runs through October 12.

What consumers bought: Many shoppers used the event to score discounts on items they would have bought anyway. More than a quarter (28%) shopped for everyday goods.

• Household essentials—such as cleaning supplies—along with apparel and shoes were the top categories purchased (26%), followed by beauty and cosmetics (22%), and health and wellness (21%).
• That’s not to say consumers didn’t also treat themselves: Discretionary categories like home goods (21%), pet products (15%), and toys and games (14%) also saw solid activity.

Our take: Tentpole events like Prime Day and Big Deal Days aren’t just opportunities for Amazon to boost sales—although we did expect US sales to rise 8.8% during the event and Adobe forecast a 6.2% gain—but also to drive retail media spending, as brands ramp up advertising to reach high-intent shoppers.

Yet this year’s Big Deal Days may have underperformed expectations. Roughly three in ten consumers (29%) said they were cautious about spending due to the current economic climate, and a similar share (28%) limited purchases because of inflation and cost-of-living concerns, per Numerator.

As of 4:30pm Eastern on Thursday, Amazon had yet to issue its usual opaque statement proclaiming the event its “biggest ever”—a silence that suggests sales were steady at best. That’s an especially disappointing outcome after Amazon limited the sale to two days rather than repeating the four-day format used for Prime Day, likely reflecting weaker advertiser appetite for a longer event. More broadly, it could signal that consumers are becoming more cautious with discretionary spending heading into the holidays.

Go further: Read our Holiday Shopping 2025 report.