prime day 2024 performance
Nice going, Rufus.
Amazon (AMZN) recently concluded its Prime Day sale event, and the online retail and entertainment behemoth described it as a resounding success.
Amazon reported that this Prime Day was the largest shopping event in its history, achieving record-breaking sales and selling more items over the two-day period than any previous Prime Day event.
“Prime Day 2024 was incredibly successful due to the millions of Prime members worldwide who looked to Amazon for amazing deals, and our valued employees, delivery partners, and sellers across the globe who made the event possible for customers,” stated Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores.
Rufus, Amazon’s AI-driven conversational shopping assistant, also had a successful day, as the company reported that it “assisted millions of customers in efficiently navigating Amazon’s extensive selection and completing their purchases.”
Amazon unveiled Rufus in February, stating, “We believe generative AI will transform almost all customer experiences as we know them.”
According to the company, “With Rufus, customers can now shop with the assistance of a generative AI-powered expert that is familiar with Amazon’s entire selection and can combine this knowledge with information from across the internet to help them make more informed purchasing decisions.”
TheStreet Pro’s Chris Versace highlighted that U.S. consumers spent $12.2 billion during Prime Day 2024, as reported by Adobe Analytics. This represents an increase of nearly 12% from $10.7 billion the previous year and exceeds Adobe’s forecast of $12 billion.
“As anticipated, one sector showing significant spending strength was Back to School, which surged by 216% compared to the previous year,” Versace mentioned. “In the meantime, Electronics saw a 61% increase, with Adobe highlighting Apple’s (AAPL) benefit from an 18% year-over-year rise in overall phone sales. Apparel and Furniture were also identified as strong-performing categories.”
Nevertheless, he mentioned that Prime Day represents a mere 1% of Amazon’s sales for the current quarter. “Therefore,” he remarked, “we shouldn’t draw significant conclusions from the results,” while also noting that “the event will likely boost the July Retail Sales report.”
“It should also accelerate Back-to-School spending, which we usually observe in August,” Versace noted. This might lead to “a slightly weaker overall retail number in the August Retail Sales report.”
JMP Securities reported that even with ongoing consumer challenges, Amazon’s annual Prime Day achieved another record in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). According to Adobe Analytics, GMV increased by 11% year-over-year, reaching 12.7%. JMP maintained its outperform rating and price target of 5 for Amazon, while anticipating another Early Access Sale event later this year.
income from advertisements and predictions by analysts
Amazon reported earnings and revenue for Q1 that exceeded expectations, prior to its planned Q2 results release on August 1st. Ad revenue increased by 24%, outpacing the retail and cloud computing divisions.
“CEO Andy Jassy informed analysts during an earnings call that the main driver of strength in advertising was sponsored products. He emphasized that ongoing enhancements in relevance and measurement capabilities for advertisers were significant contributors.”
“We continue to see substantial opportunities in our sponsored products,” Jassy noted. He also highlighted areas such as Prime Video ads where they are just beginning: “Prime Video ads provide brands with value, allowing us to more effectively connect the impact of streaming TV advertising to business outcomes like product sales or subscription sign-ups.”
Loop Capital maintained its buy rating on Amazon with a target price of $200, expressing optimism about advertising growth expanding beyond sponsored listings into Connected TV (CTV) and audio advertisements. They anticipate the potential for $100 billion in ad revenue by the end of the decade, up from $38 billion last year.
Truist increased its price target from 0 to 0 while keeping a buy rating. They predict an earnings outperformance, noting positive indicators in Amazon’s advertising business and forecasting further growth acceleration for AWS (Amazon Web Services).
Morgan Stanley increased its price target from 0 to 0, maintaining an overweight rating. They provided an outlook for second-quarter EPS of the North American Internet group, highlighting Amazon as their leading mega-cap choice.
“Truist observed that, even with a declining consumer environment, Amazon is still increasing its share of global e-commerce and enhancing its value proposition for both sellers and buyers.”
