'Amazon Prime Day 2017: The Inside Story on Consumer Sentiment' - Research from Periscope By McKinsey

NEW YORK, August 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Periscope^® By McKinsey, a suite of solutions focusing on price, promotion, assortment, sales and marketing optimization to achieve sustainable revenue growth, today announced the findings of research it carried-out following this year's Amazon Prime Day - the third and largest sales event yet in company's history. Periscope conducted online research with US shoppers to explore their attitudes, actions and behaviors in relation to Amazon Prime Day 2017.

When asked if they shopped for Amazon Prime Day deals on 11 July 2017, 36% of respondents confirmed they had made a purchase. This was a substantial increase on the 22% who said they had actively shopped for Prime Day deals in 2016. Interestingly, just over one-third (34%) of respondents were not aware of Prime Day last year and had taken the decision to explore the event for the very first time this year. Examining what had motivated them to shop on Amazon Prime Day this year, 12% confirmed having received more personalized marketing messages from Amazon which incentivized them to shop more. Furthermore, over one-quarter (26%) of survey respondents said this year they had encountered offers in more of the categories they were interested in shopping in.

Asked how their shopping behaviors had changed compared to last year's Prime Day, 12% of respondents confirmed they had shopped across more categories in this year's event with a further 7% admitting to spending more money.

Getting the Right Deal is Personal for Consumers 

When asked to evaluate what most influenced their decision to shop on Amazon Prime Day, more than half (54%) of respondents said their priority was to check out discounts on items they already planned to buy. A further 28% were less discriminating, preferring to hunt down and evaluate the best promotions and discounts available across multiple product categories.

Consumer Attitudes Appear Conflicted 

Interestingly, however, a significant number of shoppers expressed skepticism about the benefits to them of buying something on Prime Day. Almost one-third (31%) of respondents stated that promotions are never on products they are interested in and, as a result, they did not engage with the event. A further 19% went on to say they viewed Prime Day as a "marketing trick" and that, in their opinion, pre-event price inflation was being employed to make deals on the day seem more appealing to shoppers.

This last finding chimes with previous Periscope research into consumer attitudes to Black Friday 2016^[1], when 28% of US respondents expressed similar cynicism in relation to the 'reality' of the deals on offer - accusing retailers and brands of undertaking price manipulations to motivate shoppers.

Asked if they shop for discounts on Black Friday, 44% of respondents said this event had no appeal for them - a finding which indicates that, as Prime Members, Prime Day was the motivating factor that attracted these consumers to open their wallets.

Commenting on the findings, Brian Elliott, Managing Partner of Periscope By McKinsey, said: "While flash sales have become a fixture of online retail, enticing shoppers to part with their money using a combination of limited time, limited quantities and great deals is no longer enough to drive customers to buy on the day. As these findings demonstrate, there's more to a successful flash sale than discounting some items or starting a countdown clock. To maximize the impact of time-limited online shopping events, retailers and brands need to use even more data analytics solutions to deliver an optimized shopping experience."

To download the report "Amazon Prime Day 2017: The Inside Story on Consumer Sentiment" that accompanies this research, visit https://www.periscope-solutions.com/download.aspx?fileID=3131

Study Methodology 

In July 2017 Periscope conducted online research to understand consumer awareness of Prime Day 2017, their level of engagement with the event and attitudes towards other holiday shopping events. The web-based survey targeted consumers in the United States aged between 18 and 60+. The survey gathered 1,468 qualified responses.

About Periscope^® by McKinsey

Founded in 2007, the Periscope^® By McKinsey platform combines world-leading Intellectual Property, prescriptive analytics and cloud based tools with expert support and training. It's a unique combination that drives revenue growth, both now and into the future. The platform offers a suite of Marketing & Sales solutions that accelerate and sustain commercial transformation for businesses. Periscope leverages its world-leading IP (especially from McKinsey but also other partners) and best-in-class technology to enable transparency into Big Data, actionable insights and new ways of working that drive lasting performance improvement, and a sustainable 2-7% increase in return on sales (ROS). With a truly global reach, the portfolio of solutions is comprised of: Insight Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Customer Experience Solutions, Category Solutions, Pricing Solutions, Performance Solutions and Sales Solutions. These are complemented by ongoing client service and custom capability building programs.

To learn more about how Periscope's solutions and experts are helping businesses continually drive better performance, visit http://www.periscope-solutions.com/

^[1] "Black Friday Shopping Report: Consumer habits are changing fast"