Simon reflects on Amazon's Prime Day 2019 and the impact of e-commerce sales on printing and packaging

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope you’ve been enjoying what’s left of summer 2019. Amazon sure has!

During my hiatus, the e-commerce giant once again exceeded their own sales records with Prime Day(s) 2019. As is often the case with Amazon, the numbers are huge, with estimates from Adobe and Internet Retailer reflecting $7.16 billion in revenue from 175 million individual products purchased across the two-day period. A 10 percent growth in prime membership, lack of technical issues and the extension of the sale by 12 hours all helped Amazon increase their Prime Day haul by 71 percent versus last year.

As Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Target moved aggressively to hold competing sales, total consumer spending increased across the board up towards 60–70 percent higher than a typical Monday or Tuesday; the rising tide helped lift all boats.

E-commerce is a favorite topic of mine, personally and professionally; Simon with an Amazon app is as dangerous as Simon on an unaccompanied trip to Costco. Luckily for me, this macro-trend is also incredibly relevant to BASF’s products in the printing and packaging space. Though these numbers are enormous, e-commerce still only makes up around 10 percent of retail sales, according to the US census office, but this is expected to grow to around 30 percent by the year 2030.

The changing demands of product and distribution packaging — focusing more on the need for resistance or protection of consumer goods in transit, ease of open, reduced waste and emissions — are changing the way our customers look at the inks and coatings they formulate. With an eye towards the attractive growth prospects for e-commerce in the coming years, we will continue to focus on developing and producing raw materials that enable the most attractive and resilient inks and coatings to ensure products arrive on-brand and intact.

HAGS (Have A Great Summer),

— Simon

Amazon Prime Day 2019 analysis in 8 charts

Amazon sold $7.16 billion worth of goods on Prime Day, up 71% from $4.19 billion in 2018.

The fifth-annual Amazon Prime Day is in the books, and it is Amazon.com Inc.’s biggest sales event ever.

Amazon (No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 1000 and No. 3 in the Online Marketplaces database) didn’t provide specifics on sales or growth of its fifth-annual Prime Day. However, based on early analysis of marketplace sales, Amazon’s top-selling product categories and key site metrics, like conversion rate and traffic, Internet Retailer estimates sales hit $7.16 billion globally over the 48-hour period July 15-16. That’s up 71% from the $4.19 billion sold during the 36-hour sales event last year.

 

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