Momentum Commerce, which oversees Amazon sales for top retailers representing $7 billion in spending on the platform, reported that sales on the first day of Prime Day were down 41% compared to last year. Still, the firm expects overall growth as Prime Day expands from a two-day event to four days of deals.
The company now projects 9.1% growth over last year—lower than the 14% it forecast in a preview report released in June.
Momentum said sales for its 30 million products on Amazon were still up 477% compared to the average daily sales over the past month. If that trend continues over the remaining days, Prime Day 2025 would still surpass last year’s total sales.
Engagement on Amazon also reached record highs, according to Momentum, which attributed the spike to consumers taking a “wait and see” approach before committing to purchases.
Amazon declined to comment on the record.
Despite Momentum’s initial figures, Adobe Analytics reported overall online sales were up more than 10% compared to the first day of last year’s Prime Day, according to CNBC. Retailers pulled in over $7.9 billion Tuesday, with major players like Walmart, Wayfair, and Target launching competing promotions during Prime Day for the first time. Momentum also observed stronger performance among direct-to-consumer websites, suggesting that Amazon’s event helped drive broader e-commerce traffic. “We believe Prime Day is increasingly becoming a proverbial 'rising tide that lifts all boats,’” said Andrew Waber, Momentum’s director of market research, in a statement to Forbes.
Amazon’s official messaging remained positive. “We’re pleased with customers’ response to Prime Day so far and it is still early in the 4-day event,” said spokesperson Jessica Martin. Prime head Jamil Ghani echoed that sentiment in an interview with Bloomberg, noting that Amazon had “doubled” the number of deals offering at least 50% off, which he said was helping drive shopper activity across 35 categories.
Momentum also noted that average discounts on Day 1 were about 21%, down from 24% last year. It attributed the shift to cautious decisions around inventory, pricing, and advertising.