Retailers riding Amazon’s coattails during Prime Day 2018 saw an impressive 156% increase in mobile app installs and purchases, but the good times didn’t last long. After a strong start prior to and during the 36-hour event on July 16, 2018, shopper fatigue quickly set in.
An analysis by Liftoff revealed that the percentage of consumers who installed a non-Amazon shopping app and made a purchase increased by 46.18% for the full “Prime Week,” July 14-20, compared to the previous five-week period. This increase was nearly identical to the 46.76%lift seen for the week around Prime Day 2017.
This year, however, the days following Prime Day saw sales plummeting to a low of negative 23.78% on Friday, July 20 compared to the prior five-week period. In 2017, the Thursday following Prime Day saw an install-to-purchase rate lift of 70.69%, before closing out the week with a lift of more than 30%.
Advertisement
Prime Day 2018’s early start (on a Monday rather than a Tuesday) and its extension to a 36-hour event may have taken a toll on shoppers’ willingness to spend, according to Liftoff. Mobile marketers seeking a boost from Prime Day 2019 should target new users in advance of next year’s holiday, and try to engage their attention all the way through the event.
Liftoff analyzed install and purchase rates for the seven-day period beginning the Saturday before Prime Day and continuing through the following Friday, then compared Prime Week to the prior five-week period to establish benchmarks. The study analyzed more than 4.1 billion mobile ad impressions, 867,520 app installs and 48,817 purchases within non-Amazon mobile shopping apps.
