The Echo Dot was available to Prime subscribers for $35 instead of $50 during Prime Day. The discount went down well with consumers who were quick to snap the device up. It became the best-selling product from any manufacturer participating in Prime Day, as well as the best-selling Amazon device.
The strong sales bode well for Amazon’s Alexa ecosystem. The company is widely viewed as the dominant player in the emerging smart home market. A recent report revealed that Alexa device sales are rapidly increasing. Combined with significant gains in user engagement, the assistant is successfully disrupting established rivals such as Siri.
As per usual, Amazon didn’t disclose exactly how many Echo Dots it managed to shift yesterday. The event has been chalked up as a success though, officially the “biggest day ever” in Amazon history. Prime Day started three years ago to celebrate Amazon’s 20th anniversary. It has returned each year since as an annual event on a scale to rival Black Friday. As if there was any doubt about Amazon’s plans for 2018, the company confirmed it’ll be back again next year.
“To those customers who tried Prime for the first time and our long time members, thank you for a great Prime Day,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President of Amazon Prime. “Our teams around the world will keep working to add more and more to your membership, so Prime continues to make your life better every day. We are already looking forward to our Prime Day celebration next year.”
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“Tens of millions” of Amazon Prime subscribers reportedly made a purchase yesterday. Sales were more than 50 percent higher than the previous year. While Amazon has once again come under fire for some dubious deals and appearing to engineer an commercial event, it’s clear that people are more than willing to participate.
Amazon is said to be privately even more pleased with the results of Prime Day than it’s publicly announced. One source told TechCrunch that the company’s staff had been taken by surprise as internal sales estimates were lower than those observed. Amazon is reportedly “shocked” by how engaged customers were.
Amazon also touted the benefits to third-party companies who sell through its store. Some of its partners said they saw dramatic increases in sales yesterday. One store said their daily sales rocketed by 500 times after one of their products became the No.1 Best Seller in four different categories. Another experienced their best sales day in over two years, indicating that Prime Day isn’t entirely for Amazon’s benefit.
