Amazon Prime Day 1: U.S. ecommerce sales top $8 billion

The first 24 hours of Amazon’s Prime Day event led to the most U.S. ecommerce sales in a day so far this year, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

On June 23, U.S. ecommerce sales reached $8.3 billion, marking 5.3% year-over-year growth versus the first 24 hours of Amazon’s Prime Day event in 2025. It’s also more than consumers spent on Thanksgiving Day in 2025 ($6.4 billion), according to Adobe.

Adobe said its data analyzes direct ecommerce transactions and covers more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million SKUs and 18 product categories. Furthermore, Adobe said its data “profiles retail broadly, rather than any individual retailer — it is anonymized and aggregated.”

Amazon’s Prime Day event in 2026 runs from June 23 through 26. And other retailers are capitalizing on Prime Day’s timing, too. Target is operating an identical 96-hour event period called Target Circle Deal Days. Meanwhile, Walmart Deals began June 22 and ends June 28. Costco is running a Summer Sales Event, Best Buy is running Black Friday Deals in July and other retailers are offering their own sales periods.

Amazon ranks No. 1 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000 Database. The database is how Digital Commerce 360 tracks the largest North American online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.

Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. That database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

But for years, Prime Day has become about more than just Amazon, leading to industrywide U.S. ecommerce sales growth. Overall, U.S.-based retailers seek to benefit from discounts and comparison shopping during Amazon’s largest annual sales period.

How Amazon Prime Day 1 affected ecommerce sales in 2026

The first day of Amazon’s Prime Day event led to overall U.S. ecommerce sales ahead of Adobe’s projection. However, it affirmed that it expects U.S. retailers to drive $26.3 billion across the four-day event. If its full-period sales projection pans out, it would mark 9% year-over-year growth. That would be $2.5 billion more in ecommerce sales than Amazon’s 2025 Prime Day helped generate.

Discounts largely fell in the range of 10% to 24% off listed prices, according to Adobe data.

Mobile shopping accounted for 51.2% of online sales. Consumers making purchases on mobile devices contributed $4.24 billion in ecommerce sales on June 23.

Additionally, orders on June 23 using buy now, pay later (BNPL) drove $668 million in ecommerce sales. That was a 7.6% year-over-year increase. It also represented 6.5% of orders for the day.

Adobe said four categories’ growth in average daily sales drove online sales on June 23. It compared June 23’s results to average daily sales in June 2025. The four categories:

• Electronics (105% increase).
• Appliances (95%).
• Tools and home improvement (75%).
• Home and garden (65%).

Adobe also observed growth in:

• School supplies (up 140%).
• Smart watches (up 130%).
• Personal hygiene products such as oral care, shampoo, antiperspirant (up 130%).
• Exercise equipment (up 125%).
• Household goods such as trash bags, detergents, paper products (65%).
• Baby products including strollers (up 220%), car seats (up 140%), formula (up 90%) and diapers/wipes (up 85%).

How generative AI shaped ecommerce traffic on Amazon Prime Day

Traffic to U.S. retail sales from generative AI tools and platforms nearly doubled year over year, according to Adobe. It measured that traffic by shoppers clicking on a link to a retail site from a generative AI tool.

Specifically, generative AI referral traffic increased 98.3% year over year in the first 24 hours of Amazon Prime Day 2026. Adobe said consumers “continue to lean on AI-powered chat services and browsers to research products and find deals.” It added that AI traffic “remains modest compared to non-AI sources.” Examples of other sources include paid search and email traffic.

Traffic from AI also converted 50.7% better than non-AI sources on June 23, according to Adobe data.

It offered a comparison point. During the 2025 Amazon Prime Day event, traffic from AI sources converted 23% worse than non-AI sources, averaged across the full period.

Shoppers arriving at retail sites from AI referrals also spent 49.9% more time on sites and browse 20.5% more pages per visit than those arriving from non-AI sources on June 23, Adobe said.

Additionally, traffic from AI sources on June 23 had an “add-to-cart” rate that was 33% higher than non-AI sources, Adobe found.

“AI-powered chat services and browsers have cemented their role in the online shopping experience, providing utility for shoppers who value the speed and convenience,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “However, Adobe’s data also shows that sizable portions of retailers’ websites, up to 46% in some cases, are not readable by machines. This limits their visibility across AI surfaces and will push brands to invest in more AI-friendly content such as tutorials, how-to guides, customer service pages, and more.”

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