Amazon Prime Day drives $7.2B in spending on first day of sales event

Consumers collectively spent $7.2 billion online during the first day of Amazon's two-day shopping bonanza. 

That figure is up 11.7% year over year. It also marked the biggest e-commerce day so far this year, underscoring the significant impact Prime Day has on online retail sales.

Tuesday also marked the biggest mobile shopping day so far this year, accounting for $3.5 billion in online spending across retailers, according to Adobe data. 

Adobe analyzed direct consumer transactions online across over 1 trillion U.S. retailer sites. 

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While customers were clamoring for things such as electronics, video games and small kitchen appliances, back-to-school shopping saw a massive uptick. 

Spending on back-to-school supplies such as backpacks, lunchboxes, and stationery jumped 210% on Tuesday compared with daily sales levels throughout the prior month, according to Adobe.

Spending on kids' apparel was up 159%.

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Spending on electronics was up 33%, video game spending was up 134% and small kitchen appliance spending jumped up 82%. 

Adobe had previously projected that spending online throughout the two-day sales event would grow 10.5% annually to a record $14 billion.

E-commerce has already had a strong year, with consumers spending more than $502 billion online in the first six months of the year. 

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Between July and the end of September, Adobe is projecting that consumers will spend $229.1 billion online, up 7.2% year over year.

"Steep discounting has been the story of e-commerce so far this year, as consumers look to get the most value out of their dollar," Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya said.