Business and Marketing

Nearly a third of women in an online shopping community said they used Amazon's one-day sale to begin their Christmas shopping.

Thirty-one percent of members of SheSpeaks, an online consumer community, said that purchases they made on Prime Day last Wednesday had kick-started their holiday shopping. What's more, they did the bulk of their shopping with the event's sponsor. Two thirds of the 2,682 women surveyed said they acquired merchandise from Amazon. Walmart was a distant second at 21%.

Amazon apparently succeeded in pumping up the economy last Wednesday, according to the poll. Of those who made purchases that day, 40% said it was Prime Day that inspired them to take out their credit cards and turn on their PCs.

Awareness of Prime Day was high among even those who made no purchases. Some 84% of SheSpeaks members polled knew about at least one of the July 15 sales. Amazon's goal of signing new Prime members as a result of the event showed promise, as 10% of the Prime Members polled said they had just signed up to take advantage of the sale.

Launching tomorrow as a lower-cost alternative to Amazon, Jet.com, meanwhile, may take inspiration from the finding that (57%) of those surveyed said price played the most important factor in purchase decisions versus 27% who named free shipping.

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