Amazon recently made waves after holding this year’s annual Prime Day sales event from July 16 through July 17, with reporting stating that Prime Day sales climbed 11% to reach more than $14 billion in shopper spend and set a record for the number of items sold during the event. Walmart’s sales event this year lasted a whole week in June and was also made exclusive for subscribers.
PYMNTS Intelligence’s data finds that twice as many consumers shopped on Amazon’s Prime Days than during Walmart+ Week. However, indications are that Walmart+ Week participation is catching up to Prime Day participation. Our analysts find that for Walmart to catch up all the way, it will need to grow the Walmart+ subscriber base more than anything. Both Walmart+ Week and Amazon Prime Day reported a 50% participation rate from subscribers, but the lag in their number of subscribers impacted Walmart+ Week’s sales.
We also found a key downside for Amazon that would have been a problem if the subscriber bases were the same size. Walmart+ Week shoppers, on average, spent more than Amazon Prime Day shoppers, primarily on groceries and high-ticket items.
This report is the first in a series of three reports in which PYMNTS Intelligence compares data from Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week. It aims to elevate key insights and takeaways for executives, merchants and consumers.
Walmart+ Week Participation Still Lags Amazon Prime Day’s, But Is Catching Up
This year, roughly 40% of consumers participated in Amazon Prime Day, and roughly 20% participated in Walmart+ Week. These shares are virtually unchanged from 2023. Those figures include consumers who participated in both sales events, a share that has also remained steady since last year (about 14%).
While participation figures remain similar to last year, PYMNTS Intelligence’s historical data shows that participation in Walmart+ Week has meaningfully increased. Compared to 2022 figures, Walmart+ Week participation is up 71%. For comparison, only 12% of consumers participated in Walmart+ Week in 2022.
Amazon still has an impressive lead, but if these trends continue indefinitely, Walmart+ Week participation will slowly but surely catch up to Prime Day’s strong participation rates.
Turning Shoppers Into Subscribers Remains Key For Walmart
The fact that Amazon Prime has more than twice the subscriber base of Walmart+ can explain the gap in consumer participation between Amazon Prime Day and Walmart+ Week. Currently, per our latest data, 30% of consumers subscribe to Walmart+, whereas 67% subscribe to Amazon Prime.
Although Amazon Prime subscription rates have remained relatively stable since last year, Walmart+ subscriptions have increased 30% in that time. Subscriptions to Walmart+ among millennials and consumers earning less than $100,000 have grown the most. In short, Walmart+ is closing the gap in subscriptions among its consumer base, but the sheer size of that gap means it still lags behind Amazon Prime.
Meanwhile, matching majorities of the subscriber base for both Walmart+ Week and Amazon Prime (56%) report participating in the respective sales events. That Walmart+ Week has an identical subscriber participation rate to Prime Day suggests that the events are similarly strong. However, the data suggests Walmart needs to continue to grow its Walmart+ subscriber base if it ever will meet Amazon Prime Day’s overall consumer participation rate.
In other words, making more Walmart shoppers into Walmart+ members will be key in reducing the gap between the total number of consumers who participate in Prime Day and Walmart+ Week.
Walmart+ Week Shoppers Spent More On Average Than Amazon Prime Day Shoppers
Despite less consumer participation, the Walmart+ Week shopper spent more on average than the corresponding Amazon Prime Day shopper. Prime Day shoppers averaged $326 in spending throughout the sale event, compared to $473 for the average Walmart+ shopper. That means that Walmart+ shoppers spent roughly 45% more than the average Amazon Prime Day shopper. This trend held across demographics, with consumers earning more than $100,000 showing the largest difference in average spend between Amazon and Walmart. In fact, these high-income consumers flocked to Walmart+ more than other demographic groups for high-ticket items and groceries.
Why Walmart+ Needs More Subscribers
Amazon and Walmart continue fighting for consumer retail spend, with Prime Day and Walmart+ Week the central battlegrounds. A comparison of the most recent events reveals that Amazon Prime won big due to its larger subscriber base. Walmart+, which is newer on the block, is still playing catchup.
It will be critical for Walmart to continue growing its subscriber base in order to contend with Amazon’s. Given that Walmart+ shoppers tended to spend more during its event on average, the big box giant may not need to match Amazon’s subscriber base exactly to come out on top.
PYMNTS Intelligence has covered this clash of the titans both inside and outside the context of sales events. For more, read any of these data reports chronicling their often neck-and-neck race for consumer retail spend, including a deeper dive into how Walmart fared in the most recent Walmart+ Week event.
