Amazon’s best shopping day ever

Despite a computer glitch that prohibited consumers from shopping, Amazon said in a press release that its 2018 Prime Day (actually a day and a half) was its biggest shopping event in its history, although Amazon did not release sales figures. According to some reports, the number could exceed $3.5 billion.

Amazon held Prime Day on July 16 and 17 for 36 hours. The first day was marred by periodic platform outages that probably led to lost sales. But Seattle-based Amazon said that sales for this Prime Day surpassed Cyber Monday, Black Friday and the previous Prime Day, when comparing 36-hour periods. Prime members worldwide purchased more than 100 million products.

Best-sellers worldwide were the Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and Echo Dot, making this, with 12-hour early access to device deals, the biggest event ever for Amazon devices. For the first time, U.S. Prime members were enticed with a week of savings at Whole Foods Market, which Amazon purchased last year. Members saved millions of dollars at Whole Foods Market with Prime Day deals, of which the best-selling deal was organic strawberries, according to Amazon.

"Prime Day offers us a unique opportunity to thank Prime members with our best deals," said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business. "Extending Prime Day to a day and a half this year allowed us to further reward members with unbeatable deals, access to exclusive new products and unforgettable experiences that highlight the many benefits of a Prime membership.

Amazon reported that a record number of Prime members shopped across 17 countries, and the online retail behemoth welcomed more new Prime members on July 16 than any previous day in Amazon history.