Online Spending Soars to $7.9 Billion on Prime Day Kickoff

Online spending hit $7.9 billion on July 8, a nearly 10% increase year-over-year, making it the busiest e-commerce day of the year to date, according to new figures from Adobe.

The surge was driven by several retailers offering digital sales, highlighted by the kickoff of Amazon's annual Prime Day event, which has been expanded to four days this year. More than half (50.2%) of purchases were made on mobile devices.

Adobe had previously forecast online sales of $23.8 billion for the four-day period from July 8 to 11.

According to Adobe, U.S. online retail sales on July 8 were boosted by several categories, including appliances (up 135% compared to average daily sales in June 2025), electronics (up 95%), tools and home improvement (up 85%), home and garden (up 75%), furniture (up 55%), apparel (up 45%), and toys (up 35%).

Adobe's figures also show triple-digit growth in several categories, including children's apparel (up 305%), home security products (up 260%), refrigerators and freezers (up 200%), computers (up 180%), vacuum cleaners (up 175%), and headphones and speakers (up 155%).

Back-to-school shopping also saw a substantial uptick, with spending up 190% for school supplies (backpacks, lunchboxes, stationery) and up 105% for dorm essentials (twin/full mattresses, microwaves, mini fridges, bedroom linens).

Strong deals yesterday prompted many consumers to "trade up" to higher-ticket items. Across all categories tracked by Adobe, the share of the most expensive goods increased by 20% compared to average year-to-date levels.

In electronics, the share of the most expensive goods rose 55%. Adobe also reported consumers trading up in appliances (up 35%), sporting goods (up 30%), furniture (up 30%), toys (up 20%), personal care (up 15%), and apparel (up 10%). Categories where consumers opted for lower-priced products include home and garden (share of most expensive goods down 2%) and grocery (down 6%).

Additional insights from Adobe include:

• Generative AI usage spiked: Consumers are embracing generative AI-powered chat services and browsers as shopping assistants. Generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites (measured by shoppers clicking on a link) on July 8 increased by 4,100% year-over-year.
• Buy Now, Pay Later sees uptick: Consumers continue to embrace more flexible ways to manage their budgets. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) orders on July 8 accounted for 6.4% of online orders and drove $613.4 million in revenue, up 13.6% year-over-year.
• Impact of social networks and influencers: Paid Search remained the top driver of retail sales (28.1% share, up 1.8% year-over-year). Affiliates and partners, which include social media influencers, saw stronger growth (19.8% share, up 3.7% year-over-year), as did social networks, which saw the greatest lift Tuesday (3.2% share, up 10.3% year-over-year).
• Impact of inflation: The Adobe Digital Price Index, which tracks online prices across 18 product categories, shows e-commerce prices have fallen for 34 months, down 2.1% year-over-year in June 2025. Adobe's numbers are not adjusted for inflation, but if online inflation were factored in, there would be even higher growth in top-line consumer spending.