Amazon.com Prime Day shopping event jumped 8.5% from last year to nearly $12 billion

According to data from Adobe‘s Digital Economy Index, U.S. online sales during the Amazon Prime Day shopping event jumped 8.5% from the previous year to close to $12 billion as Americans who were experiencing the effects of inflation raced for discounted essentials and electronics.

The two-day shopping event on July 12 and 13 was the biggest Amazon has ever seen, the company claimed on Thursday. Members of its Prime loyalty program bought more than 300 million items during the event, or 100,000 products every minute.

Customers have recently been hard-hit by the highest inflation rates in decades, which, according to merchants Walmart and Target, has led them to make less discretionary purchases.

Consumers have been required to take advantage of discount prices from a number of major American stores that build on Amazon Prime Day as a result of rising prices for everything from food to clothing.

“Consumers took advantage of discounts that were offered, after having experienced many months of heightened prices, online,” Adobe Vice President Pat Brown said.

Retailers are offering discounted prices to clear off the extra inventory they have on hand after going on buying binge eating amid the epidemic supply-chain crisis to satisfy customers flush with stimulus money from the previous year.

Best Buy advertised its competing Prime Day shopping event as “Black Friday in July” and offered over $100 off on Google smartphones and Sony headphones. Similar deals were also advertised on Target and Amazon. Toys saw the biggest discounts across retailers, with average markdowns at 15%, according to Adobe.  Apparel was discounted at 12%, while the electronics discount levels were at around 6%.