Christmas in July? Now It’s “Prime Time”

Until ecommerce (and wifi and mobile devices) became mainstream, summertime meant slow sales for retailers. The kids are out of school, and families head to the movies, the beach, the lake, or the sprinkler outside. It’s too hot to shop.

But in recent years, consumers have shown that with the right incentives (clearance sales, free shipping, and other juicy offers), they still have time to click away during the hot summer vacation months. Data from Avalara’s CommerceTracker shows strong spikes in total transactions in mid-July over the last several years (see chart above). These were especially steep in 2015. The cause? It’s likely Amazon Prime Day. Last year, the ecommerce giant inaugurated this one-day sale event, aimed at highlighting the benefits of being an Amazon Prime member. This year, its second, Amazon is heavily promoting Prime Day, and many other retailers are joining in with their own mid-July clearance sales and promotions.

So if you’re an ecommerce merchant, there’s still time to jump on the “Christmas in July” bandwagon; if you’re a consumer, you might check out those hot deals.