The DataWeave Blog

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Black Friday U.S. 2025: Comprehensive Analysis of Deals, Pricing Trends, and Brand Visibility Across Key Categories
Black Friday 2025 shattered records once again. U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, a 9.1% increase from 2024 and the first time online sales exceeded $11 billion. The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects holiday retail sales (November-December) to grow 3.7% to 4.2% over 2024, with total holiday spending expected to surpass $1 trillion for the first time ever. Against this backdrop of robust consumer spending, how did leading retailers and brands perform across key categories this Black Friday?

At DataWeave, we conducted a detailed analysis of Black Friday 2025 pricing trends across five major categories: Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty, Grocery, and Apparel. Our AI-powered pricing intelligence platform monitored nearly 80,000 SKUs across leading U.S. retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Home Depot, Sephora, and more, revealing interesting patterns in how retailers and brands approached this year’s sale season.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, DataWeave monitored average discounts across leading U.S. retailers during two distinct periods:
- Pre-Black Friday: Up to November 23, 2025 – capturing early holiday deals and baseline pricing
- Additional Discounts During Black Friday Week: November 24 – December 1, 2025 – covering Thanksgiving week through Black Friday (November 28) and Cyber Monday (December 1)
Our sample encompassed the top-ranked products across subcategories on major retail sites. We also analyzed Share of Search data, which measures brand visibility by monitoring which brand names appear in the top 20 search results for critical keywords.

Black Friday 2025: The Big Picture

Here’s the snapshot of average discounts during the Pre-Black Friday period compared to Black Friday Week:

Key Insight: Pre-Black Friday discounts were significant across all categories. This suggests retailers front-loaded their promotions to capture early holiday shoppers, with additional discounts during Black Friday Week adding to the baseline discounts already in place.

Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics remain one of the most anticipated categories during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Notably, AI traffic to retail websites grew 805% year-over-year, with consumers using AI tools most frequently for video games, appliances, and electronics categories. Our analysis of 10,356 SKUs reveals how discounts varied across subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

In Consumer Electronics, Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 14.6% across subcategories, while Black Friday Week saw an additional 2.6% discount on average. Audio & Video products led the pre-sale discounting at 17.5%, indicating retailers were eager to move inventory early. During Black Friday Week, Audio & Video, Accessories, and Wearables saw the highest additional discounts (2.9-3 %), while Computers and Storage had already been heavily discounted pre-sale, leaving minimal room for further reductions during the main event.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Our Share of Search analysis reveals significant shifts in brand visibility during Black Friday Week:

The Takeaway: Our analysis reveals significant shifts in brand visibility during Black Friday Week compared to the pre-sale period. Computing and mobile-focused brands like Apple and Asus gained substantial ground, while audio brands like Logitech, JBL, and Beats saw their visibility plummet. Apple’s Share of Search jumped from 1.58% to 6.2%, a gain of 4.6%, suggesting strong promotional activity or heightened consumer interest. Meanwhile, Logitech dropped nearly 8%, from 9.9% to just 1.2%.

Home & Furniture

The Home & Furniture category continues to be a consumer favorite during Black Friday. Our analysis of 12,610 SKUs shows how discounts were distributed across subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Home & Furniture saw Pre-Black Friday discounts averaging 13.9%, with Black Friday Week adding just 1.7% on average, the second-lowest additional discount among all categories. Bedding led pre-sale discounts at an impressive 18.6%, followed by Furniture at 16.4% and Outdoor at 15.1%. This suggests retailers aggressively promoted home goods early in the season to capture deal-seekers.

During Black Friday Week, Bedding maintained leadership with 2.4% additional discounts, while Kitchenware saw the smallest bump at just 0.9%, indicating early promotions had already captured most of the discount opportunity.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

The Takeaway: The Home & Furniture category saw some of the most dramatic Share of Search swings in our entire analysis. Emerging and value-oriented brands dominated the gains, with Swedrea surging from 8.7% to 19.6%, a remarkable 10.8% increase. Similarly, Clickbin and Costway each gained over 9%. On the flip side, established premium brands like Beautyrest and Livabliss saw sharp visibility declines, dropping over 7-8%.

Health & Beauty

Health & Beauty has emerged as a growth engine during Black Friday. The beauty industry is projected to grow 5% annually through 2030 according to a McKinsey survey. Our analysis of 16,141 SKUs reveals subcategory-level insights.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Notable finding: Health & Beauty presented a unique discounting pattern compared to other categories. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged just 7.1%, the second-lowest among all categories. But Black Friday Week discounts were relatively strong at 4.8%. This indicates the Beauty category held back more discounts for the main event.

Notably, Hair Care was the only subcategory across our entire analysis where Black Friday Week discounts (6%) exceeded Pre-Black Friday discounts (4.6%), suggesting retailers strategically saved their best hair care promotions for the big weekend. Fragrance led pre-sale discounts at 13%, making it an attractive early shopping category.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Health & Beauty saw some of the most dramatic Share of Search swings in our analysis, driven largely by celebrity-backed brands. Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez exploded from just 1.9% to 13.7%, a whopping 11.8% gain that made it the biggest winner across all categories. Haus Labs by Lady Gaga also surged (+4.1%), while prestige brands like Dior (+2.6%) and Clinique (+2.4%) gained ground.

The flip side? Retailer private labels took a hit: Beauty Finds by ULTA Beauty collapsed from 24% to 13.7% (-10.3%), and Sephora Collection dropped from 19.8% to 16.0% (-3.8%).

Key Takeaway: The Beauty category tells a compelling story about the power of celebrity brands during Black Friday. The Share of Search shifts appear to reflect how retailers and brands recalibrated their promotional focus for Black Friday. Celebrity-driven lines rose sharply in visibility, suggesting stronger placement, promotion, or search prioritization during the sale period. At the same time, private-label ranges from ULTA and Sephora lost ground, indicating a pivot away from house-brand visibility in favor of more spotlighted national and prestige brands throughout the event.

Grocery

While Grocery typically sees more modest discounts compared to discretionary categories, the sector remains a critical part of Thanksgiving weekend shopping. According to the National Retail Federation, grocery stores and supermarkets ranked as the third most popular shopping destination during Thanksgiving weekend, with 40% of consumers making purchases there. Our analysis of 18,823 SKUs shows how retailers approached promotions across essential and indulgent subcategories.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Grocery had the lowest discounts across all categories, reflecting the already-thin margins in food retail. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged just 5.2%, with Black Friday Week adding only 1.5%. Household Essentials and Beverages led pre-sale discounts at 6.9% and 6.7% respectively, and maintained their lead during Black Friday Week with 2.2% additional discounts each. Fresh categories like Meat & Seafood (1.4% pre-sale, 1% Black Friday Week) and Frozen Foods (3.3%, 1%) saw minimal promotional activity, consistent with perishable inventory constraints and tight margins.

Key Takeaway: Grocery discounting remains conservative, with shelf-stable and household items seeing the most promotional activity. The Beverages and Household Essentials subcategories, which have longer shelf life and higher margins, were the primary battleground for grocery promotions during BFCM 2025.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

The Grocery category saw some surprising Share of Search swings during Black Friday Week. Most notably, there was a dramatic divergence between beverage giants: Sprite surged from 1.7% to 6.8% (+5.1%), while Coca-Cola collapsed from 6% to just 0.1% (-5.9%). This stark contrast suggests vastly different promotional strategies or algorithmic visibility changes between the two brands. Private label 365 by Whole Foods Market continued its steady rise, gaining 3%, reflecting ongoing consumer interest in store brands as shoppers seek value.

The Sprite vs. Coca-Cola divergence is one of the most striking findings in our analysis. Additionally, brands like Amy’s (organic/natural foods) and McCormick (spices/seasonings) gained significant visibility.

Apparel

Apparel remains a Black Friday staple and performed strongly this year. Our analysis of 21,749 SKUs (the largest category in our study) reveals interesting patterns.

Subcategory Discount Analysis

Apparel showed strong discounting activity throughout the BFCM period. Pre-Black Friday discounts averaged 13.8%, with Black Friday Week adding 3.8%, the highest additional discount among all five categories. Men’s Clothing and Women’s Clothing led pre-sale discounts at 17.7% and 17.5% respectively, reflecting aggressive early promotions on core apparel. Interestingly, Plus Size Clothing saw the highest Black Friday Week discount at 5.4%, suggesting retailers pushed harder during the main event to drive conversions in this segment. Kids’ Clothing also saw strong Black Friday Week discounts at 4.4%.

Share of Search: Brand Visibility Trends

Apparel saw dramatic Share of Search movements during Black Friday Week. Fashion-forward brands dominated the gains: Madewell surged from 6.9% to 16.1% (+9.2%), while Alice + Olivia jumped from 14.7% to 23.6% (+8.9%). Nike also performed strongly with a 7.1% gain. Conversely, outdoor and athletic brands faced steep declines: The North Face dropped from 18.4% to 5.9%, a massive 12.5% decline, the largest in our entire analysis. Adidas fell 7.7%, Beyond Yoga declined 5.3%, and luxury brand Coach by 5%.

Key Takeaway: The data suggests fashion-forward and lifestyle brands (Madewell, Alice + Olivia, Saint Laurent) gained visibility at the expense of outdoor/athletic brands (The North Face, Adidas, Beyond Yoga). This could indicate that fashion brands invested more heavily in promotional visibility during the sale period.

Want to understand how DataWeave’s pricing intelligence platform can help your business make data-driven decisions during peak sales events? Contact us to learn more about competitive insights, price intelligence, assortment analytics, content analytics, and digital shelf analytics.

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December 9, 2025
Black Friday vs Boxing Day: Which Sale Event Offered Better Deals?
When it comes to shopping events, Black Friday stands out as one of the most anticipated dates for scoring deals. Typically occurring the day after Thanksgiving, the weekend kicks off the holiday shopping season with a frenzy of discounts. But Boxing Day, celebrated on December 26, is also well-known for its post-Christmas clearance sales.

This Black Friday, US eCommerce sales increased by a hefty 14.6% in 2024, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. While Black Friday leads in overall revenue generation for retailers, Boxing Day presents unique opportunities for clearing post-holiday inventory.

For a consumer, which sale event is likely to offer the most attractive deals?

At DataWeave, we analyzed discounts across retailers and categories to uncover the answer.

Our Methodology

For this analysis, we tracked pricing data across major retailers for Black Friday and Boxing Day. To provide a comprehensive analysis of Black Friday pricing strategies, we explored a matched products dataset, comparing identical 14,000+ SKUs across retailers within key categories.
- Categories included: Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Apparel, Health & Beauty, Grocery
- Retailers included: Amazon, Target, Walmart, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Overstock, Home Depot, Best Buy, Saks Fifth Ave, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus
- Timeline: November 26 (Black Friday), December 26 (Boxing Day)
Average Discounts: Black Friday vs Boxing Day

Our analysis reveals that Black Friday generally offered steeper discounts across most categories, although Boxing Day wasn’t far behind. Here’s a breakdown:

While Black Friday led in most categories, Apparel saw a slight edge on Boxing Day, with discounts averaging 40.22% compared to 37.67% on Black Friday. Electronics, Beauty, and Home, however, remained more lucrative during Black Friday.

Top 5 Products Higher Discounts on Black Friday

Diving deeper into specific products, here are our top 5 picks offering better discounts during Black Friday.
- Appliances like an Immersion blender set offering a discount of 88.29%, significantly higher than its Boxing Day offer of 86.62%.
- High-end electronics like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 also saw substantial markdowns at 84.60%.
- In beauty and fashion, both La Roche Posay’s retinol serum and Vera Bradley’s satchel offered discounts above 80%.
- Even everyday essentials like paper towels enjoyed generous discounts, with markdowns reaching 82.35% during Black Friday compared to 76.47% on Boxing Day.
Top 5 Products With Higher Discounts on Boxing Day

Boxing Day revealed some remarkable deals across diverse categories, with certain products offering significantly better value than their Black Friday counterparts.
- The JBL Go 2 portable speaker emerged as the standout, with an extraordinary 82% Boxing Day discount compared to just 20% on Black Friday—a dramatic 62% difference.
- Home furnishings showed strong Boxing Day performance, with the Costway accent armchair set reaching 80.30% off.
In Conclusion

Black Friday reigns supreme in driving early holiday sales, offering deeper discounts and drawing larger crowds. However, Boxing Day remains critical for retailers to offload surplus inventory and attract post-holiday shoppers.

By combining insights from both events, retailers can refine their strategies to maximize revenue and enhance customer satisfaction. For shoppers, the decision comes down to timing—shop early for better deals or wait to capitalize on clearance markdowns. The products and categories with more attractive offers tend to vary between these two sale events. Hence, as a shopper, it’s a good idea to keep track of prices all through the holiday season to take advantage of the best deals.

Check out our comprehensive coverage of Black Friday 2024 deals and discounts across categories.

For a deeper dive into the world of competitive pricing intelligence and to explore how our solutions can benefit apparel retailers and brands, reach out to us today!
January 21, 2025
Health & Beauty Deals on Black Friday 2024: Insights from Top Retailers and Brands
The U.S. health and beauty retail sector shows remarkable resilience amid economic uncertainties, with the skincare market projected to hit $21.83 billion in 2024. Black Friday data reinforces this trend, with health and beauty products seeing a 14.6% surge in web traffic compared to last year.

At DataWeave, we conducted an in-depth analysis of Black Friday discounting trends in the U.S. health and beauty sector. DataWeave’s AI-powered pricing intelligence platform was used to monitor pricing and discounts across Sephora, Ulta Beauty, Walmart, Target, and Amazon during Black Friday 2024. The study covered 19985 SKUs from November 10-29. We focused on the top 500 products ranked for each search keyword on each retail site, using targeted terms aligned with categories like “skincare” and “fragrance”.

The results? Beauty leads across categories in discount depth this year, with some retailers offering significant markdowns.

The Beauty Boom: More Than Just Looking Good

If there’s one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s that self-care isn’t just a luxury – it’s a necessity. This Black Friday proved that beauty has become an indispensable part of consumers’ lives, with retailers offering unprecedented discounts and crafting strategic promotions to capture the growing demand.

The Absolute Discount represents the reduction of the selling price compared to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). The Additional Discount reflects how much lower the selling price is during Black Friday compared to its price a week before the sale. This metric reveals the actual or effective value of the sale event, beyond the standard discounts typically offered.

Ulta Beauty led with 45% average discounts, followed by Sephora at 38.1% and Walmart at 35.2%. In terms of additional Black Friday discounts, Ulta maintained dominance at 35%, with Sephora following at 28%.

Hair care emerged as the standout category, with Ulta Beauty offering up to 56% discounts, reflecting sustained demand for at-home beauty routines. Skincare saw fierce competition, with Sephora emphasizing premium discounts (37%) while Walmart focused on value pricing (32.5%).

Fragrance and Makeup attracted consumers with targeted promotions from Walmart and Ulta Beauty, signaling strong demand for gifting items.

Major beauty brands echoed the sentiment. Premium skincare brand Clinique leads with 50.6% average discounts. Meanwhile, drugstore staples like Revlon (29.1%) and Maybelline (24.4%) balanced accessibility and affordability, driving mass-market appeal. Popular beauty and makeup brand L’Oreal Paris also offered a modest 22.8% average discount, reinforcing its position as a value-oriented brand.

The more interesting story? The massive shift in brand visibility, as our share of search rankings denote:
- Shampoo and hair care brand Tresemmé saw an unexpected 5.5% jump in the share of search results
- Beauty brand Herbal Essences gained 5.1% in share of search well
Declines in share of search were noted for brands like L’Oreal Paris (-1.8%) and Pantene (-0.6%), indicating missed opportunities in promotional visibility.

Insight: What’s driving this beauty boom? TikTok and social media continue to fuel beauty purchases, with viral products driving significant search and sales spikes. Plus, the “skinification” of hair care has turned basic shampoo shopping into a full-blown beauty ritual.

Who Offered the Lowest Prices?

In the previous analysis, we focused on the top 500 products within each subcategory for each retailer, showcasing the discount strategies for their highlighted or featured items. However, to identify which retailer offered the lowest or highest prices for the same set of products, it’s necessary to match items across retailers. For this, we analyzed a separate dataset of 1133 matched products across Health & Beauty specific retailers to compare their pricing during Black Friday. This approach provides a clearer picture of price leadership and competitiveness across categories.

Here are the key takeaways from this analysis.
- Bloomingdale’s emerges as the overall leader, offering the highest average discount of 14.87%, closely followed by Bluemercury (12.41%).
- Ulta Beauty ranks third (10.94%), demonstrating competitiveness across key subcategories, while Sephora trails with the lowest average discount (7.33%), reflecting a more premium positioning.
- Ulta Beauty leads in Hair Care with the highest discount (22.62%), while Bluemercury dominates in Skin Care (13.81%), Makeup (22.98%), and Fragrance (10.6%).
- Sephora consistently offers the lowest discounts across all subcategories, reflecting their premium positioning.
- Bluemercury offers the lowest prices for luxury brands like Kiehl (27.02%) and Laura Mercier (34.87%), with Bloomingdale’s closely trailing.
- Bloomingdale’s leads for Bumble and Bumble (13.59%) and Hourglass (23.41%), showcasing strong promotional efforts.
- Sephora maintains a more restrained discount strategy, with notable leadership only for Estée Lauder (7.18%).
- Ulta Beauty shines in offering the steepest discount for Briogeo (33.26%), emphasizing competitiveness in key brands.
What’s Next for Holiday Discounting?

For retailers, the message is clear: traditional holiday playbooks need a serious update. For shoppers, it means unprecedented opportunities to score deals in categories that traditionally held firm on pricing.

Want to stay ahead of retail trends and optimize your holiday shopping strategy? DataWeave’s commerce intelligence platform helps brands and retailers strategically navigate these shifts. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you make data-driven decisions in this rapidly evolving retail landscape.

Stay tuned to our blog for forthcoming analyses on pricing and discounting trends across a spectrum of shopping categories, as we continue to unravel the intricacies of consumer behavior and market dynamics.
December 3, 2024
Early Black Friday Deals Analyzed: How Top Retailers Stack Up on Discounts
Black Friday, once confined to a single weekend, has evolved into a shopping season that now stretches well before Thanksgiving. With inflation hovering around 3% and consumer confidence showing signs of recovery, retailers are adapting their promotional calendars to capture early-bird shoppers and maintain a competitive edge.

Major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy, have capitalized on this trend by launching promotions weeks in advance, signaling the traditional holiday rush is now a month-long event. At DataWeave, we put these deals under a microscope.

Our Methodology

Using DataWeave’s advanced, AI-powered pricing intelligence platform, we tracked early Black Friday deals across Consumer Electronics, Home & Furniture, Health & Beauty, and Apparel categories. We monitored dedicated Black Friday deal pages on Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, and Sephora to gather and analyze discount data a week prior to Black Friday weekend.

Who’s Offering the Best Deals Across Categories?

Our pre- Black Friday analysis reveals a clear pattern of premium brands offering deeper discounts across categories ahead of the holiday. Here are some key findings around retail players:
- Walmart emerges as the most aggressive discounter across categories, leading in Health & Beauty (57.07%), Apparel (48.97%), and Consumer Electronics (43.35%).
- Amazon maintains consistent but lower discounts (28-29%) across categories, suggesting potential deeper cuts ahead.
- Best Buy and Sephora, both category specialists, play it conservative compared to mass retail players.
Let’s look at each category more closely to get a detailed snapshot of the deals this Thanksgiving week:

Health & Beauty

Our analysis reveals that it’s not electronics, but the health & beauty category that leads with the widest discount range pre Black Friday, making it the category to watch out for.
- Walmart takes the lead with an aggressive 57.1% average discount in this category, capitalizing on its value-oriented reputation.
- Beauty specialist Sephora holds modest beauty discounts (32.81%) compared to other retailers.
- Amazon offers the broadest range of SKUs (571) in the category.
Among the health & beauty brands we analyzed, cosmetics brand Tarte and viral K-Beauty skincare brand COSRX stand out with discounts above 40%, appealing to cost-conscious beauty enthusiasts.

Consumer Electronics

Our pre- Black Friday analysis reveals interesting insights about consumer electronics deals this season.
- Walmart, once again, emerges as the frontrunner in the category with 43.4% average discounts.
- Best Buy plays it conservative in electronics (30.75%), despite being a category specialist, but offers the most extensive SKU coverage (3030).
- Amazon’s consistent 29.7% discount across 1,749 SKUs suggests they’re probably holding back their best deals for Prime members during Black Friday.
Brand-specific data for the category reveals significant deals on Speck (48.07%) and smart TV brand Insignia (39.22%), making accessories and mid-tier electronics attractive for early shoppers. Core computing (HP at 32.14%) and electronics brands maintain more conservative discounts. It remains to be seen if this changes on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Apparel

Our analysis of the apparel category reveals several highlights:
- In the apparel category too, Walmart dominates with an impressive 49% average discount, effectively targeting price-sensitive shoppers in the fashion segment.
- Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus, both known for apparel, offer significant discounts at 43.2% and 37.8% respectively.
- Amazon’s expansive SKU coverage (1344) is countered by a modest 29.5% discount, showing its focus on variety over depth of discounts.
Premium fashion brands dominate the highest discounts this Black Friday in the apparel category. Vince Camuto leads with over 45.1% average discount. Notably, Levi and Nike’s aggressive 44.43% and 43.50% discounts suggests significant inventory positions or intent to capture market share.

Home & Furniture

Our analysis reveals an interesting trend across the category.
- In the home & furniture category too, Walmart leads at 41.8% average discounts. Target follows closely, but with significantly lesser SKUs on offer.
- Amazon’s 28.1% discount, though the lowest among major players, spans a substantial 1,982 SKUs, reinforcing its position as a marketplace for diverse needs.
Top 3 Products With the Highest Discounts Across Retailers

To provide a clearer picture of the early Black Friday landscape, we analyzed the top 3 products with the most substantial discounts in consumer electronics and health & beauty categories. These insights highlight how retailers are leveraging strategic discounts on high-value items to attract early shoppers.

Top Discounted Products in Consumer Electronics

Premium TVs dominate the discount scene, with LG’s 83″ OLED offering up to 44.5% off on Amazon, closely followed by a 44.4% discount on Best Buy, showcasing aggressive competition. The same product has much lower discounting on Walmart, but notably, the product is retailed at $3999.9, at least $1000 less than other retailers, highlighting Walmart’s commitment to offering lowest prices.

Gaming consoles, like the PlayStation 5 Slim Bundle, show moderate discounts (ranging from 15% on Walmart and Target to 25% at Best Buy), appealing to tech-savvy shoppers.

Notable competition is evident in price matching across major retailers, particularly in TVs and high-value electronics like the Nikon Z 8 camera, where Walmart offers the deepest discount at 13.75%, edging past Amazon and Best Buy.

Top Discounted Products in Health & Beauty

Viral skincare staples like Tatcha’s Water Cream show tight discounting consistency, with Walmart offering 19.47% off compared to Amazon’s 20% and Sephora’s 20.83%.

Trending haircare brand Olaplex displays greater disparity, with Walmart leading with a 33.33% discount, surpassing Amazon and Sephora. Luxury brand, Yves Saint Laurent’s Satin Lipstick is one of the highest discounted items across retailers.

Looking Ahead

Our analysis suggests that while some early deals offer genuine value, particularly in premium beauty and high-end electronics, many retailers might be holding their best discounts for Black Friday.

For shoppers, the key is being selective: jump on premium brand discounts now (since they’re likely to remain the same though the weekend), but wait on mid-range electronics and home goods where better deals are likely to emerge on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

For retailers, the imperative is clear: dynamic pricing intelligence is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge while protecting margins. Competitive insights will be critical as the holiday season progresses to balance market share against profitability.

Stay tuned for our Black Friday Cyber Monday analysis next week, where we’ll track how these early discounts compare to the main event’s deals!
November 28, 2024
Do Amazon’s Competitors Lower Prices During Prime Day?

As the retail landscape continues to evolve, events like Amazon Prime Day have become more than just shopping extravaganzas—they’ve transformed into strategic battlegrounds where retailers assert their market positions and brand identities. Prime Day 2024 was no exception, serving as a crucial moment for retailers to showcase their pricing prowess, customer loyalty programs, and category expertise.

In an era where consumer expectations for deals are at an all-time high, the impact of Prime Day extends far beyond Amazon’s ecosystem. Retailers like Walmart, known for its “everyday low prices,” Target with its emphasis on style and value, and Best Buy, the electronics specialist, have all adapted their strategies to compete. These companies didn’t just react to Prime Day; they proactively launched their own pre-emptive sales events, with Target Circle Week, Walmart July Deals and more, effectively extending the shopping bonanza and challenging Amazon’s dominance.

For Prime Day, we analyzed over 47,000 SKUs across major retailers and product categories to publish insights on Amazon’s pricing strategies as well as the performance of leading consumer brands. Here, we go further to delve into the discounts offered (or not offered) by Amazon’s competitors during Prime Day. Our analysis reveals that some retailers chose to compete on price during the sale for certain categories, while others did not.

Below, we highlight our findings for each product category. The Absolute Discount is the total discount offered by each retailer during Prime Day compared to the MSRP. These are the discounts consumers are familiar with, displayed on retail websites prominently during sale events. The Additional Discount, on the other hand, is the reduction in price during Prime Day compared to the week prior to the sale, revealing the level of price markdowns by the retailer specific to a sale event.

Consumer Electronics

In the Consumer Electronics category, Best Buy stood out as a strong competitor, offering an Additional Discount of 5.9%—the highest among all competitors analyzed. This is unsurprising, as Best Buy is well-known for its focus on consumer electronics and is likely aiming to reinforce its reputation for offering attractive deals in order to maintain its strong consumer perception in the category.

Walmart was a close second with a 4.3% Additional Discount while Target reduced its prices by only 2% during the sale.

Apparel

In the Apparel category, Walmart’s Additional Discount was 3.1%, demonstrating its willingness to be priced competitively on a small portion of its assortment during the sale, without compromising much on margins.

Target, on the other hand, opted out of competing with Amazon on price during the sale, choosing instead to maintain its Absolute Discount level of around 11%.

Home & Furniture

The Home & Furniture category showcased diverse strategies from retailers. Specialty furniture retailers such as Overstock and Home Depot provided Additional Discounts of 3.9% and 2.5%, respectively, compared to Amazon’s 6.9%. This indicates a clear intent to maintain market share and remain top-of-mind for consumers despite Amazon’s competitive pricing.

Although Target didn’t significantly lower its prices during the sale, its Absolute Discount remains substantial at 18.9%. This suggests that Target’s markdowns were already steep before the event, which could explain the lack of further reductions during the sale.

Health & Beauty

The Health & Beauty category saw minimal participation from Amazon’s competitors, with the exception of Sephora, which reduced prices by 3.7% during Prime Day.

Ulta Beauty chose not to adjust its prices, likely reflecting its strategy to uphold a premium brand image. Walmart, on the other hand, offered a modest Additional Discount of 2% on select items. Given Walmart’s generally affordable product range, its total discount remained relatively low, around 3.5%.

In Conclusion

During Prime Day, Walmart was the only major retailer that made an effort to compete, albeit modestly. Target, on the other hand, largely chose not to offer any additional markdowns. However, several category-specific retailers, such as Best Buy in Consumer Electronics, Overstock and Home Depot in Furniture, and Sephora in Health & Beauty, aimed to retain market share by providing notable discounts.

What this means for consumers is that even on Amazon’s Prime Day, it’s not a bad idea to compshop to identify the best deal.

For retailers, the key takeaway is the importance of quickly analyzing competitor pricing and making agile, data-driven decisions to improve both revenues and margins. By utilizing advanced pricing intelligence solutions like DataWeave, retailers can optimize their discount strategies, better navigate pricing complexities, and drive revenue growth — all while staying prepared for major shopping events and beyond.

Reach out to us today to learn more!

August 21, 2024