The first day of Amazon’s two-day Prime Day event saw U.S. sales rise nearly 6% year-over-year to $6.4 billion, according to Adobe Analytics Data. The number represents the single biggest e-commerce day so far in 2023. Amazon’s Prime Day event takes place on July 11 and 12 this year. The sales event gives Amazon the opportunity to attract new paying customers, while also deepening its relationship with current ones.

Adobe says sales were driven by a few different categories, including appliances, which saw a 37% jump when compared to average daily sales in June. Sales of toys rose 27%, while sales for apparel rose 26%. Another category that saw a notable jump was electronic, as sales rose 12%.

The average Prime Day spend per order is $56.64, up from $53.14 in the same reporting period on Prime Day 2022, according to data firm Numerator.

Data from Adobe shows that Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) orders accounted for 6.4% of online orders and drove $461 million in revenue, up 19.5% compared to the first day of Prime Day last year. BNPL usage was driven by categories including apparel, furniture/home, and electronics. The data shows that consumers are embracing flexible ways to manage their spending.

Interestingly, the data also found that consumers are becoming increasingly more comfortable shopping on smaller screens, as smartphones drove 43.7% of sales, up from 42.7% last year.

“Prime Day has become of one the biggest e-commerce moments of the year, as consumers latch onto major discounts from a number of different retailers,” said Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “The record spending so far shows us that consumers are tapping into their inner bargain hunters, stocking up on specific categories such as electronics and apparel while the discounts remain steep.”

Amazon is offering the biggest discount of 16% on electronics, while Apparel is discounted at 13%, and toys are 15% cheaper. Computers are discounted by 10%, sporting goods are discounted at 9% and furniture is discounted at 7%.

Last year, Amazon had two Prime Day sales with the first one taking place on July 12-13 and the second one on October 11-12. It’s unknown if Amazon plans to hold two Prime Day events this year as well.

US consumers spent $6.4 billion on the first day of Amazon’s Prime Day event by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch