Despite the economic downturn and forced postponements, Amazon.com, Inc.'s Prime Day this year was its biggest ever in terms of sales. But instead of boasting about the milestone Amazon has chosen to highlight how the event benefited small- and medium-sized businesses.
Amazon.com faces increased scrutiny from antitrust regulators and lawmakers over its alleged monopoly and control over independent merchants on its site. Amazon has been criticized for stifling fair competition.
In a news release Thursday, Amazon said this year's Prime Day was the "two biggest days ever" for small- and medium-sized businesses. The event is typically held in July but was postponed to this month following the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We are thrilled that Prime Day was a record-breaking event for small and medium businesses worldwide with sales surpassing $3.5 billion - an increase of nearly 60% from last year," Amazon's worldwide consumer chief executive Jeff Wilke said.
Amazon confirmed this Prime Day was the best on record since it was established in 2015. The company declined to reveal the exact sales figures but analysts estimated Amazon may have generated more than $10 billion in sales.
The company's decision to highlight how businesses benefited is a departure from statements in past years. Amazon has boasted about the success of its online event with headlines such as "Alexa, How Was Prime Day? Prime Day 2019 Surpassed Black Friday and Cyber Monday Combined."
Apart from praising small- and medium-sized businesses Amazon said it spent around $18 billion to help merchants "succeed in its store." It said the spending included funding merchant promotions that drove sales numbers to more than $900 million in the two weeks leading up to the event.
