Amazon Prime Day Shatters Company's Sales Records

SEATTLE, WA — Amazon's promotional Prime Day event, offering sales on thousands of items across the site, shattered the online retailer's previous records and marked its biggest day for sales. Compared to Prime Day 2016, Amazon's sales for the 30-hour sale grew more than 60 percent.

“To those customers who tried Prime for the first time and our long time members, thank you for a great Prime Day,” said Greg Greeley, vice president of Amazon Prime. “Our teams around the world will keep working to add more and more to your membership, so Prime continues to make your life better every day. We are already looking forward to our Prime Day celebration next year.”

Amazon's own Echo Dot, a voice-controlled music player and multi-purpose "smart" device, was the star product of the day, beating out all other items in terms of sale across the entire site's inventory. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise, however, given how heavily Amazon promoted the Echo Dot in its advertising. (For more national stories, subscribe to the Across America Patch and receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"More new members joined Prime on July 11 than on any single day in Amazon history," the company said in a press release. "Tens of millions of Prime members made a purchase on Prime Day 2017, more than 50 percent higher than the prior year."

In the United States, the Instant Pot pressure cooker and the 23andMe genetic testing services were the highest sellers.

Many small businesses and manufacturers saw a huge boost in sales from the marketing event.

“We’re absolutely thrilled – our daily sales increased by over 500 times on Prime Day," said Victor Chang, F of Furbo Dog Camera in Bellevue, Washington. "Within the first six hours, Furbo Dog Camera shot up to the No.1 Best Seller in four categories including the highly competitive pet supplies and home monitor category.”

Marcia Ricchiuti of Kahili Creations in Pahoa, Hawaii, said: “So far, this year’s Prime Day sales increased 350 percent from last year’s. Getting the opportunity to offer lightning deals as a Handmade at Amazon artisan has been a boom to my business."

Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images