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Amazon takes a social-media beating over Prime Day—but says sales were strong

By James K. Willcox Consumer Reports
Published | Updated

Amazon took a beating on social media over its Prime Day sales event—commenters on Twitter likened it to a crappy garage sale, though there must people hankering for 24-inch shoehorns and a lotion to help beards grow faster. Nevertheless, the retailer apparently still sold a ton of stuff yesterday. In fact, Amazon says unit sales outpaced last Black Friday's.

Seeming to be in a defensive mood, the retailer sent out this list of facts about what sold during the 24-hour shopping event.

  • Tens of thousands of Fire TV Sticks sold in one hour, making it the fastest-selling deal on an Amazon device ever.
  • Fire tablet sales exceeded those from Black Friday last year.
  • Members ordered thousands of e-readers and thousands of Echos in just 15 minutes.
  • 56,000 Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy sets went.
  • 47,000 televisions sold, a 1,300-percent year-over-year growth.
  • 51,000 Bose headphones were sold, compared to eight pairs the previous Wednesday.
  • 28,000 Rubbermaid 42-Piece Easy Find Lid food storage sets were purchased, compared to 428 the previous Wednesday.
  • 24,000 Instant Pot 7-in-1 programmable pressure cookers went, compared to 182 the previous Wednesday.
  • 14,000 iRobot Roomba 595 Pet Vacuum Cleaning Robots were bought, compared to 1 the previous Wednesday.
  • 12,000 Fifty Shades of Grey Unrated Edition on Blu-ray were sold, compared to 121 the previous Wednesday.
  • 10,000 Meguiar's X2020 Supreme Shine Microfiber Towels sold, compared to 244 the previous Wednesday.

Did you check out Amazon Prime Day? If so, what did you think? And what, if anything, did you by? Please leave a comment.

The main complaints from Prime customers were that the roster of discounted goods was random and uninspired, and that many of the items that were worthwhile sold out early. The company felt so put-upon by social-media slags that it posted a response mid-day saying that peak order rates were exceeding those on Black Friday.

The good—or bad—news, depending on your take: The company felt the day was so successful it's promised to do it again next year.

If you checked out Amazon's Prime Day sale, let us know what you thought.

—James K. Willcox

Copyright © 2005-2015 Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. No reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission. Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this site.