Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Prime Day is in
Speaker 1: full swing. We are stretching now over four days this year,
Speaker 1: up from two and twenty twenty four. That it remains
Speaker 1: to be seen whether that will entice shoppers and sellers alike. This,
Speaker 1: of course in the context of rising tariffs and rising prices.
Speaker 1: Let's get more on the inside track. Jamial Gharni's with
Speaker 1: US vice president of Amazon Prime, and you're really already
Speaker 1: seeing Jamil Adobe Analytics saying that US retailers drove close
Speaker 1: to eight billion in online spending on July eighth, up
Speaker 1: almost ten percent, the single biggest e commerce day so
Speaker 1: far this year. Has that have been good therefore?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we just started the event yesterday, so it's very early,
Speaker 2: but we're really pleased by the engagement that we're getting
Speaker 2: from our customers and our members. Not only is event
Speaker 2: twice as long, so four days, as you mentioned, but
Speaker 2: we're also offering more than double the number of deals
Speaker 2: that are fifty per sent off or more. That's striving
Speaker 2: engagement across the millions of deals we have in thirty
Speaker 2: five categories. So we're really pleased. But it's very early,
Speaker 2: of course.
Speaker 1: Why make it four days, and how is that affecting
Speaker 1: the pace of spending do.
Speaker 2: You think, Well, we listen to our members and they
Speaker 2: told us they needed more time to shop the millions
Speaker 2: of deals that we offer across our entire store. This
Speaker 2: gives them that. We're also offering new AI tools to
Speaker 2: get a more personalized, more targeted experience that allows our
Speaker 2: members to shop both the needs that are on their
Speaker 2: list but also the wants. And you see that in
Speaker 2: the data already. The top categories that our members are
Speaker 2: engaging with are health and personal care, apparel, beauty, home, kitchen,
Speaker 2: and really it's stretching the entire entirety of the store
Speaker 2: and members need time to shop it, and so we've
Speaker 2: given them double that time.
Speaker 1: Needs and wants. That's an interesting way of putting it.
Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of spend galvanizing groceries, for example
Speaker 1: some of the competitors. Is that an area you're feeling
Speaker 1: you're having to make more inroads in when you show
Speaker 1: that you can discount in this particular.
Speaker 2: Time, you know, grocery and everyday essentials, which is the
Speaker 2: broader definition we use internally to describe those things that
Speaker 2: a busy household needs to keep running. And you know,
Speaker 2: deal with all the things that come their way, and
Speaker 2: we're investing heavily. That's the fastest growing part of our store.
Speaker 2: And you know, some of the items that are really
Speaker 2: resonating with our members during prime day already are like
Speaker 2: down Platinum powerwash, disphrase something that my household, your household
Speaker 2: likely has it under the cupboards. It's also Crest three
Speaker 2: D white strips, Amazon Basic Triple A batteries. It's these
Speaker 2: essentials that you need for modern life, but it's also
Speaker 2: the other end of the spectrum. Beauty is a really
Speaker 2: exciting part of our store. Medicube has a number of
Speaker 2: fantastic products on sale. One of the top products so
Speaker 2: far is their zero core pads. So you can see
Speaker 2: just even in the data of what members are scooping
Speaker 2: up in terms of savings. It's stretching from you know,
Speaker 2: the things you need to do in order to keep
Speaker 2: life moving all the way to what you would consider
Speaker 2: more wants as well, things you might have had on
Speaker 2: your list for a while.
Speaker 1: Parently white teeth needed to keep life moving. Jim Hill
Speaker 1: talk to us about Jenai though, because you just mentioned
Speaker 1: how that's helping it become more personalized. How's Rufus the
Speaker 1: shopping assistant doing. How more broadly is alexaplus doing because
Speaker 1: I think as Adobe again saying that we're going to
Speaker 1: see more than three thousand percent increase in the use
Speaker 1: of Jenai in this particular spending spree.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Caroline, you're absolutely right. We've been investing for years,
Speaker 2: from the very beginning of Amazon, at the beginning of
Speaker 2: Amazon Prime, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year,
Speaker 2: in all forms of AI. This year, we're bringing Rufus.
Speaker 2: As you said, is Rufus is smarter about Prime day.
Speaker 2: Rufus is smarter about your interests and can respond to
Speaker 2: natural language queries and bring back those deals that match
Speaker 2: those interests. We also have a product called Interest where
Speaker 2: you can go in and with a simple set of statements,
Speaker 2: you can say, I'd like to remodel my living room
Speaker 2: in mid century modern. Please show me deals that are
Speaker 2: less than one hundred dollars, and it will proactively make
Speaker 2: that into the recommendations you see throughout the store. We
Speaker 2: also have shopping guides for those items that are a
Speaker 2: bit more considered. You know, I'm in the I'm in
Speaker 2: the shopping mode for a laptop for my eldest daughter,
Speaker 2: who's eight, I don't buy a laptop that often, and
Speaker 2: these AI power shopping guides have been invaluable. And then lastly,
Speaker 2: Alexa plus is rolling out. Millions of members have access
Speaker 2: now and they're using it to check, you know, the
Speaker 2: timing for Prime Day, but also to get recommendations on
Speaker 2: deals and to be alerted when something that they've looked
Speaker 2: at previously is now on sale.
Speaker 1: Okay, so you're in the market to how you're eight
Speaker 1: year old. But what's interesting is Amazon seems to be
Speaker 1: in the market to lore more young adults. Right That
Speaker 1: is such a push right now? Why is that the
Speaker 1: area you want to make in roads?
Speaker 2: Well, we recognize that, you know, Prime exists to deliver
Speaker 2: three things convenience, savings, and entertainment behind one simple member,
Speaker 2: and we hold ourselves to the bar of delivering disproportionate value.
Speaker 2: Everybody today and likely always wants to make a dollar stretch,
Speaker 2: and for younger customers that's more true than maybe for
Speaker 2: most and so we're reinventing our young adult program. Prime
Speaker 2: for young adults is fifty percent off, but now on
Speaker 2: top of that, we also are offering an evergreen five
Speaker 2: percent discount that for Prime Day is ten percent, so
Speaker 2: our members cannot only avail the great deals across the
Speaker 2: entire store that we've been talking about, but also add
Speaker 2: to it ten percent in categories that they really care about,
Speaker 2: like beauty, apparel, electronics, and so we're really proud of
Speaker 2: that program that offering to that key customer segment.
Speaker 1: See how much they love the lebron adds to Jimmy
Speaker 1: el Ghani. Great to have some time with you. Amazon
Speaker 1: Prime Worldwide