RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.– The number of 2019 Prime Day transactions inside the CO-OP credit card portfolio was up nearly 50% (48.55%) compared to the number of 2018 Prime Day transactions, according to data collected and analyzed by CO-OP Financial Services. A number of credit unions on the CO-OP card solution staged special promotions to help ensure their cards were used, the company said.
Amazon Prime Day 2019 – 48 hours of discount shopping –took place on July 15 and 16.
Additional findings of CO-OP’s analysis include:
- The number of debit transactions in the CO-OP portfolio was up 21% year-over-year.
- In addition, total dollars spent across both credit and debit was up 33%, indicating cardholders not only purchased more items, they spent more money as they clicked their way through Amazon’s deals.
Amazon itself reported adding more new Prime members on July 15 than ever before and reported it now has more than 100-million paying Prime members around the world. An Amazon Prime membership costs approximately $119 annually.
CUs ‘Owe It To Their Members’
“Credit union issuers must take steps to engage the growing number of Amazon Prime members, as they represent a massive opportunity to secure top-of-digital-wallet status,” said Kaitlyn Summitt-Nelsen, senior portfolio advisor and card marketing strategist for CO-OP. “Credit unions owe it to their members to explain the benefits of selecting their card as the default on Amazon and other online retailers. Many of our partners are finding rewards and other promotions to be a great way to open that dialogue.”
For 2019 Amazon Prime Day, CO-OP reported one of its card issuers partnered with CO-OP’s SmartGrowth consulting team to offer a Spend-and-Get campaign that returned $10 cash back to the cardholder for every $100 spent on Amazon during the Prime Day event. Another offered 2% cash back on all online purchases throughout the month of July. A third credit union offered to pay one lucky member’s entire Amazon purchase, every day during July, the company said.
CO-OP’s analysts said some of the year-over-year Prime Day increase is due to growth in the number and size of credit unions that process with the company.
What the Data Show
Looking deeper into the data, CO-OP said its analysts were able to identify the types of Amazon purchases that occurred most frequently throughout Prime Day 2019. The top-performing categories were:
- Books, up 50% from 2018.
- Specialty retail stores, up 84%.
- Computer/network services, up 184%.
- Subscription merchants, which includes Prime membership sign-ups, up 88%.
“Interestingly, large digital goods, such as Echo, Kindle and Fire TV devices, saw a 44% decrease in activity,” CO-OP said.
“Retail analysts predicted Amazon Prime Day would have a residual impact on the e-commerce sales of other major retailers, including Walmart, which hosted its ‘Summer Sale’ during the same time as Amazon Prime Day. CO-OP data suggests those predictions were spot-on among credit union cardholders. Walmart.com purchases in the CO-OP portfolio were up significantly during the Prime Day window examined by CO-OP’s data analysts. For example, credit transactions at Walmart.com on July 15, 2019, were up more than 163% as compared to just one day earlier, July 14, 2019,” the company said.
‘Interesting to See’
“It is interesting to see Amazon transform an e-commerce shopping holiday to an omni-channel extravaganza,” said Todd Clark, president/CEO of CO-OP. “The company not only stimulated online and mobile shopping, it pushed brick-and-mortar grocery bargains and even hosted a live (and streamed) kick-off concert. It’s clear the digital native sees value in evolving itself to become engrained in as many aspects of the consumer’s life as possible. As credit unions increase their command of digital delivery, they must be strategic about the interplay between physical, digital, experiential or other channels. Leveraging the expanding CO-OP ecosystem of payments solutions and the data they generate, we will continue to counsel our credit union partners on member preferences for engagement.”
To help credit unions optimize their credit card programs within their overall payments portfolios, CO-OP Financial Serviceshas issued a new white paper, “How to Succeed in the Credit Card Business: A Blueprint for Credit Unions.” The paper can be found here.