Amazon Prime Day numbers are officially in, and while the mega sale did gross USD $12.7 billion online in the United States alone, the sale did not hit the growth projection mark, according to Bloomberg.

The total spend online increased by 6.1% from 2022, and Amazon shares did jump by almost 3% in New York but forecasted growth fell short of projected 9.5% growth, according to Adobe Inc.

Was this due to other retailers jumping into the ring with deals of their own and activating sales in advance before Prime Day?

A series of retailers, such as Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. present their price cuts a couple days leading up to Prime Day, which enhance overall e-commerce numbers when shoppers typically do not spend as much during this time of the year.

Showing that consumers are doing their homework, Numerator, a data provider, reported that over half of Prime Day buyers surveyed admitted to shopping around and comparing prices before buying at Amazon.

In a CNBC interview, Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy said that cost-conscious shoppers were “trading down whenever they can” due to the murky economy.

Adobe Inc. released reporting that there was a rise in the “buy now, pay later” services feature which they attributed to the market.

“For months, consumers have felt the effects of persistent inflation and an uncertain economic environment, and it has pushed shoppers to embrace more flexible ways to manage their spending around the Prime Day event,” said Vivek Pandya, an Adobe analyst.

“The revenue growth attributed to buy now, pay later is a preview of what we can expect in the months ahead, especially as we near the holiday shopping season.”

With more than 34,000 tracked purchases, Numerator reported the typical order size was $54.05, an increase of 3% from 2022, and that many shoppers opted to stock up on everyday essentials like pet food or pantry staples.

“It seems many used the event to save on their standard purchases or held off on buying larger ticket items until the sale came around,” stated Numerator analyst Amanda Schoenbauer.

Prime Day did see a decent spend in overall revenue due to consumers looking for deals, but it remains to be a challenge to uncover exactly how the retailer really did measure up because of opaque sale and financial reporting for the sale.

According to Amazon, day one of the sale was the largest ever, and that buyers bought more than 375 million items in two days.