Walmart, Target and Kohl’s hosted companion sales deal days to go head-to-head with Amazon’s Prime Days this October. An estimated 148.83 million consumers were expected to participate in the deal days period, up 7.5% compared to 2022. The top categories for deal-saving were technology, fitness, home appliances and pets, as consumers comparison-shopped well before holiday spending.

Participation increased over last year partly because the events had more prominence and are now more established with the more frugal and cost-conscious consumer. The impact of inflation and other economic woes play a hand with those shoppers cautiously budgeting for holiday shopping. In a recent survey conducted by Slickdeals, 69% of consumers planned to shop for holiday gifts during the Prime Day sales promotion, focusing on electronics (63%), furniture, household products, and home improvement (46%), as well as stocking up on household essentials such as toilet paper (43%).

Amazon’s summer Prime Day offering in July 2023 sold more than 375 million items worldwide. Analysts speculate the consumer spend to be roughly $13 billion. October sales are still active on Amazon, and it’s anyone’s guess what the financial outcome will be.

So what is everyone buying?

Amazon Prime Days feature coveted deals on technology, with Google and Apple products leading the charge. Consumers can expect to cash in on sales for the Pixel, Apple AirPods Pro and Apple Watch SE, among other high-tech items.

“Amazon typically puts their products on deep discount during their Prime Days, and this year is no exception. It’s a good time to buy Amazon Fire tablets, Kindle Readers, and Amazon Fire TVs,” shares Todd Stearn, Founder and CEO of The Money Manual. In addition, this year’s featured deals include products from brands like Sharp, Dyson, Ninja and Beats that rarely go on sale.

The early bird gets the deal, and then some

Although Prime Day deals exclusively target Amazon Prime members, the sales have inspired brands to offer equal discounts and sales to their consumer base in-store and online. Everyone from Walmart to Best Buy, H&M to Saatva mattresses currently provides special deals to their consumer base. The NY Times Wirecutter column highlighted Walmart’s “Holiday Kickoff Deals,” which included toys for kids, kitchen essentials and gadgets, and tech. Target also launched its Circle Week of discounts and deals, heavily promoted in-store to align with Amazon’s Prime Days.