New RetailMeNot survey data shows shoppers treating Prime Day as a multi-retailer week, comparing prices across Amazon, Walmart, and Target before they buy.
Prime Day 2026 is shaping up to be a multi-retailer week. Shoppers are turning out in force, with 76% planning to shop during Prime Day week, and most of them are checking more than one store before they buy. Amazon still leads, and it now shares the week with everyone running a competing sale.
Where they’re shopping:
- Amazon: 61%
- Walmart: 43%
- Target: 28%
- Home Depot: 14%
- Best Buy: 13%
- Lowe’s: 12%
Just over a quarter of shoppers, 28%, say they compare prices between Amazon and other retailers before they buy anything, the same share who told us this a year ago. A finding that holds for two straight years is a pattern, not a blip. Shopping the whole week instead of one store has become how people approach Prime Day. More broadly, 41% say they compare prices across multiple retailers during the week. Knowing when to buy and where to buy is the skill now, and shoppers have built it.
Most People Are Planning Their Prime Day Purchases
Prime Day runs on urgency. Countdown clocks, limited-time deals, the feeling that the price disappears if you blink. That urgency works on about a third of shoppers, with 31% saying limited-time deals influence what they buy. The larger behaviors are the deliberate ones. More than a quarter, 27%, wait for Prime Day specifically to make their bigger or more expensive purchases, deciding what they want ahead of time and waiting for the price to meet them there. Another 41% browse deals even when they have no plan to buy, treating the week as research as much as shopping.
Plenty of people still get caught by a good price on something they came in not looking for. The center of gravity has moved toward shoppers who show up knowing what they came for.
Prime Day Has Become a Mid-Year Shopping Event
People use the week to get ahead on spending they would have done later:
- 27% wait for Prime Day to make larger purchases
- 26% stock up on everyday essentials
- 24% start their holiday shopping
- 17% use it for back-to-school
The pattern is clear: shoppers are consolidating purchases from across the year into one promotional week. It works like a summer version of Black Friday, a single window to knock out planned buys at a better price.
What People Plan to Buy on Prime Day 2026
The top categories line up with the planning behavior:
- Clothing, shoes, and accessories: 48%
- Groceries and household essentials: 45%
- Electronics and tech: 34%
- Home and kitchen: 32%
- Beauty and wellness: 29%
- Pet products: 24%
Tech is the category where the timing genuinely pays off, because Prime Day’s deepest discounts tend to land on electronics, Amazon devices, and small appliances.
How Much People Expect to Spend on Prime Day
Most shoppers expect to spend in the $100 to $249 range on Amazon, the largest single group at 29%. More than a third plan to spend $250 or more. The spending is planned, which is the throughline of everything above. People arrive with a list and wait for the number to be right.
When to Buy and When to Wait
Prime Day rewards the shoppers who decided what they wanted before the week started. If there’s something you were going to buy later this year anyway, pull it forward and compare the price across Amazon, Walmart, and Target before you commit. Give the deals built to make you buy on the spot a second look. Put your money on the things you planned for, because that’s where the week actually pays off.
The shoppers who get the most out of Prime Day shop around first.
The post Prime Day 2026: 76% of Shoppers Plan to Shop, and Most Are Comparing Prices Across Retailers First appeared first on The Real Deal by RetailMeNot.
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