02: October Prime Day 2026, what it cost to be seen on Amazon in grocery, household and beauty

The short version:

• In the month before Amazon's October Prime Day (Prime Big Deal Days, October 6 and 7, 2026), ad spend per 1,000 searches on each category's 20 most-searched searches rose 103% in grocery, 75% in beauty and 54% in home and household from a year earlier.

• Shoppers filled their carts with low-priced staples. The average item cost $23.19 and two in three cost under $20, so brands paid more to be seen while selling cheaper items.

• The event days cost more than last year's too. Daily ad spend on the event days was 2.2 times as high in grocery, 83% higher in beauty and 40% higher in household, with most of the increase built up in the month before.

• Rivals took a larger share of the ad money on searches for Summer Fridays, Medicube, Anua and Liquid I.V. by name. Sol de Janeiro won back ground on its own name.

Amazon's October Prime Day ran on October 6 and 7. US shoppers spent $9.86 billion online across all retailers over the two days, up 8.5% on last year, according to Adobe. On Amazon, shoppers bought staples. The best sellers included protein shakes, wipes and toilet paper, the average item cost $23.19 and 68% of items cost under $20, according to Numerator. The average household spent $114.01, below the $121.96 of this summer's Prime Day.

That combination squeezes brands. Shoppers were buying lower-priced items while the cost of being seen by each shopper went up. On a cheap item, a higher ad cost takes a bigger bite of every sale.

We tracked estimated sponsored ad spend on Amazon US for the 20 most-searched generic searches in each of three categories, grocery, home and household, and beauty, with no brand names. Using the same rule in each category lets us compare how fast each one moved. Each event is measured against the 30 days before it and against the same event a year earlier. We also looked at who paid for the searches for seven brand names.

How much more did it cost to be seen on Amazon?

Ad spend per 1,000 searches is what brands paid to reach every thousand shoppers who ran a search. It rose in all three categories. Grocery doubled, up 103%, on 18% more searches. Beauty rose 75% and home and household 54%.

Ad spend rose on all 20 grocery searches, 19 of the 20 beauty searches and 18 of the 20 household searches. More brands bid on a typical search in every category: about 88 in grocery, up from 78; 78 in household, up from 65; and 112 in beauty, up from 91.

Grocery moved fastest, and it is also where items are cheapest. In our view, that makes grocery the category where a higher cost of being seen weighs most on each sale.

When did brands spend?

The increase built up over the month before the event. On the event days, ad spend on these searches eased from that higher level, by 10% in grocery, 12% in beauty and 23% in household, on early figures. A smaller dip happened last year too. Against last October's event days, spend was still 2.2 times as high in grocery, 83% higher in beauty and 40% higher in household.

Which searches got more expensive, and which got cheaper?

Grocery. All 20 grocery searches got more expensive. "Protein shake", one of the event's best sellers, drew the most ad money: about $1,680 a day in the month before the event, up from $630. "Coffee" went from about $330 a day to $940, "chips" from $180 to $790 and "coffee pods" from $230 to $740.

Home and household. Household had clear winners and losers. Being seen on "dryer sheets" cost 514% more per 1,000 searches, "trash bags" 215% more and "laundry detergent" 127% more. Five searches got cheaper, led by "toilet paper", down 35%, and "floss", down 26%. Toilet paper was one of the event's best sellers, which shows a top seller can still be a cheaper search to win.

Beauty. Per 1,000 searches, "eye patches" rose 195%, "pimple patches" 177%, "mascara" 126% and "hand soap" 103%. "Deodorant women" went the other way, down 4%.

Who held their own name, and who lost it?

When a shopper types a brand's name into Amazon, other brands can pay to appear above it. Those shoppers come from demand the brand already built, so the share of that ad money a brand keeps shows whether it is holding on to that demand.

Lost ground. Summer Fridays lost the most. Other advertisers paid for 51% of the ad money on its name during the event, up from 20% a year earlier, after it cut its own spend there by about half. Medicube went from 16% to 44%, in the same event where it raised its total daily ad spend 249%. Anua went from 9% to 26% and Liquid I.V. from 57% to 70%.

Held or gained. Sol de Janeiro held its name best, bringing the share paid by others down from 26% to 18%. Bloom held at 68%, while the number of other brands bidding on "bloom energy drink" in the month before rose from 11 to 53, Celsius and Alani Nu among them. Ryze paid for 6% of the ad money on "ryze mushroom coffee", up from 1%, with 49 other brands bidding on it in the month before, Everyday Dose and Four Sigmatic among them.

Why do grocery brands pay more for their own names?

In beauty, a click on a brand's name costs a fraction of a category click: about $0.76 for "medicube" against $4.20 for "face wash". In grocery the gap closes or flips. A click on "ryze mushroom coffee" costs about $5.87 against $4.15 for "coffee", and "bloom energy drink" costs $4.80 against $6.02 for "energy drink". Both grocery searches carry a product word, which draws category advertisers as well as rivals. In our view, the price shows how many brands are competing for grocery's rising names.

What it means

For brands. Being seen cost more in every category we tracked, in the month before the event and on the event days. Most of the increase built up in the month before, so plan event budgets from there, and give your own name a budget line of its own. On low-priced items, check what each sale costs in ads before raising bids, because a cheaper basket leaves less room for a higher ad cost. Sol de Janeiro shows a brand can win back its own name within a year.

For investors. Ask for two numbers over the past year: what the brand pays per 1,000 searches on its main category searches, and what share of the ad money on its own name comes from rivals. Rising figures on both mean part of the brand's Amazon sales depends on spend that has to keep growing to hold them, and that cost belongs in the model.

Questions

How much more did it cost to advertise on Amazon around October Prime Day 2026?

In the 30 days before Prime Big Deal Days (October 6 and 7, 2026), estimated Amazon US ad spend per 1,000 searches on each category's 20 most-searched searches rose 103% in grocery, 75% in beauty and 54% in home and household from a year earlier, according to Satin Leaf's analysis. On the event days, daily ad spend was 2.2 times last year's in grocery, 83% higher in beauty and 40% higher in household.

What did shoppers buy during October Prime Day 2026?

Mostly low-priced staples. Numerator found the best sellers included protein shakes, wipes and toilet paper, the average item cost $23.19, 68% of items cost under $20, and the average household spent $114.01.

Which Amazon searches got more and less expensive to advertise on in 2026?

All 20 grocery searches Satin Leaf tracked drew more ad spend than a year earlier; daily ad spend on "protein shake" rose from about $630 to $1,680. In home and household, ad spend per 1,000 searches rose 514% on "dryer sheets" and 215% on "trash bags", and fell 35% on "toilet paper" and 26% on "floss".

Who advertises on searches for Ryze, Liquid I.V. and Bloom on Amazon?

During October Prime Day 2026, other advertisers paid for 94% of the estimated ad spend on "ryze mushroom coffee", 70% on "liquid iv" and 68% on "bloom energy drink". 53 other brands bought ads on "bloom energy drink" in the month before the event, up from 11 a year earlier.

What does it mean when other brands advertise on your brand name on Amazon?

Other brands can pay for sponsored ads that appear when shoppers search for your brand by name. Each sale a rival wins there is a shopper who was already looking for your brand. During October Prime Day 2026, rivals paid for 44% of the ad spend on "medicube" and 51% on "summer fridays", up from 16% and 20% a year earlier.

We read a brand's event results this way as part of a free field audit. Brands can see how we work with brands. Funds can see Satin Leaf for investors.

Ransley Carpio

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Sources: Satin Leaf analysis of estimated Amazon US sponsored ad spend. Category figures cover the 20 most-searched generic searches in each category, with no brand names, and use the same searches in both years: grocery (shelf-stable groceries and drinks, plus milk and eggs), home and household (paper goods, cleaning, laundry, batteries and oral care) and beauty. Event windows run from the first event day to the day after (October 7 to 9, 2025 and October 6 to 8, 2026), because estimates can trail by a day. Each baseline is the 30 days before the event. Figures from the last 30 days are early and may move. "Other advertisers" includes ads where the data cannot identify the advertising brand. Two of the grocery name searches include a product word ("mushroom coffee", "energy drink"), which draws category advertisers as well as rivals. Search volumes are 30-day estimates. Cost per click is the current estimate as of October 13 and 14, 2026. Adobe figures via Retail Dive (October 8, 2026). Numerator figures from its Prime Big Deal Days tracker, an early read. All figures are estimates and best read as direction. No brand named here supplied data or reviewed this post. This post is general information and is not investment advice. Researched and compiled by Satin Leaf.