What changed
Amazon grocery revenue +32% in Q2 2026 as top seller prices fell 28%; electronics share fell 0.9 points
When
Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025, PMG analysis published October 5, 2026
Who it affects
Grocery, clothing, beauty, electronics and home brands selling on Amazon US
What to do
Recheck price position and break-even ACoS on every hero ASIN before Black Friday

Key takeaways

  • Amazon grocery revenue grew 32% in Q2 2026 while top seller prices fell 28% (PMG estimates, published October 5, 2026).
  • Electronics top seller prices rose 23%, growth slowed to 7% and the category lost 0.9 points of share, the most of any category.
  • Recheck price position and break-even ACoS on every hero ASIN before Black Friday budgets are set.

Amazon US revenue growth by category, Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025

  • Grocery32%
  • Clothing27%
  • Beauty22%
  • Home and Kitchen10%
  • Electronics7%
Source: PMG Velocity data, October 2026

What the PMG data shows

PMG, a US ad agency, published its Prime Big Deal Days 2026 preview on October 5, 2026, using its Velocity commerce data, which tracks more than 30 million products on Amazon US. Comparing the second quarter of 2026 with the same quarter of 2025, PMG estimates Amazon US revenue grew 15% overall. The growth was uneven: essentials and value categories took share, while higher priced discretionary categories gave it up.

Price figures in the analysis refer to the average selling price of the top 1,000 products by revenue each week in each category, so they show what shoppers paid for the items that actually sell, not list prices.

  • Grocery and Gourmet Food: revenue +32%, share of Amazon revenue up from 5.0% to 5.7%, top seller price down 28%, the steepest price drop on the site
  • Clothing, Shoes and Jewelry: revenue +27%, share up from 11.9% to 13.1%, the biggest share gain, led by items under $50
  • Beauty and Personal Care: revenue +22%, share up from 6.3% to 6.7%
  • Home and Kitchen: revenue +10%, share down from 14.9% to 14.2%
  • Electronics: revenue +7%, share down from 13.2% to 12.3%, the largest decline, as top seller prices rose 23%

The surprise: the winners got cheaper

Most brands read category growth as permission to hold or raise price. PMG's numbers say the opposite happened in grocery. Revenue grew 32% while the price of the top sellers fell 28%, which means units sold had to rise far faster than revenue. Our rough arithmetic: if revenue is up 32% at prices 28% lower, unit volume among top sellers was roughly 1.8 times last year's level (1.32 divided by 0.72). That is our estimate from PMG's two figures, not a PMG number.

Electronics shows the other side. Prices of top selling items rose 23%, and cell phone accessories rose 50%, which PMG links partly to tariffs and inflation. Revenue still grew, but only 7%, and the category lost almost a full point of Amazon's sales. PMG's reading is that the trade down seen in fall 2025 has not reversed, and shoppers are steering spend to essentials where Amazon is the value option.

Amazon is pushing grocery hard. It says Same Day Delivery of fresh groceries now reaches more than 2,300 US cities and towns, that perishable grocery sales grew 30 times between January and May 2026, and that nine of the top 10 bestsellers in those areas are now perishables. Amazon calls itself the second largest grocer in the US, with more than $150 billion in gross grocery sales in 2025.

Price moves vs share moves, Q2 2026

Top seller priceShare of Amazon
Grocery-28%5.0% to 5.7%
Electronics+23%13.2% to 12.3%
Patio, Lawn, Garden-5%6.8% to 6.3%

Not every data source agrees

Category estimates differ by provider. SmartScout data from July 2026, covered in our story on Amazon clothing sales falling 12%, showed clothing shrinking and grocery growing 24%, while PMG shows clothing up 27% and grocery up 32% for Q2. The tools measure different periods and product sets, so treat any single figure as direction, not fact. Both agree on the bigger point: grocery and beauty are growing well above the Amazon average.

So what for a brand's money

In a category where top sellers are getting cheaper, a brand that holds price loses its position in search results and deals, and pays more per sale in ads to defend it. In a category where prices are rising, a brand that passes on every cost increase risks becoming part of the share loss. Either way, the price decision now drives ad efficiency as much as bids do.

PMG also found discount depth on Prime Big Deal Days fell from 28% in 2024 to 24% in 2025, and that in the 2025 event the strongest revenue gains came from brands offering 25% or more off, especially when paired with more paid search visibility. Deeper discounts only help if the margin survives them.

Worked example with illustrative numbers

For example, a grocery snack sells at $10. Product cost is $3.50 and Amazon referral and FBA fees total $4.00, leaving $2.50 before ads, a break-even ACoS of 25%. If the brand cuts price 15% to $8.50 and fees fall slightly to $3.88, profit before ads drops to $1.12, a break-even ACoS of about 13%. To earn the same $2.50 of profit dollars before ads, it must sell about 2.2 times as many units, and its bids must fall to fit the lower ACoS ceiling.

If the brand's category is growing units at the kind of pace PMG implies for grocery top sellers, the cut can pay. If not, a Subscribe and Save discount or a larger pack size can lower the price per unit without cutting the headline price. All numbers here are illustrative, not PMG or Amazon figures; use your own price, costs and fees.

What sellers should do

These steps take a week or less and should be done before Black Friday Deals and Cyber Monday budgets are locked.

  • Pricing owner: in Brand Analytics, open Search Query Performance for your top 10 queries and note the price of the top three converting ASINs against yours. Metric: your price index versus the top three, updated weekly.
  • Ads owner: move budget toward ASINs that are price competitive and cap bids on the rest at break-even CPC. Metric: TACoS by ASIN in Campaign Manager falls or holds while units rise.
  • Finance lead: recompute break-even ACoS with our break-even ACoS calculator after every price or deal change, and share it with the ads team. Metric: no campaign runs with a target ACoS above break-even.
  • Grocery and consumables brands: enrol replenishable ASINs in Subscribe and Save and test a pack size with a lower price per unit. Metric: subscriber count and repeat purchase rate in Brand Analytics.
  • Electronics and other discretionary brands: before passing on a tariff cost, run a two week coupon test on one ASIN and compare unit session percentage in Business Reports. Metric: profit per day, not revenue per day.
  • Deal planner: only commit to deals of 25% or more where profit per unit after the deal fee stays positive. Metric: contribution margin per deal unit.

Before Black Friday budgets lock

  • Check price vs top 3 rivals
  • Cap bids at break-even CPC
  • Recompute break-even ACoS
  • Enrol replenishables in Subscribe and Save
  • Coupon test before passing on tariffs
  • Deals of 25%+ only if margin holds

When this does not apply

PMG's figures are third party estimates built from top selling products, not Amazon's own data, and they cover one quarter. Brands with a unique product, a strong brand search base or little direct competition can often hold price without losing share. Heavy or high ticket items, regulated products and brands with thin stock should not chase volume with price cuts they cannot restock.

Where PPC Spider helps

PPC Spider is a marketplace agency for brands selling on Amazon and other marketplaces. SpiderOS watches bids, budgets, search terms and stock, and we set target ACoS from product margin after fees so a price cut never leaves ads running above break-even. Our Amazon PPC management team and our guide to Amazon pricing strategy cover the details. More category news is on our ecommerce and marketplace news channel, and you can start with a free Amazon audit.

Sources

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