What the Prime Big Deal Days collapse of Computers & Accessories – and the brands that outperformed – tells us ahead of Black Friday 2026.
Computers & Accessories was the only major category on Amazon UK to shrink over Prime Big Deal Days this October, as event-week sales fell 20% – from an estimated £76.8m to £61.5m – while Amazon UK as a whole grew 22%.
It’s clearly a really significant number, but the most interesting (and instructive!) thing is why, because the reason isn’t hard to find… and the lesson translates directly to Black Friday planning.
So what did happen in Computers through Prime Big Deals Day 2026?
In the four weeks before the event, Computers & Accessories was only around 3% down on last year – a modest gap consistent with broader market dynamics.
It was during the event itself that it fell away.
Last year, computers sold 56% more in the event week than in a normal week.
This year it was 28%, against 38% for Amazon UK as a whole. Essentially, the event didn’t deliver for the category in the way it should have, and the data points clearly to why.
Tablets and laptops did most of the damage.
Tablets fell from an estimated £12.7m in last year’s event week to £5.2m, and laptops from £13.3m to £9.5m.
Between them, that accounts for the majority of the category’s £15.3m fall.
And just 5 brands accounted for around 80% of that drop.
Apple’s computer sales fell 56%, from £10.0m to £4.4m: on its own, that’s over a third of the category’s entire decline.
Alongside them, Amazon’s own tablets fell 76%, HP fell 36%, Samsung fell 44% and Lenovo fell 42%.
The fate of the iPad tells the whole story
In last year’s Prime Big Deals Day event, the 11-inch iPad was a genuine hero deal.
And off the back of that, around 12,300 units sold in the event week at an average price of about £307.
This year, the same iPad sold around 1,500 units at an average closer to £386.
Across the whole of Computers & Accessories, the price paid for the same product in the event week was only 0.9% below the four weeks before – against 5.2% across Amazon UK.
The category barely discounted, shoppers noticed – and most of them didn’t buy.
It was the same story in Gaming.
Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox each sold over 60% less than in last year’s event week.
In fact, all three sold less in the event week than they do in a normal week; and not just a little less, between 23% and 37% below.
It just goes to show that, when there’s no reason to buy during an event, some shoppers just wait and the event week can end up smaller than a normal trading week.
The brands that went the other way
For a little context on what real event commitment looks like, let’s look at what happened elsewhere across Amazon UK during the same event week.
LEGO sold 3.3 times its normal weekly sales, and grew 36% on last year’s event to around £11.2m.
Hugo Boss sold 6.3 times its normal week. Tonies sold 6 times its normal week and grew 73% on last year’s event.
Elemis sold 4.9 times its normal week. ghd sold 3.2 times its normal week.
Each of those brands turned the event into a week far bigger than their normal trading. This year’s Prime Big Deals Days event week across Amazon UK was 38% above a normal week but for these brands, it was 3 to 6x that.
And the difference isn’t brand strength or category tailwinds; it’s the decision to treat the event as a genuine growth moment, creating a hero deal strong enough that shoppers have a reason to buy that week rather than wait.
Our take
Amazon events don’t lift every brand automatically, but they do lift brands that give shoppers a reason to buy in that specific window – and that almost always means a hero deal on a product people already want, at a price that’s visibly different from what they’ve seen recently.
For Vendor brands, that means agreeing the deal and the funding with Amazon early enough that the product is properly supported.
For Seller brands, the deal, the price and the stock are within your control, which makes commitment more straightforward; but no less necessary.
The brands that suffered in Computers in October didn’t fail because the category was weak. Their category had grown 3% in the four weeks prior.
They failed because they didn’t give the event a reason to work for them.
The Bottom Line
The Black Friday questions for every brand are the same as the ones Computers & Accessories brands should have been asking in September:
- Which one or two products will carry your event?
- Is the deal on them strong enough that shoppers will notice it against the price they’ve seen over the previous weeks?
- And do you have the stock to sell three or four times your normal week if it works?
An event week is a window.
The data shows clearly what happens when brands use it, and what happens when they don’t.
And if you’d like our award-winning team’s help building a Black Friday strategy built around the right hero deals, get in touch today.
Data source: Perpetua Prism whole-market Amazon UK estimates, Prime Big Deal Days event week 2026 vs 2025.