Amazon suffers huge Prime Day sales plunge as families hang onto cash amid recession fears

Amazon gave Prime Day a surprise makeover — but American shoppers clung to their cash. 

Momentum Commerce, a major online shopping firm, reported a 41 percent plunge in Amazon sales compared to the first day of last year's event.

The firm's sales slump comes after Amazon extended its usual two-day price-cutting blitz into a four-day extravaganza. 

Top bosses like CEO Andy Jassy and executive chairman Jeff Bezos believed the strategy would boost spending from inflation-weary shoppers.

That first day passed yesterday, and their calculation didn't seem to pay off — at least for one of its biggest sellers. 

Momentum, which helps brands like Crocs and Therabody massagers sell on Amazon, said it is hoping sales pick up by the end of the sales period. 

'It all hinges on this four-day strategy being a success,' John Shea, the firm's top boss, told Bloomberg. 'Amazon sacrificed a lot on Day 1. It's a wildly unpredictable and uncertain year. 

Amazon tells DailyMail.com that Momentum's data doesn't reflect the overall popularity of this year's Prime Day sales. 

The company said Momentum services just 50 out of the hundreds of thousands of sellers on Amazon. 

'We're pleased with customers’ response to Prime Day so far and it is still early in the four-day event,' an Amazon spokesperson said. 

The sale comes as American consumers continue to express worries about the economy and their spending power.