On Prime Day, the Instant Pot sells out and breaks a new sales record in 19 hours

FAN Editor

You may not have thought it was possible, but Amazon is still breaking records: A representative for the company told CNBC that its annual sales event, Amazon Prime Day, currently underway, is “so far bigger than ever.”

As of Tuesday morning, the e-commerce company’s day-of discounts also led to a new sales record for the Instant Pot, a kitchen gadget that works as a pressure cooker, slow cooker and seemingly everything in between.

“Our Instant Pot Duo 6Qt sold out in 19 hours, including [a] 4-hour technical glitch rendering our product unavailable,” Robert Wang, CEO of the Canadian company which produces the item, told CNBC Make It Tuesday. “The total volume broke our previous records.”

Indeed, the six-quart version of the Instant Pot Duo, which is usually $99.95 but was priced at $58.99 for Prime Day, was only available from third-party sellers on Amazon as of Tuesday afternoon — surprising given that Wang tells CNBC Make It the company’s preparation for the event began as early as March. The three-quart version, typically $79.95 but discounted to $59.99, held the top spot in Amazon’s rankings as No. 1 seller in the Home & Kitchen category.

The internet-connected cooker gained a cult following in 2017, and today boasts over 1.4 million devotees on Facebook. The secret to creating such a popular product has been seeking out criticism, according to Wang.

Although the Instant Pot Duo has over 27,600 reviews on Amazon, “I still try to read all the negative reviews,” Wang says. “What customers hate and wish for drive our further innovations.”

Every 12 to 18 months, the company rolls out a new version of the product incorporating the ideas customers offer up. A feature protecting food from burning in the Instant Pot came through user critique, Wang has explained.

For him, success is all about over-serving customers: “It turned out that if you build a good product, people see the value of it and they will jump onto it.”

Don’t miss: Amazon Prime Day helped this young couple bring in millions selling dog cameras online

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