Amazon's fall Prime Big Deal Days sale is over. It ran Oct. 6 and 7. Early data show shoppers stuck to small, practical buys.

Research firm Numerator's latest read, updated Wednesday afternoon, put the average order at $48.78. Nearly half of households placed two or more orders, bringing average spending to $102.61 per household. That is just below the $104.86 per household at Amazon's July Prime Day.

An earlier day-one count told a gloomier story. On Tuesday alone, average household spending was $86.98, down 22% from $106.41 on the first day last year, RetailWire reported from Numerator data. Average order size was up 5% that day, to $51.03.

Shoppers mostly bought everyday goods. The top sellers were Premier Protein shakes, Lysol wipes, Scott toilet paper and Dawn Powerwash spray. About 68% of items cost under $20, and just 2% cost more than $100. The average item cost $23.35.

Many people shopped around. About 56% compared prices elsewhere first, most often at Walmart, then Target and club stores like Costco. About a quarter also joined Target Circle Deal Days, and a third shopped Walmart's sale.

The sale doubled as a holiday kickoff. One in five buyers, 21%, used it to buy gifts. Of those, 19% said they finished more than half their gift list. Still, 55% said they were not yet sure what they need for the holidays.

Deal fans were mostly happy, with 55% very or extremely satisfied. Among shoppers who also used July's Prime Day, 58% said the deals were about the same.

Most shoppers expect to keep buying. Numerator found 84% plan to shop on Amazon again in the next three months for gifts, decorations and wrapping supplies. Final sales totals for the event have not been released.

What we know: Carts were small, and many shoppers started gift buying.
What we don't: Total sales for the two days.