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Like the convenience of Amazon Prime, but not too happy about the $99 annual fee? There are a couple of challengers coming who could put more money back into your pocket.
Amazon is now responsible for around 4% of all retail business in the United States. That’s huge for one player. Most of the purchases are from people that pay $99 for Amazon Prime with its lure of free 2-day shipping and access to a streaming library.
Yet with that convenience comes tradeoffs. The Financial Times of London now reports less than 1% of Amazon Prime members ever comparison shop anywhere else. When they want to buy, it’s Amazon and done. Their order ships Prime in 2 days and that settles it.
Because of that loyalty, Amazon has been able to steadily raise prices quite a bit and can do so precisely because their customer base is not price sensitive. But competition is coming.
Walmart is launching its own equivalent service that will offer free 3-day shipping for $50 a year.
Walmart will roll it out slowly in several cities as a kind of beta test so they know they can run an efficient operation. So if you’re willing to wait that extra day for delivery, I am expecting the prices will be significantly lower vs. Amazon Prime.
If you’re among that rare percentage of Amazon Prime shopper who is price sensitive, I have another suggestion. Try Jet.com instead.
Jet.com is a paid premium startup that’s still in beta and requires an invitation. But you can get the first 6 months for free.
One new study found that Jet.com has lower prices vs. Amazon a whopping 94% of the time!
Jet is also designed so that the more you shop, the less you pay. So they reward loyalty with lower prices.
The reality is Amazon is king of the hill for online commerce. So you can expect a lot more of these potshots. And today, when you want to take on Amazon, you take them on by attacking price point because they’ve become pretty easy to beat on that playing field!
This post was last modified on March 22, 2017 3:38 pm
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