It sounds like Amazon is losing $11 per year on Prime customers, so why do they continue this promotion?
Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
61–70 of 151 posts
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#62"82% of Prime members buy on Amazon even if the item is less expensive somewhere else" The supposed "source" referenced another study (sans link), so I can't get the answer to the obvious question: Was "less expensive" computed using the marginal cost to the customer of this particular purchase? Meaning, do other sites offer the widget for a few dollars less but charge a lot for 2nd day shipping? I'm a Prime customer…
Yes, exactly. We've gone from buying stuff at WalMart or BestBuy or whatever (with the associated marginal costs of gas, taxes, etc) to basically getting just about everything from Amazon. Small electronics, appliances, office supplies, etc. For anything over $50 or so I do compare prices with other online places, but more often than not Prime usually wins out simply based on the free shipping. For niche-ish things f…
I use monoprice as well for cables, etc. Well under half the cost of Amazon makes it worthwhile.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the other thing that's missing from this is that Amazon's customer service is really very good. I'll spend the extra dollars buying something from Amazon than, say, one of their third-party merchants, because I know Amazon will take care of me if anything bad happens.
Completely true. I bought shoes on Amazon, after 3 months they started to fall apart. I went on service chat and they refunded my full cost immediately and didn't even ask for me to return the old shoes.
this is a nightmare for merchants though, speaking from experience.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#64I have been surprised that Amazon has not vertically integrated into delivery and distribution. Imagine if they had bought DHL. They would have turned what must today be a huge variable cost into a largely fixed one. I don't have time to write about all the interesting innovations in distribution which could result from combining warehousing and delivery. Perhaps fears of antitrust lawsuits and hardball tactics from…
I think Amazon goal is to control the customer.You can see that in prime, the kindle fire and the zappos purchase.
From the shipping side , with it's prime program they're so much better then other e-commerce competitors, that they won't gain much customer lockup by buying DHL(altought it might make them money), and they'll pay a big price.
On the other hand , if they'll control the customer, they'll have enough market power to force DHL or some other shipper to their terms. And with today's IT system two companies can have deep integrations if they want.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#65I can definitely attest to buying more for sure. I think price is still important though. But if it comes down to price vs. timely free shipping I may pay more just to get it in 2 days. So I guess it might be right.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#66I believe it. I always dread buying things on other sites. With Amazon Prime:
* Guaranteed to arrive within 2 days. Other sites it not even ship it within 2 days.
* Easy to return items in case something goes wrong.
* They already have my billing and shipping information, and I trust them to securely store it.
* I can see all my orders in one place.
Factoring in all of those things, plus the time I don't waste comparison shopping to save a dollar here and there, I'm pretty sure it's the better deal in most cases.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, exactly. We've gone from buying stuff at WalMart or BestBuy or whatever (with the associated marginal costs of gas, taxes, etc) to basically getting just about everything from Amazon. Small electronics, appliances, office supplies, etc. For anything over $50 or so I do compare prices with other online places, but more often than not Prime usually wins out simply based on the free shipping. For niche-ish things f…
I use monoprice as well for cables, etc. Well under half the cost of Amazon makes it worthwhile.
I've really loved Amazon's "Amazon Basics" brand. Lots of cables available at very reasonable prices, simple, frustration-free packaging, and always Prime eligible.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#68"82% of Prime members buy on Amazon even if the item is less expensive somewhere else" The supposed "source" referenced another study (sans link), so I can't get the answer to the obvious question: Was "less expensive" computed using the marginal cost to the customer of this particular purchase? Meaning, do other sites offer the widget for a few dollars less but charge a lot for 2nd day shipping? I'm a Prime customer…
I mostly buy books from Amazon, and since they're usually the cheapest option anyway, typically don't comparison shop for them. However, I do buy used books when they're significantly cheaper, or Kindle books when they're the cheapest (except in cases where I feel Kindle provides significantly less value, such as programming books.)
Compared to the stacks of full-price books I was getting from Borders a decade ago, I'm doing a lot better.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#69The question every entrepreneur should be asking themselves here is, "How can I create the same kind of fervor that Amazon did by introducing Prime?" Amazon generates 130% more business per subscriber just by losing a mere $11/subscriber. Those are numbers that anyone could salivate at.
Thinking about the price/speed tradeoffs, carrier brand images, and whether I'll be at home when this package arrives doesn't make my gut feel good. I still feel good that I've bought something, but shipping is a bit of a bad aftertaste. Prime dissolves that aftertaste and leaves a wonderful "I get to play with it in TWO days!"
It's just a focus on user experience. Companies solve genuine problems, and while people pay for solutions, they happily pay more for great shrink wrapping.
Re: Amazon Prime members buy twice as much, don't compare on price
#70I will only shop on Amazon Prime, and only buy Prime eligible items.
Compared to online alternatives: * Even if less elsewhere online I stick with Amazon because the Amazon experience is known and reliable.
Compared to a local shop:
* Customer reviews are much better, broader, and more in depth than getting input from a local shop owner. * Selection much larger.