51–60 of 104 posts
This has been WalMart's strategy for decades so it shouldn't surprise anyone.
What is Walmart's digital stratergy?
(a) Free shipping at $50.
(b) limit on quantity of item purchased (e.g. only 4 bags of flour at time)
So, you cannot purchase large quantities of a single low priced staple, you have to buy 4 of a lot of items. Or buy high priced items.
Sometimes prices are just lower elsewhere, sometimes free shipping comes without a requirement to make a $35 order. (Or pay a high annual fee for free shipping that wouldn't amortize well for me.)
And sometimes Amazon still is the cheapest, but not by so much that it feels imperative to shop there if I have reasons not to.
Amazon jacks the price around on a lot of the household items that I buy. There one item that I last purchased for $11.94. I have seen it as high as $29 and some change. Right now it is $23.94. I've wised up to this tactic and will buy extra when the price is low enough to make it a better deal than buying at the grocery store.
They posted about $10 device, and almost immediately Amazon pumped up the price to $30.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a similar mindset. I don't know anyone who thinks Amazon has the best prices, I'm happy to pay a little extra for the convenience and quality of service. Case in point, I bought a new router from Amazon last week. When I got it I realised I'd made a mistake (I'd chosen one without an ADSL modem). I fill in a simple online form to get the return label, return it via Collect+ (it's a service in the UK for collec…
Apart from the refund before the item was returned, this is pretty much standard procedure in europe, as in a consumer right by law - you always have 14 day return period at any online store. Sure, amazon extends their grace period (30 days, right?) - other than that it's really nothing special.
Aside from the 'refund before the item was returned' example, I could also point to when I'd had to speak to Amazon customer support before, all done through instant messaging on the website with one of their team. Resolved within minutes. Contrast with other retailers where there's a back and forth with emails. Again, not horrible with other retailers, but the Amazon experience was more streamlined.
When I started working on https://trackif.com , I thought the premise was thin because prices couldn't fluctuate that much. I assumed everything gradually declined in price, and that it'd primarily be driven by store-A vs store-B price dropping. Nope. Retailers are just gaming us 24/7. I've become very aware of all the different timeframes retailers offer post-purchase price-matches (published at http://blog.trackif.…
They try to get the most money out of you while you try to spend as little as you can.
Yes, its all very shocking.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a similar mindset. I don't know anyone who thinks Amazon has the best prices, I'm happy to pay a little extra for the convenience and quality of service. Case in point, I bought a new router from Amazon last week. When I got it I realised I'd made a mistake (I'd chosen one without an ADSL modem). I fill in a simple online form to get the return label, return it via Collect+ (it's a service in the UK for collec…
Have you tried similar returns with other products? Your description just sounds (to me) like Amazon are compliant with English distance selling law, and not that they were particularly good.
It's not about just following the letter of the law, it's about the small details that add up to a better experience, that's what I was trying to get across.
I am willing to pay a significant premium to Amazin for the no-bullshit customer support. If my transaction doesn't delight me, I know they will make good on it.
I have a similar mindset. I don't know anyone who thinks Amazon has the best prices, I'm happy to pay a little extra for the convenience and quality of service. Case in point, I bought a new router from Amazon last week. When I got it I realised I'd made a mistake (I'd chosen one without an ADSL modem). I fill in a simple online form to get the return label, return it via Collect+ (it's a service in the UK for collec…
They refunded my money on an accidentally purchased Amazon instant video with no trouble as well.
And they've waive charges at AWS too when warranted to keep customers happy. Keep lowering the prices and upgrading the hardware without being asked too.
Amazon is not the cheapest. Amazon is trusted and easy to deal with. And you can't find a comparable service for the same price.
Lego pricing on Amazon is generally bad. Often much worse than what Lego sells the sets for. That is one area I'd love to see Amazon change.
Stores are even being robbed of LEGO merchandise:
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/story-fni0cx12-122...
http://camelcamelcamel.com/ (Amazon price tracking.) Very useful if/when you want to buy something and want to check historical prices. (You can also set email alerts when something drops to below a certain price.) Edit: linkified. (Thanks, canvia!)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apart from the refund before the item was returned, this is pretty much standard procedure in europe, as in a consumer right by law - you always have 14 day return period at any online store. Sure, amazon extends their grace period (30 days, right?) - other than that it's really nothing special.
Nothing special from a legal standpoint, but it's all about how easy they make it. I have bought from other online retailers, and whilst the experiences haven't been bad, they still aren't quite as slick compared to Amazon. I can't really point to anything in particular that will convince you, it's just that the whole process is painless and easy, not just for the basics (purchasing) but for everything. Aside from th…