Here’s a bit of sobering news for those who compete with Amazon.
When a consumer is ready to pull the trigger and buy a product, a full 74 percent go to Amazon to make the purchase, says a new study by Feedvisor, which tracked the buying habits of 2,000 consumers.
Almost half of consumers visit Amazon at least a few times a week and 89 percent visit it at least once a month.
“Amazon has deeply integrated itself into consumers’ daily lives,” concludes Feedvisor, a technology platform that helps brands sell on Amazon.
If the data is true, what’s a typical 12 volt retailer to do in the face of these numbers?
Head of the Mobile Electronics Association, Chris Cook, says, “Any retailer who thinks Amazon is their competition isn’t doing retail the right way. The focus should be on your services that Amazon can’t provide.” This includes local marketing, repeat business from current customers and referrals from current customers.
“Amazon has taken a chunk out of every retail market, not just ours,” says Cook. But Amazon becomes truly problematic when a vendor allows sales on Amazon below the price that a retailer pays to purchase the product from the vendor. “Selling on Amazon is a reality of the retail market. It is wrong, however, to create a price disparity that makes the brick and mortar retailer less valuable,” he says.
Amazon is expected to increase its share of online sales this year to 52.4 percent, up from 48 percent in 2018, according to eMarketer, reports CNBC.
Amazon Prime is a key factor in the retailer’s growth. More than 100 million Prime members pay $119 a year for free 2-day shipping and free 2-hour delivery in some locations. Forty-five percent of Prime members buy from Amazon once a week, said CNBC.
Internet marketing specialist Modern Media Geeks says the days of just selling boxes are over for most any industry due in part to Amazon.
“A lot of [12 volt] retailers bury their head in the sand and don’t have a single price on their boards,” said Modern Media Geeks Founder Jon Dewar. “That’s just confrontational out of the gate. Now you, as a buyer, are uncomfortable. The retailer who embraces reality and is competitively priced–competitive but with a premium–should always get the sale for their services alone.”
“Go to any intersection anywhere in the USA and you can buy a 99 cent coffee or a $6 coffee. It’s the experience and atmosphere that makes a difference. And if the retailer is making it a warm fuzzy environment, not confrontational…they are going to set the clock on the radio and walk them through CarPlay, and explain the features, everyone of us would pay more for that,” Dewar added.
Wells Fargo estimates roughly 195 million people in the US visited Amazon during the fourth quarter, which is equivalent to almost three-quarters of all Internet users in the country.
Two-thirds of consumers typically launch their search for new products on Amazon, said Feedvisor
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People shop everything on Amazon. A manufacturers dream.