News

Report: Amazon's armor could be cracked

December 6, 2017

There may be an opportunity for retail brands to grab share from Amazon. But it would likely be due to a move by Amazon.

A SmarterHQ report claims 82 percent of Amazon's Prime users — consumers who pay an annual fee for two-day free shipping on a good majority of items — would cancel the Prime subscription if that free, two-day shipping was not available.

SmarterHQ surveyed more than 1,200 people, ages 18 to 65-plus.

"Amazon's dominance in retail has been the primary focus of retail executives, investors and board members — yet, the solution to steal back both market share and consumers' loyalty have evaded most traditional retail brands," said Michael Osborne, CEO of SmarterHQ, in a press release.

"But our report tells a surprisingly upbeat story for retail brands — consumers can be persuaded to ditch Amazon and shop in their store or on their website. We found that people aren't going to Amazon to browse; rather, they have very specific items in mind. Free two-day shipping is very important to Amazon Prime members — so much, in fact, that they would cancel their membership if it wasn't offered. And consumers have a price threshold of $200 they're not willing to cross when shopping on Amazon, a good sign for luxury brands. While Amazon is viewed as Goliath by the industry, there are certainly weaknesses that retail brands can exploit to help drive their bottom line."