United States traditional retailers fight back: same as Amazon
Retail giant Wal-Mart, Amazon launched price comparison measures this year
Discounts! Shopping spree! Card! One world, with a cut hand.
Both China and the United States, were shopping at the end of season. Dual 11-orgy, Black Friday, dual 12-shopping, Christmas discount, wave after wave of discounts make people stop. Has decided to hold wallets, discounts are always ready, see credit card bills and then regret the cruel.
Appliance store Fry’s ‘ pricing and online appliance store Fry’s of exactly the same prices and online
Online double day
United States national retailers Association (NRF) predicted that 2014 ‘s year-end shopping season reached its highest level of the past three years, reaching $ 616.9 billion, an increase of 4.1%. for retailers, a strong business opportunity is not balanced, offline and online is not the same on the two kinds of momentum. First, the NRF’s data, online sales continued to rise to 30% from 16% in the previous year.
Overall sales edged up at the same time, the rapid growth of online shopping also means physical store sales shrink. Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales directly reflects this difference. Market research firm ShopperTrak released this two-day consumer reports show that traditional shopping malls in this two-day sales of $ 12.29 billion, $ 12.35 billion, down as much as 0.5%.
Amazon and best buy’s commitment to price it as low as low as Amazon and best buy’s commitment to price
While at the same time, this year’s Black Friday shopping amount continues to record, online sales rose 22%, including eBay and Amazon’s sales growth of 27% and 24%, respectively. Amazon during the five black sold 64 items per second. Behind this very different sales momentum, is the United States shift from offline to online retail trend, also contributed a major transformation from traditional businesses begin to adapt implementation.
It is worth mentioning that, although the United States is the home of e-commerce, United States Internet shopping development scale is far compared with China. Alibaba double 11 shopping season sales in China this year up to 57.1 billion yuan (about 9.3 billion dollars), beating United States all traditional stores on Black Friday, the day of the $ 9.1 billion, is the same day United States all Web sales ($ 2.4 billion), nearly four times.
United States one-fourth of the population of China, the reason for this is of course not to be ignored, but United States GDP per capita is seven times, China Times, disposable income per capita of US $ 40,000 last year, while China only $ 3000. Perhaps the network to this area, Ali Baba completely activate the Chinese consumer’s Shopping frenzy, making the Chinese people than the United States people more willing to spend money and are more accustomed to shopping online.
Come back to the United States shopping network trends, Amazon sales to 74.45 billion dollars last year, an increase of 24%, maintains more than 20% growth for several consecutive years. While traditional retailers such as best buy fell into the doldrums, slow growth, stagnation or even decline. In the United States under the environment of the economy wasn’t doing, pressure from Internet retailers such as Amazon are the traditional retailers are the most important causes of poor performance.
Because of the huge Internet retailer no physical storefront spending so they can offer cheaper prices without leaving home purchase is also a big advantage of online shopping. In order to further from traditional businesses compete for consumers, Amazon as early as four years ago, was set up in your own mobile application bar code scan feature. When consumers store after discovering merchandise of intent, you can directly scan was informed that Amazon’s prices and at a more affordable price in online shopping. The move seems to make physical stores completely into the Amazon store.
Americans use fake Amazon screenshots cheats Wal-Mart
Store price Amazon
Facing the tide of e-commerce, perhaps retailers should consider is how to move with the tide instead of walking against the tide. United States traditional retailers have been taking countermeasures, on the one hand against the impact of Amazon and other online retailers to open its own e-commerce platform and introduced a variety of measures to try to lead consumers to your own e-commerce platform. These traditional retailers do not want their stores to be consumer store, hope to recapture the passenger from Amazon.
Parity with the network is one important means of traditional retailers have adopted. For ordinary consumers, Amazon and other e-commerce under the biggest advantage is the cheap, convenient, but traditional retailers also have on-site experience, simple immediately after picking, sale and other irreplaceable advantages. These are the inherent disadvantages of e-commerce platform.
Due to United States labor costs are high, and shopping at Amazon, free delivery usually within five business days of the time or more, and would like to choose the next day or two day delivery, you have to pay expensive shipping of Prime membership fee or pay $ 99 a year. Marantz CD in Amazon buy a 500 dollar machine, for example, next-day delivery of freight, and even as high as $ 57, two-day delivery freight $ 28, 5th delivery shipping charges $ 15 and free delivery period is 10 days or so.
Groupon, the online shopping business, even free shipping for more than two weeks. In most cases, online shopping is equivalent to a week or even longer to accept the goods, only not anxious to receive the merchandise consumers can choose online shopping, Amazon or an extra expenditure of $ 99 for two-day delivery services. Delivery issue is why Amazon is vigorously developing unmanned delivery.
And return the same big question is the online shopping, not all online stores like Amazon, can be paid return shipping. Based on the author’s own shopping, for example, in United States photographic equipment vendors photography accessories from B&H online shop to buy $ 55, in order to return pays a $ 10 shipping charge. MyHabit, online merchants will refund up to two weeks. This return policy is far less experienced take merchandise directly to store simple.
If you can follow online prices in-store shopping, or sit at home and Internet orders are at their physical stores to take the goods and service, maybe a lot of Amazon’s customers might reconsider their shopping choices. And this is now the United States taken back by the main traditional retail giants Amazon and Amazon–customers can pay the same or cheaper prices, but enjoy the store merchant’s online services for your convenience.
Unveil the policy business, Target, Walmart, JCPenny, best buy, Home Depot (Home Depot), all have a strong traditional retail giants. These firms have sufficient resources can follow Amazon’s selling price to consumers, while providing cover almost every city store services. (California’s Bay area, for example, where the city is a district in Beijing, neighboring stores to drive no more than 20 minutes. Vehicles popular United States is concerned, this distance was almost at the door. ）
United States supermarket giant Target last year had already started to implement this policy, consumers can use other businesses at the lowest price Target to purchase the same goods, Target only the Clerk to show other businesses cheap voucher. Even when you buy something when they got home, found other places offer lower prices, with shopping receipts back to Target after sales, they also provide a price difference refund.
United States largest electronics retailer best buy offered more merchant prices on par with slogans, not just Amazon but any online retailer. Wal-Mart offers price comparison includes more than more than 30 online retailers. Meanwhile, these traditional retailers ‘ own price online and offline price is exactly the same. In other words, consumers can rest assured at best buy and Wal-Mart to buy cheaper goods.
However, these price comparison measures also has some restrictions. For example, Wal-Mart provides that a customer can buy at lowest price for other businesses every day a number of the same commodity. Price does not include clearance prices for other businesses and bundle prices must also be ongoing sales of commodity prices. Best buy’s price does not apply to coupon discounts can’t provide like Amazon payments and other services.
Major retailers with making these provisions also have objective causes. Because of the “smart” United States consumers to use Wal-Mart’s vulnerability at Amazon and other online platforms to open your own personal shop, merchandise sold at extremely low prices don’t exist, and even create false Internet screenshot, thus obtaining the lowest price at Wal-Mart. Such as PS 4 games $ 400 ticket for false prices to $ 90. Fooled a few times, Wal-Mart was smart, made a new qualification measures for price comparison. (Ahead of United States citizens and China as well. ）
Traditional retailers fight back
Amazon these traditional businesses to launch price comparison measures would affect your profits? The surface is so, because they have to bear higher costs than Amazon, but actually attracts customers from Amazon to your store or online shop, brought benefits far outweigh the specific commodities falling profits. As customers came to the store after, do not usually buy only original products, and will look to buy a program item. Entity a portion of the profits of retailers at a loss can be offset by increased sales.
Even more important is that a traditional merchants hope to change consumer perception: the online price is cheap, online shopping will go to Amazon. With the activities of mainstream businesses have been offering prices to Amazon, consumers on their doorstep to shopping first time goods at low prices, in-store shopping experience and facilitate consultation and after-sales service are supposed to do. Even if do not want to go to the store can also be purchased in these traditional merchant e-commerce site, then go to the store for free access to cargoes.
Meanwhile, those traditional retailers have invested heavily in their respective e-commerce sector, develop their own network marketing business. They are expanding through acquisitions, such as Wal-Mart to buy marketing software company, Adchemy, and the formation of Wal-Mart’s lab data; or warehousing, operations, and courier and other e-commerce infrastructure, and strive to catch up with Amazon in the e-commerce experience.
From last year, the United States primarily traditional retail sector has seen significant growth, increase even more than the Amazon. Last year, best buy’s retail sales reached 1.57 billion US dollars, an increase of 25.8%. Wal-Mart online sales had reached US $ 10 billion last year, growth this year will reach 30%, two consecutive years of growth in e-commerce business than Amazon. Although e-commerce sector is still no match for Amazon, but still is the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart last year in overall turnover of US $ 500 billion, is Amazon’s 7 times.
At this year’s Black Friday sales, Amazon is offering Flash sales promotions, released at regular intervals not longer duration of new promotional discounts, such as equivalent to 4000 Yuan-priced LG 65 inch 1080P LED TV. To get the latest and most significant discounts, consumers must stay in front of the computer waiting for the surprise, keep them too busy to go to the store or unable to take Amazon’s price to price comparison.
While Amazon is still the United States e-commerce retailing giants, but faces a strong counterattack from traditional retail giants, at least Amazon has lost the most important weapon of price wars. Amazon in the minds of consumers the cheapest natural aura is gradually breaking down. According to market research firm ShopSavvy statistics, on Black Friday, more than half of Wal-Mart merchandise prices are actually less than Amazon’s; in the electronic and electrical products on two core products, Wal-Mart’s discounts than Amazon.
Represented traditional retailers Wal-Mart, best buy and Amazon, eBay representatives of the fierce competition among online retailers will no doubt continue. The end result of the war is also not known, but at least Amazon has, in its price war does not have any advantages, in terms of logistics, customer service and after sales at a natural disadvantage. Perhaps, real competition is only now just beginning.
United States currently announced the launch of “parity of Amazon” measures to mainstream traditional retailers: Wal-Mart, best buy, JCPenny, Target, Home Depot, electrical lines, Fry’s Bed Bath&Beyond, appliance, household goods shop Abt Electronics, mother to store household shop Lowe’s, Babies r Us, Office supplies store Staples, Office Depot, toy store Toy r Us etc.