There is no doubt that Amazon’s growth to become one of the top retailers globally has been phenomenal and astounding.
Millions of shoppers around the globe find it extremely convenient to buy from Amazon. Their prices are usually very competitive compared to their competition and their efficient shipping arrangements almost always leave a lasting impression in the mind of their customers.
To improve the customer experience further, Amazon has deployed numerous schemes through which their customers can make huge savings in their purchases, while the company earns more loyal customers and increasingly higher annual revenues. Below, I will show you three of these marketing tactics, which most people are familiar with as we all apply to make savings at Amazon.
- The “Subscribe and Save” program
The “Subscribe and Save” program provides you with a creative way to make huge saving on regular deliveries of subscribed products. The program works by allowing you to create regularly scheduled deliveries which are automatically shipped to you at the designated frequency. The delivery cycle is flexible and you can choose a schedule that works for you from monthly to every six months.
Once subscribed, you are able to skip or cancel your deliveries and before each delivery is made, the company sends you a reminder email showing you’re the item prices and the applicable discounts.
“It is worth noting that Amazon’s subscription for the “Subscribe and Save” program differs markedly from other types of subscription you may be used to such as the ones for newspapers and magazines”, says Matt of Lodlois—a site that has a list of all ways you can save on Amazon. This is because the product prices in Amazon subscription are not static over time but they vary from one order to another, depending on prevailing product prices at the time the order is shipped. Consequently, your monthly bill may vary from month to month.
The “Subscribe and Save” program offers a discount of at least 5% off each order. You may unlock extra savings through subscribing for five or more products to be delivered to one address on the same monthly delivery date. The more the number of items you subscribe for, the more you save. Therefore, in case you do not have the five items to unlock the extra savings, you may consider including “filler” items to your list. These are inexpensive items which you may not necessarily need but will help to meet the requirements.
Still seeking for more savings using the “subscribe and save” program? Amazon offers a solution by providing a number of coupons for select Subscribe and Save items. It is worth noting that these coupons are applicable only once and will not be used in subsequent deliveries.
The subscription prices are not locked at the time of subscription but are subject to price variation as dictated by market prices at the time of each delivery. Though this may have undesirable effects in the event of general price hikes, the program is still worth it. The trick to guard against the sudden change in price changes is to read and act the reminder email sent by Amazon before the order is shipped.
The product “subscribe and save” store contains items from a wide range of categories including groceries, personal care, household supplies, baby care and food, pet supplies among others. For example, do you have a desire for your pet have clean teeth, fresh breath with no plaque? Then subscribe for PEDIGREE DENTASTIX Large Dog Chew Treats, Original and make huge savings.
In conclusion, the benefits of “subscribe and save’’ are;
- Huge discounts on subscribed items
- Free shipping
- Flexible delivery schedules which are easily adjustable to suit changing needs.
- Ability to combine the program with coupons further pushing down the cost of the items.
- Amazon Fresh
Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s online grocery shopping service which provides their Prime members with grocery delivery and pickup service in select states in the US, London, Tokyo, and Berlin. Shopper can use the service for the online purchase of groceries such as fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and meat products, pet supplies, health and beauty products and so on. The shopper has the option between unattended or attended two-hour delivery windows.
Amazon Fresh Deals refers to limited time offers which are exclusive to products which are sold and shipped by Amazon Fresh. Example of Amazon Fresh deals are:
- 25% off meat substitutes
- 30% off select OrganicGirl packaged salads
- 30% off select Zuke’s dog treats
- 25% off back-to-school snack favorites
For Amazon fresh shoppers, they can make further savings by using the coupons FRESH25, which saves them $25.
Sounds unreal? You don’t have to spend a penny to test this. Amazon is running a promotion which allows you to test Amazon Fresh for free for one month. In this promotion, they have a flexible payment option whereby the first 30 days are free and there are no shipping charges for orders greater than $40. After the first 30 days, there is a $14.99 service charge per month if you are a Prime member. Orders less than $40 attract shipping charges. The groceries are delivered in well-structured green boxes, with ice packs to keep them fresh.
- Amazon Prime Day
One strategy that Amazon employs to increase sales is changing prices. Prices go up and down throughout the year for almost all products. Amazon Prime Day is the yearly promotion where Amazon slashes prices for thousands of products more than any other day. July 2017’s Amazon Prime Day revenue “surpassed traditional retailing blowouts like Black Friday and Cyber Monday”, says Bloomberg magazine.
By the way, one interesting way to save money during Amazon shopping is by using deal tracker sites. Since Amazon prices keep fluctuating, you can make huge savings if you time your shopping when the prices are at the bottom. TheTracktor.com and CamelCamelCamel.com have the ability to retrieve the historical data of Amazon prices for the products of your interest.
Additionally, they enable you to set your preferred prices for the items and they will send you alerts when the price reaches your preset threshold.
