It’s Amazon Prime Day, and if last year is an indication, there will be more online sales today than there were for Black Friday last year. It’s almost become a national shopping holiday.
Loyalty to the Amazon shopping experience has become a cult that rivals Apple’s draw to their repeat consumer base. Amazon doesn’t reveal their in-house statistics, but it’s estimated that are 70-90 million members of their Prime service which provides free shipping on some purchases.
A recent study of Prime Amazon shoppers finds 85% visit the website at least once a week and 45% make a weekly purchase. 56% of non-prime members check in weekly but only 13% buy something.
Eric Jones is a shopping expert and founded a website called blackfriday.com, which also has suggestions of deals and tips for Amazon Prime Day. He thinks there is one thing that puts Amazon light-years ahead of competition. “I think their customer service is unique because they always put their customers ahead of themselves,’ Jones tells News Radio 740 KTRH. “A lot of times even when their window for returns is past, a lot of times you can still get a return from them.”
The number one reason shoppers give for checking out their bookmarked Amazon site is to compare prices (51%), and 44% say they always check the cost on Amazon before they make a purchase, even if it’s elsewhere. A top draw is the full product description for each item: 54% saying they always read it before buying. And we pay attention to how many stars products get from reviewers, 60% saying they won’t even consider something that comes with less than a 4 ½ star rating.
Business culture expert Daren Martin conducts seminars and explains how consumers hate friction, anything that slows them down or creates obstacles in their purchasing experience. “When I ask them, “What company is the best at eliminating friction, 100% of the time people shout out, ‘Amazon!’” They’ve just made it so easy to purchase stuff at reasonable prices and have it delivered straight to your door --and who’s not a fan of that.”