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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.
The ONLY reason Amazon saw a 1% increase in the value of orders is because of INFLATION! It’s nothing to brag about and pathetic that it was only 1% considering the inflated pricing they’ve incorporated!
I’ve started doing price comparisons between Amazon & Walmart, plus going directly to seller’s sites (if they offer free shipping, then a slightly higher price is acceptable.) What I’m finding is that most of the time–not always, but most of the time, Walmart is beating Amazon in price. sometimes I have actually found the Amazon price to be more than twice Walmart’s price. and with Walmart’s new $98 annual membership with free shipping I can have items shipped & not have to deal with their store. (I dropped Prime, but my husband added me to his & now I get the 5% on purchases again. Sweet.)
In other words, what we have here is a shell game. So play the game.
Gross sales figures will include inflation, however, it’s the increase in foot traffic and online traffic I find intriguing.
Due to Covid lockdowns, U.S. banks say that consumers had $1.7 trillion in savings and are now spending it. As an Etsy Seller, my activity in my handmade jewelry shop was crazy good this past weekend. I had the most active weekend EVER. People still have money and they want to spend it.
I heard on CNBC this past week that Walmart is indeed beating Amazon as a preferred Ecommerce site, however, much of Walmarts profits are coming from food sales. With the latest surge in inflation, the low income consumer is running to Walmart for cheaper groceries.