Amazon may be the online price leader, according to one report, but some savvy shoppers are clawing their way to better deals. - MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto
For the eighth consecutive year, Amazon ranks as the lowest-priced online retailer, according to Profitero, an analytics company that tracks the shopping landscape on an annual basis.
But try telling that to Robert Burns, a 39-year-old self-professed bargain hunter who calls Fort Lauderdale home. Burns does plenty of shopping on Amazon AMZN, but he also employs savings strategies to score better deals on merchandise from other retailers.
As consumers approach another busy holiday shopping season — we’re less than two weeks away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday — many will likely be doing such math themselves to see if they can beat Amazon on price. At the same time, many will continue to turn to the e-commerce giant, convinced that it offers the best deals.
According to Profitero’s “Price Wars” report, Amazon wins the pricing game across a wide gamut of categories, including appliances, electronics, toys and tools/home improvement. In some cases, Amazon is the cheapest by a solid margin: For videogames, the closest competitor, Best Buy BBY, is 9% more expensive.
In other cases, Amazon ekes out a narrower victory: It has the edge in pet supplies, but it beats out the No. 2 contender, Chewy CHWY, by a mere 1% margin.
But if shoppers follow the approach that Burns and countless other consumers take, it isn’t difficult for them to flip the savings situation to their advantage, especially in categories where Amazon’s edge is not as great.
Key to that is using rebate platforms such as Rakuten JP:4755 (formerly Ebates). While Burns has to wait for those cash-back checks to arrive — Rakuten issues them quarterly — the money adds up over time. Burns says he’s collected $2,100 in rebates from Rakuten over the past five years.
Here’s how the Amazon-hacking scenario can work: Amazon may have a 1% edge over Chewy, but Rakuten offers a 2% rebate on Chewy purchases. And on RetailMeNot, another cash-back platform, the Chewy rebate is 8%. The rebate percentages vary from retailer to retailer and can change over time.
Suddenly, Amazon’s 1% edge is erased.
Shoppers can also benefit from other offers, depending upon the retailer. In the case of Chewy, they can receive a 35% discount on their first auto-ship order (with a maximum $20 savings), for example.
Shoppers can also earn cash back or points on the credit cards in their wallet. Some cards also offer larger rewards for certain categories of retailers.
Add it up and there’s no shortage of opportunities to save. And by carefully combining different saving methods — called “deal stacking” — shoppers may be able to top Amazon by an even greater margin, consumer experts say.
“Can you get a better price with a little bit of research? Sure you can,” said Erica Sandberg, a consumer-finance expert with CardRates.com.
Profitero says its report is based on prices collected for thousands of products over a three-month period. Profitero considers the lowest promoted price for each item but does not factor in coupons or rebate offers that can be applied.
In response to those who say consumers can “do the math” and score a better deal, Amazon points not only to its everyday low prices and exclusive bargain events like Prime Day, but also to special deals and coupons that it says add up to nearly $24 billion of savings for shoppers annually. Like other retailers, Amazon also says it has a bevy of deals planned for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
In addition, Amazon says it offers discounts through its Subscribe & Save program, a service that gives customers up to 15% off if they have items shipped on a regular basis. And it says Prime members can earn 5% back at Amazon.com, Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh if they use an Amazon Prime credit card.
While Amazon touts the findings in the Profitero report, it also makes the case that the company’s value to shoppers goes beyond savings and includes the vast array of products it sells and the speedy shipping it provides, especially for Prime members.
“We’ll always work hard to offer customers outstanding value across Earth’s largest selection everyday — all while delivering to doorsteps fast,” said Amazon spokesperson Janelle Rasey.
Meanwhile, the rebate platforms point to their own solid growth as proof that consumers are finding them a useful savings tool.
Since its founding in 1999, Rakuten says it has grown to 17 million members — membership is free — and has awarded $4.6 billion in rebates. Like other rebate platforms, Rakuten says it earns its money through affiliate partnerships — meaning retailers pay Rakuten a commission for bringing shoppers to their sites.
As for RetailMeNot, which was founded in 2009, it first became known for providing coupon codes to various retail sites. But it also moved into the rebate space several years ago. Now a division of Ziff Davis ZD, RetailMeNot says 250 million consumers engage with its platform in various ways, whether by getting coupon codes or earning rebates or both.
Amazon can also be a part of these rebate platforms, at least in theory. In practice, it rarely is. One notable exception: RetailMeNot points out it has a 5% rebate offer on Amazon devices purchased through Amazon.
For many consumers, all this Amazon-hacking may not be worth it, some experts say. They’ll stick with Amazon because they know it’s still a low-cost option — and they appreciate the retailer’s speed and reliability, among other factors.
They also may not want to wait for rebate checks or search for coupon codes, explained Mladen Vladic, who oversees loyalty products and services for FIS, a global fintech company.
“You have a segment of the population that has no interest in chasing these deals,” he said.
Note: Mladen Vladic’s name was misspelled in a previous version of this story. It has been corrected.
