Amazon Fresh is a unit of the Amazon Group competing with grocery retail giants like Walmart. In a bid to attract grocery shoppers who are counting pennies, Amazon Fresh decided to cut the prices of thousands of its grocery items. Inflation has financially stretched many Americans, and Amazon Fresh is looking to exploit this to gain market share.
Buy Groceries Online at Amazon Fresh
Like its mother company, Amazon Fresh has integrated E-commerce into the grocery shopping industry. Nonetheless, it still operates several brick-and-mortar outlets across the US.
So, Amazon Fresh has announced to the public that it is marking down 4,000 items on its physical shelves and online by 30%. However, the discounted items will be rotated weekly.
Competitors Are Adopting a Similar Playbook
Since the middle of May, other grocery retailers, like Target and Walmart, have reviewed their label prices downward. This is largely an effort to stimulate sales, which have slowed down due to the biting national inflation.
These retailers hope to encourage consumers to make both essential and discretionary purchases. This strategy influences the products that are weekly selected for discounts.
Shoppers and Retailers Play Chicken
At the onset of the rise in inflation, retailers assumed shoppers would adjust accordingly. However, many buyers limited their purchases to strictly essential items like food and started going to outlets that offered the best bargain for even those.
Now that sales have dropped and consumers don’t seem to budge, many retailers are moving the benchmark in a bid to break even and not incur losses.
ALSO READ: $13 Million Housing for Migrants in Maine Causes Controversy
Sale of Consumer Products Affects the US Economy
Interestingly, the impact of the rise in inflation goes way beyond the hide-and-seek game of shoppers and large retail chains. Instead, it affects every facet of the US economy.
However, the consumer-retailer interaction has a greater impact on the economy because about 65% of the US economy’s transactions are consumer spending.
Shoppers Have Spontaneously Become Frugal
Consumer spending has tanked in the past 12 months because of inflation-stimulated price hikes. Wares now cost about 20% to 30% more than before the rise in inflation.
According to Sarah Wyeth, the managing director of retail and consumer at S&P Global Ratings, sales have dropped because prices are rising, while income has remained relatively the same.
Everyone’s Searching for a Good Deal
The inability of consumers to keep pace with their previous spending habits is pushing them more than ever before to hunt for bargains on purchases they previously made without batting an eye.
Wyeth suggests that there are “just less dollars for consumers to spend.” So, it is up to the retail chains to help liberate consumers from the economically imposed frugality that now governs their spending.
Price Slash on Most Essential Products
Amazon Fresh slashes the prices of pasta, snacks, beverages, cheese and dairy, frozen food, seafood, and meat.
The price cuts will apply to Amazon’s signature products and national brands, which are available on Amazon Fresh shelves and in the company’s online store.
Amazon Fresh Rolls Out Its Mission Statement
In an official statement, Claire Peters, Amazon Fresh’s worldwide vice president, gave an overview of the company’s new deals.
Peters said, “Increasing our weekly deals across thousands of items and expanding the reach of Prime Savings at Amazon Fresh is just one way that we’re continuing to invest in competitive pricing and savings for all of our customers – both in-store and online.”
Become a Prime Member to Enjoy Even More Amazon Fresh Discounts
Prime members of AmazonFresh enjoy even more discounts on items. For example, they can save a few more bucks on hundreds of grocery items purchased via Amazon Fresh’s online channel.
Likewise, Target slashed the price of over 1,500 items in the last week of May to attract shoppers back to its aisles. Some of the items ranged from laundry detergents to butter.
ALSO READ: Gravity Payments’ Revenue Increased Threefold After CEO Dan Price Took a 90 Percent Pay Cut
Target Is Tagging Along on the Price Slash Trail
Like Amazon Fresh, Target announced that their customers can look forward to even more cuts in grocery prices.
Target aims to cut prices on about 5,000 items, ” collectively saving consumers millions of dollars.” The method being adopted is to cut the cost of essential items like food, fruits, diapers, and pet food.
Retail Giants Trying to Revive the Economy By Driving Sales
Retail giant Walmart trumped them all by introducing discounts on over 7,000 items in May. The retail chain claimed it is starting to notice slight trends of deflation on some essential grocery items.
The price cuts are not limited to grocery retail chains alone. Even home furnishings and furniture sellers like IKEA have slashed some items’ prices.
Strong Economic Performance Keeps Mortgage Rates Steady Above 7%
Smart Strategies To Get the Lowest Mortgage Rates on the Market
Shoppers In Outrage As Self-Checkout Machines In California Ask for Tip
Grandchildren Find Out that Their Grandma’s House Has Been Sold Only After Her Passing
Unexpected Increase in Vacancies and New Hires Hints Stability in Labor Data Ahead of Future Jobs