Amazon Is the Lowest-Priced Online Retailer: Study
For the eighth consecutive year, an independent study from Profitero has once again found that Amazon offers the lowest online prices compared with all major U.S. retailers.
Profitero has published its eighth annual “Price Wars” study, comparing online prices for more than 13,000 products across 22 major U.S. online retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, CVS and Walgreens. Amazon once again led as the lowest-priced online retailer, with an average price advantage of 14% over its rivals. However, competitors have closed the gap compared with last year, when Amazon had a 16% price advantage.
Key findings include:
- Amazon offers the lowest prices across all product categories analyzed. Amazon was found to deliver the lowest prices across all 15 product categories that the study analyzes, including baby, beauty, packaged food and beverage, health and personal care, household supplies, pet supplies, and vitamins and supplements.
- Amazon’s prices are up to 6% less on everyday essentials, including beauty, baby and household must-haves. The study found that Amazon offers the lowest prices by 1%-6% across all everyday essential product categories, ranging from baby, beauty, health and personal care to household supplies, pet supplies, and vitamins and supplements.
“We know how much customers value low prices, which is why we work hard every day to save them money. We are proud that this study shows our hard work is paying off — Amazon is offering lower prices than any other major retailer. Whether they’re shopping for everyday essentials or that special holiday gift — customers can trust that they’ll get the most value with Amazon,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores.
"At a time when consumers are being careful about how much they spend, we're continuing to lower prices and ship even more quickly, and we can see this resonating with customers as our unit growth continues to be strong and outpace even our revenue growth," noted Amazon President and CEO Andy Jassy during the company's recent third-quarter earnings call.
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Meanwhile, Target showed solid year-over-year improvement, with online prices just 13% higher than Amazon's, versus 16% last year. Among the areas where Target made the most progress are household supplies and beauty, closing the price gap with Amazon by five percentage points.
Walmart remains Amazon's closest price competitor, with only a 5% price difference on identical items, though slightly less competitive than last year's 4% price gap.
"While U.S. inflation has dipped to its lowest point since 2021, consumer confidence remains sluggish, leaving shoppers more cautious as they approach the holiday season. In this climate, retailers that can consistently offer value and keep prices low will be the ones most likely to capture traffic — and wallets," said Mike Black, chief growth officer at Profitero, which has offices in Boston.
Profitero is a commerce partner to more than 4,000 of the world’s leading brands, with an end-to-end system that connects data, insight and action to accelerate business growth. According to the company, with Profitero, content, media, and operations teams can get accurate, reliable digital shelf insights across 1,200-plus retailers in more than 70 countries, guidance from experienced commerce practitioners, and shelf-intelligent automation and AI tools that empower them to go faster.
