Amazon is huge. Within the last ten years, the company has made strategic business decisions to ensure dominance that would baffle most CEOs, but not Jeff Bezos.
From creating a trucking company to even planning its own airport, you would think Amazon, like many companies, offers price matching guarantees to edge out the competition.
So, Does Amazon Price Match?
Unfortunately, while Amazon was bolstering its competitive advantage, the policy was changed several years ago to disallow price matching across the board.
There is a gray area where third-party sellers may be able to offer lower prices, but these aren’t guaranteed by Amazon nor do they offer the other advantages of shopping on Amazon.ca.
Why Keep Shopping at Amazon?
Most companies have been scraping together small margins by moving pieces around on the board. Amazon, meanwhile, has been building its own board completely separate from everyone else. Why would they need to offer price matching guarantees when they’re playing on their own board?
It’s not quite as simple as simply price matching when you take a moment to truly review what Amazon offers its customers. Think about this question: do you remember when you could order a tube of toothpaste online, but you were lucky if you received it within 7-10 days? That was only ten years ago or so.
Slowly but surely, Amazon has built an empire around ensuring that you can receive your order, in some cases, the same day or order it. You don’t even have to pay for shipping for many products offered under the Amazon Prime umbrella.
Not only that, but Amazon is already price matching without you needing to ask. Almost everything you can think of is sold on Amazon’s vast marketplace, so they are actively scouring the various listings and using computers to crunch the data and find out exactly what each item is being sold for. Then, they simply offer these items at slightly lower prices.
There’s a lot more to this practice, but just know that, in most cases, Amazon.ca is already price-matching or price-beating for you.
The Future of Amazon
Amazon is already testing new ways to shop, especially since social distancing seems to have had dramatic effects on the spread of the flu. While currently only being tested in the US, Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology is being tested as cashier-less shopping experience in airports.
You simply slide your preferred payment card on entry, and the camera-laden store captures the products you’re taking and charges you when you walk out. A digital receipt is then sent to your email.
Delivery drones have been on the radar for some time, though with the advances in battery technology, self-driving software, and manufacturing becoming far easier, we are quickly approaching a world where drones may well blot out the sun on their delivery runs for Amazon shoppers.
Conclusion
No, Amazon does not “price match” as you might understand, but they already manage to keep many of their prices low based on data they collect from the marketplace.
They also provide so many more benefits by building their retail empire, which ensures faster delivery and seamless shopping experiences. The future will tell what sticks and what doesn’t, but Amazon continues to advance both its technology and its services to improve expectations.
