Well Played, Amazon

        In the article entitled Better Add Extra Box of Printer Paper to Your Cart, Because Amazon Just Made It Harder to Get Free Shipping, written by Brad Tuttle, the new business strategy that Amazon is employing is described. I think it’s a very smart move that is being made. At first I thought, how stupid to increase the minimum price for free shipping, but once I read further I changed my mind.

        The thing that makes this a smart move is that by increasing the minimum price, customers could potentially be influenced to sign up for Amazon Prime, which costs $79 per year and gives you unlimited streaming access to 41,000 movies and TV shows as well as access to 350,000 books, and unlimited two-day free shipping. Sure there are many perks to signing up for Amazon Prime, but you have to pay an annual fee. However, like the article states, if people sign up for it then they will also feel as though they should get their money’s worth and will buy more items online, in turn giving Amazon an even bigger profit. So, this is kind of brilliant on their part. Whether the consumers are getting just as much from the deal depends on the individual. If the consumer doesn’t shop online very often then it shouldn’t be that big of a deal paying for shipping if they buy something that is less than $35 and don’t qualify for free shipping. If the consumer buys online all the time but rarely for less than $35 then it doesn’t make sense to get the membership. And if the consumer buys online a lot but usually for less than $25 then maybe it’s best to upgrade to Amazon Prime.

        Regardless of what the case is, Amazon is likely to come out the winner in this affair. Chances are that consumers will keep buying anyway, and might even upgrade. I think that this is honestly a very smart move on Amazon’s part. Even if consumers complain about the change, they will have to buy things online, and if they have used Amazon for a long time, they will most likely stick with it.  I know this is true because I went through something similar with the DART. The prices increased, and it was really annoying, but I had to ride it anyway. I had no other choice, and my options were to continue paying for the individual tickets or to buy a monthly pass. Either way, the DART still got money from me.