Just in time for the holidays, Amazon is rolling out tools designed to get you to spend more.
Driving the news: Amazon is testing a new ‘Buy Again’ feature aiming to persuade customers to make repeat purchases based on their order history, part of the company’s latest effort to drive up sales amid a post-pandemic slump, per the Wall Street Journal.
Why it’s happening: With spending falling steadily within its Prime membership program, Amazon has been trying to get existing customers to buy more, and more regularly. The company currently steers shoppers to its subscription-based service, ‘Subscribe & Save.’
- The average annual spending from Prime members fell from about US$1,400 in 2018 to $1,100 last year.
Why it matters: While the feature might be redundant for some — after all, do we really need to repurchase a $84 fondue set bought last February — Amazon’s pivot to get repeat sales on essentials might be successful when it comes to pharmacy and cleaning goods.
Big picture: The push toward reoccurring purchasing falls in line with a growing trend of subscription commerce, an industry expected to be worth $904.2 billion by 2026.—LA