亞馬遜的新業務可能會遭遇失敗

隨著亞馬遜繼續通過生鮮店AmazonFresh Pickup和最近收購的全食超市挺進食品雜貨市場，他們也在超快遞送上持續增加投入。該公司在食品和快遞上的最新嘗試是“即刻取貨”。它能讓消費者在網上購買特定商品，例如小吃和飲料，兩分鐘以內，人們就能在附近的帶鎖儲物箱中拿到這些商品。目前這項服務只對五所大學的校園開放，但Instant Pickup會讓亞馬遜直接面對便利店、藥店、校園內自動售貨機的競爭。不過，如果Instant Pickup的價格與亞馬遜網站甚至7-11的價格相當，這項服務恐怕難有吸引力。

對亞馬遜的好處

Instant Pickup模式值得一試的理由主要有二：首先是產生營收，其次是減少凈運輸費。

增加錢包份額

ComScore.com的最新數據顯示，家庭可支配零售消費中，只有不足20%是通過電子商務實現的。如果亞馬遜計劃繼續發展，就需要攫取更多可支配的錢包份額。

歷史上看，消費者在利用數字設備購物上總是猶豫不決，直到2016年，大部分電子商務的交易還是通過臺式機完成的。去年是移動設備的引爆點，我們可以說Z世代的受眾已經準備好接受Instant Pickup了。如果說有哪家公司能夠找到鼓勵大學生消費者購買小吃、牙膏、移動設備充電器的奧秘，那這家公司一定是亞馬遜。畢竟，它是第一批使用算法給消費者推薦新書的電子商務公司之一。亞馬遜有著洞察消費者的數據（點擊流、瀏覽和購買歷史），從而了解這一關鍵人群的愿望和需求。亞馬遜的在線購物行為信息，配合移動定位服務/GPS坐標數據，構成了相當完整的消費者行為檔案。亞馬遜完全知道消費者在何時想著某樣產品，他們又是何時何地使用自己的移動設備搜索它。

減少運輸費

亞馬遜運輸成本的增長速度遠超其運輸收入，這已不是什么秘密。公司以免費和快速物流作為籌碼，成功定位了Amazon Prime訂閱服務。最近的ComScore數據顯示，消費者如今希望大部分大型網絡零售商提供免費的次日送達。

將特定的大量物品集中運輸到Pickup站點，可以減少亞馬遜的運輸費用。不過在這筆省出的費用對年基凈運輸收入的趨勢產生明顯的影響之前，這種做法會大大改變消費者的行為。

對消費者的好處

Instant Pickup給消費者提出的價值命題可能是便利和價格上的，但這一定位并不獨特。也許，把購買的商品放在柜子里等你來取，這種新鮮感可能會吸引一些消費者進行嘗試，但是當消費者想要的商品能在宿舍的自動售貨機或學生活動中心的商店買到時，他們愿意為它多走一兩個街區嗎？Amazon Prime和Prime Now已經分別承諾把商品在幾天和幾小時內送到了。Instant Pickup需要有足夠的差異化特色才能在便利這個領域擁有競爭力。

信賴品牌

消費者當然很信賴亞馬遜這個品牌，在其電子商務平臺上購物也感到放心。正因如此，公司在贏得首次移動購物的消費者上占據了獨特優勢。

價格

亞馬遜鼓勵消費者選擇Pickup而非最近的藥店或便利店的途徑之一，就是提供極具競爭力的價格。盡管這一戰略可能提升客流量，但很有可能會讓公司賠本賺吆喝，因為公司在運輸上節約的資本可能都會由于便利商品的低利潤而流失。

例如，如果亞馬遜給所有的Pickup商品提供10%至25%的折扣，這筆省下的錢是否足以讓消費者走點路去Pickup站點買一瓶可口可樂？還是說消費者寧愿多花一點錢，走到宿舍或公寓大廳買一瓶就算了？

獎勵

也許Instant Pickup贏得消費者的更好辦法是提供一些獎勵項來激勵高頻用戶（項目可以整合到Amazon Prime Rewards Visa簽名卡中，或是另外設立）。獎勵可以是在亞馬遜網站購買商品時以現金的形式返利，或是更多以買一送一的形式提供，但只能通過Instant Pickup購買。

這家電子商務巨頭可能有點變成了自己成功的受害者——Prime和Prime Now有著獨特的價值定位，很難被打敗，即便現在有了一個兩分鐘提貨的服務選擇。除非亞馬遜能夠勸說消費者利用Instant Pickup獲得更好的價值或獨特的服務，否則這種配送模式恐怕給不了亞馬遜他們想要的增長。（財富中文網）

作者海蒂?曼尼特是德雷克大學商務與公共管理學院營銷學實踐專業的助理教授。

譯者：嚴匡正

As Amazon grows further into the grocery space, through both AmazonFresh Pickup and the recent acquisition of Whole Foods, it continues to raise the stakes when it comes to super-fast delivery times. It’s latest foray into grocery and delivery, “Instant Pickup,” will allow shoppers to buy certain items online, like snacks and drinks, and pick them up within 2 minutes at nearby lockers. While it’s only launching at five college campuses for now, Instant Pickup puts Amazon in direct competition with convenience stores, drugstores, and on-campus vending machines. But if Instant Pickup’s prices are comparable to Amazon.com or even 7-Eleven, the service may struggle to find traction.

Benefits to Amazon

There are two primary reasons that the Instant Pickup model is worth testing: One is to increase top-line revenue, and the other is to reduce net shipping costs.

Increased share of wallet

Recent data from ComScore.com suggests that less than 20% of household discretionary retail dollars are spent on digital commerce. If Amazon plans to continue to grow, it needs to capture more of that discretionary share-of-wallet.

Historically, consumers have been hesitant to make purchases with their digital devices, and until 2016, most e-commerce transactions occurred via desktop. Last year was a tipping point for mobile, and one could argue that the Gen Z audience has been primed (no pun intended) for Instant Pickup. If any company can crack the code on how to encourage the collegiate consumer to purchase their snacks, toothpaste, and phone chargers via their mobile device, surely it’s Amazon. After all, it was one of the first e-commerce firms to use algorithms to recommend new books to consumers. Amazon has the consumer insight data (click-stream, browsing, and purchase history) to understand the wants and needs of this key demographic. Amazon’s online shopping behavior information, combined with mobile location services/GPS coordinate data creates a fairly complete consumer activity profile. Amazon knows exactly when the consumer is thinking of a product and where they are when they are searching for it on their mobile device.

Reduced shipping costs

It’s no secret that Amazon’s outbound shipping costs are significantly out-pacing its shipping revenue (see Statista graphic), and the company has successfully positioned its Amazon Prime subscription service, with its free and fast shipping, as table-stakes. Recent ComScore data shows that consumers now expect free and overnight shipping from the majority of major online retailers.

The ability to centralize the shipping of specific, high-volume items to a Pickup location would cut down on a portion of Amazon’s shipping expense, but it would take a large shift in consumer behavior before that savings would be obvious to the bottom line based on year-over-year net shipping revenue trends.

Benefits to consumers

The value proposition Instant Pickup offers to the customer may be both convenience and price, but this positioning lacks uniqueness. Perhaps the novelty of having shopping items waiting in a locker will drive some shoppers to take it for a test drive, but are consumers willing to walk even a block or two for a product they could likely purchase in their dorm room vending machines or from the store in the student union? Amazon Prime and Prime Now already promise delivery within days or hours, respectively. Instant Pickup will need to be differentiated to compete in the convenience space.

Trusted brand

Consumers certainly trust the Amazon brand and feel safe shopping on its e-commerce platforms. Because of this, the company is uniquely positioned to win over first-time mobile shoppers.

Price

One way that Amazon could incentivize its consumers to choose Pickup over the nearest drugstore or convenience store is by offering an extremely competitive price. While this strategy may drive traffic, it will most certainly be a loss leader for the company, for any gains the firm may make in shipping will be lost due to the lack of profit on low-margin convenience items.

For example, if Amazon applies a blanket 10% to 25% discount to all Pickup items, is that savings going to be enough to convince a consumer to purchase a bottle of Coca-Cola (ko) from a Pickup site vs. paying a few cents premium and wandering down the hall of a dorm or apartment building?

Rewards

Perhaps a better way to win consumers over to Instant Pickup is to offer some form of rewards program that incentivizes frequent users (a program outside of or in addition to the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card). Rewards could be offered in the form of dollars off any Amazon.com purchase, or could take more of a form of a buy-one-get-one offer and only be available through Instant Pickup.

The e-commerce giant may be a bit of a victim of its own success—Prime and Prime Now have a clear unique value proposition that is difficult to beat, even with a two-minute service option. Unless Amazon is able to persuade consumers that they getting a better value or unique service with Instant Pickup, this distribution model won’t give Amazon the growth its looking for.

Heidi Mannetter is an assistant professor of practice in marketing in the College of Business and Public Administration at Drake University.