Profitero Finds Amazon to be Price Leader Among Retailers in the UK Heading into the Holidays
24 NOVEMBER 2020 -- Profitero today announced the findings of its U.K. Pandemic Price Price Wars study, which compares item-level price competition across the U.K. online retail landscape. Amazon U.K. is heading into the “pandemic” 2020 festive holiday season with the strongest price position versus other major retailers studied. Compared to Argos, Asda, Currys and Tesco, Amazon’s online prices were 13% lower, on average, across the 16 consumer product categories featured in the study.
The 2020 U.K. Price Wars study compared prices on more than 4,300 best-selling items across 5 leading online retailers, including Amazon.co.uk, Argos.co.uk, Currys.co.uk, Groceries.Asda.com, and Tesco.com.
Other key findings of the report:
- Currys is best at stirring the pot. Currys’ online prices across 10 holiday categories analysed were found to be the most competitive with Amazon U.K. Its prices averaged 6% more expensive than Amazon, compared with Argos and Asda, which were 9% more expensive.
- Neither Asda nor Tesco can raise a glass to Amazon. Amazon is by far the leader on price across identical alcohol items, with prices at Asda and Tesco both averaging 11% higher than Amazon. This is significant considering that alcohol sales tend to spike during the festive season. Last year, Alcohol sales were up 169% on Amazon.co.uk in the two-week run-up to Christmas compared with the H2 2019 weekly average — a figure likely to be even higher this year with lockdowns in place.
- U.K. retailers pick and choose their online battles. Online competition is tight in some categories like Electronics, Toys & Games and Video Games, where Argos, Asda and Currys price within about 10% of Amazon’s prices. However, Amazon has a significant lead in some areas, namely FMCG categories, like Beauty, Health & Personal Care and Household Supplies, where the price gap exceeds 20% on average.
“According to McKinsey, nearly half of consumers will choose a retailer based on price and promotions this year, putting the spotlight firmly on retailer pricing strategies,” said Andrew Pearl, VP of Strategy and Insights, EMEA at Profitero. “As spending ramps up across festive gifting categories, like Electronics, Toys and Games, and Alcohol, in the coming weeks, it’s especially critical for retailers to be priced competitively to capture their share of consumer spending.”
To access Profitero’s 2020 U.K. Price Wars report, click here.
About the Methodology
Each day, Profitero monitors prices and other data on more than 450 million product pages on hundreds of unique retailer sites. For this study, Profitero analyzed daily prices collected over an 8 week period (Aug. 24, 2020 to Oct. 18, 2020 at Amazon.co.uk and other leading online retail sites across 16 categories. Only identical items available and in-stock in the same pack configuration were compared. Prices for the same items were collected within 24 hours of each other to ensure validity of the comparisons.
About Profitero
Profitero is the platform Adidas, L’Oreal, General Mills and 4,000 other brands use to accelerate their eCommerce sales. Using Profitero’s proprietary technology and algorithms, brands can optimize their 4Ps (Product, Placement, Price and Promotions) across 8,000 retailer sites and 50 countries while also uncovering what competitors are doing to win online. Profitero’s proprietary technology also estimates daily sales for products sold on Amazon, allowing brands to measure market share growth and size category opportunities for future investment. The platform was first in the industry to integrate Amazon sales and share metrics and digital shelf analytics together so brands can more quickly pinpoint the factors that will lead to more sales.
