亚马逊的新业务可能会遭遇失败

随着亚马逊继续通过生鲜店AmazonFresh Pickup和最近收购的全食超市挺进食品杂货市场，他们也在超快递送上持续增加投入。该公司在食品和快递上的最新尝试是“即刻取货”。它能让消费者在网上购买特定商品，例如小吃和饮料，两分钟以内，人们就能在附近的带锁储物箱中拿到这些商品。目前这项服务只对五所大学的校园开放，但Instant Pickup会让亚马逊直接面对便利店、药店、校园内自动售货机的竞争。不过，如果Instant Pickup的价格与亚马逊网站甚至7-11的价格相当，这项服务恐怕难有吸引力。

对亚马逊的好处

Instant Pickup模式值得一试的理由主要有二：首先是产生营收，其次是减少净运输费。

增加钱包份额

ComScore.com的最新数据显示，家庭可支配零售消费中，只有不足20%是通过电子商务实现的。如果亚马逊计划继续发展，就需要攫取更多可支配的钱包份额。

历史上看，消费者在利用数字设备购物上总是犹豫不决，直到2016年，大部分电子商务的交易还是通过台式机完成的。去年是移动设备的引爆点，我们可以说Z世代的受众已经准备好接受Instant Pickup了。如果说有哪家公司能够找到鼓励大学生消费者购买小吃、牙膏、移动设备充电器的奥秘，那这家公司一定是亚马逊。毕竟，它是第一批使用算法给消费者推荐新书的电子商务公司之一。亚马逊有着洞察消费者的数据（点击流、浏览和购买历史），从而了解这一关键人群的愿望和需求。亚马逊的在线购物行为信息，配合移动定位服务/GPS坐标数据，构成了相当完整的消费者行为档案。亚马逊完全知道消费者在何时想着某样产品，他们又是何时何地使用自己的移动设备搜索它。

减少运输费

亚马逊运输成本的增长速度远超其运输收入，这已不是什么秘密。公司以免费和快速物流作为筹码，成功定位了Amazon Prime订阅服务。最近的ComScore数据显示，消费者如今希望大部分大型网络零售商提供免费的次日送达。

将特定的大量物品集中运输到Pickup站点，可以减少亚马逊的运输费用。不过在这笔省出的费用对年基净运输收入的趋势产生明显的影响之前，这种做法会大大改变消费者的行为。

对消费者的好处

Instant Pickup给消费者提出的价值命题可能是便利和价格上的，但这一定位并不独特。也许，把购买的商品放在柜子里等你来取，这种新鲜感可能会吸引一些消费者进行尝试，但是当消费者想要的商品能在宿舍的自动售货机或学生活动中心的商店买到时，他们愿意为它多走一两个街区吗？Amazon Prime和Prime Now已经分别承诺把商品在几天和几小时内送到了。Instant Pickup需要有足够的差异化特色才能在便利这个领域拥有竞争力。

信赖品牌

消费者当然很信赖亚马逊这个品牌，在其电子商务平台上购物也感到放心。正因如此，公司在赢得首次移动购物的消费者上占据了独特优势。

价格

亚马逊鼓励消费者选择Pickup而非最近的药店或便利店的途径之一，就是提供极具竞争力的价格。尽管这一战略可能提升客流量，但很有可能会让公司赔本赚吆喝，因为公司在运输上节约的资本可能都会由于便利商品的低利润而流失。

例如，如果亚马逊给所有的Pickup商品提供10%至25%的折扣，这笔省下的钱是否足以让消费者走点路去Pickup站点买一瓶可口可乐？还是说消费者宁愿多花一点钱，走到宿舍或公寓大厅买一瓶就算了？

奖励

也许Instant Pickup赢得消费者的更好办法是提供一些奖励项来激励高频用户（项目可以整合到Amazon Prime Rewards Visa签名卡中，或是另外设立）。奖励可以是在亚马逊网站购买商品时以现金的形式返利，或是更多以买一送一的形式提供，但只能通过Instant Pickup购买。

这家电子商务巨头可能有点变成了自己成功的受害者——Prime和Prime Now有着独特的价值定位，很难被打败，即便现在有了一个两分钟提货的服务选择。除非亚马逊能够劝说消费者利用Instant Pickup获得更好的价值或独特的服务，否则这种配送模式恐怕给不了亚马逊他们想要的增长。（财富中文网）

作者海蒂•曼尼特是德雷克大学商务与公共管理学院营销学实践专业的助理教授。

译者：严匡正

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.