Amazon competitor prepares for Tuesday takeoff

Hoboken, N.J. – The countdown is on for the latest competitor to Amazon.com to take off. Jet.com, which hopes to compete with the Amazon Prime membership service using “profit-free” pricing, has an online clock on its homepage counting down to launch at 6 a.m. ET on Tuesday, July 21.



Jet promises to offer the best price on more than 10 million items, every time. Retailer partners will sell through the Jet platform on a varying commission schedule. Jet also promises to refund the difference if a customer finds a lower price elsewhere (but doesn’t specify a time limit). Membership is $50 a year, but Jet says the average member will save $150 per year. Shipping and returns will be free.



Because Jet only makes profit on membership fees, the retailer does not attempt to make any money on product prices, hence the lowest price guarantee. A real-time pricing engine will find the lowest price on any item and calculate savings in real time.



Piper Jaffray Internet analyst Gene Munster has publicly stated Amazon s considering a purchase of Jet.com. According to Munster, Jet.com is better at Amazon in certain niche areas such as gamifying the online shopping process and selling fast-moving consumer goods online. Jet CEO Marc Love has experience in cutting lucrative deals with Amazon. He founded Diapers.com, which he eventually sold to Amazon for $550 million.



According to the Wall Street Journal, Jet.com has so far raised $225 million in capital and is in talks to raise hundreds of millions more dollars by the end of the year. If successful, Jet.com could boost its valuation from current pre-launch $600 million to $3 billion. The Journal also reports that Jet is currently taking an intentional loss in its beta mode on sales of items from retail partners such as Nordstrom, Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney.