Will Amazon buy start-up rival even before it takes off?

Seattle –Amazon.com may be preparing a pre-emptive strike against a rival e-commerce platform before it even officially takes off.

According toCNBC, Piper Jaffray Internet analyst Gene Munster says Amazon s considering a purchase of Jet.com, a subscription-based e-commerce site that is currently in beta and set to officially launch next week.

Munster said that Jet.com does a good job in gamifying the online shopping process and in selling fast-moving consumer goods, two things Amazon has not historically done well.

Jet.com hopes to compete with the Amazon Prime membership service using “profit-free” pricing. 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 makesprofiton 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.

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.