Study: Amazon, Sears most price dynamic retailers

Ottawa, Canada – Leading the pack of the most price-dynamic retailers are Amazon and Sears, according to analysis from price intelligence technology vendor 360pi. Both retailers change prices on 15%-20% of their 360pi-sampled assortment on a daily basis.



According to 360pi’s analysis, however, the use of dynamic pricing is not always directly correlated to e-commerce success. The digital shelf, which ties online inventory to shopper intent and Internet search patterns, plays a significant role in retailers’ sales. For example, while Sears is one of the most price-dynamic retailers today, they own a much smaller portion of the digital shelf, accounting for just less than $5 billion in online sales in 2013 compared to Amazon’s more than $67 billion in 2013 sales and a much higher ownership of the digital shelf. 360pi reports that Apple and Staples are the least price-dynamic retailers, hovering around 0% for SKU’s sampled. Walmart changes prices on 6%-8% of its assortment on a daily basis, putting the retailer in the mid-range category of price dynamism.



Even among the more price-dynamic retailers, 360pi’s data shows a wide range of fluctuation in price changes by time-of-day and day-of-week. For example, Costco and Hhgregg make most of their price changes on Saturday and Sunday, Target makes the majority of its price changes on Tuesday and Saturday, and Amazon’s changes are evenly dispersed throughout the week.