Study: Amazon maintains status as lowest-priced online retailer
Amazon once again stands atop the pack of online retailers when it comes to low prices.
The retail giant was ranked the lowest-priced online retailer for the ninth-consecutive year, according to the latest Price Wars study from digital commerce company Profitero+. Amazon maintained a 14% average price advantage versus its competitors.
In nearly every category, including those spanning holiday items and everyday essentials, Walmart was ranked as the second lowest-priced retailer. Walmart narrowed its average price gap with Amazon from 5% to 4% year over year, posting improvements across 10 of 15 categories. The most notable gains came in video games, where Walmart reduced its price difference versus Amazon from 12% to just 3%.
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The report found that Target held steady with prices averaging 13% higher than Amazon’s, which matched last year’s performance and marked an improvement from 2022 when Target’s online prices trailed Amazon by 16% across all categories studied. However, the retailer ceded ground in key categories such as fashion and vitamins & supplements, where price gaps widened by 5 percentage points each.
Drugstore chains continued to trail far behind Amazon on price competitiveness. CVS and Walgreens were 63% and 66% more expensive, respectively, in vitamins & supplements, and 52% and 48% more expensive in health & personal care.
“As tariff fears rise, shoppers are watching prices like hawks,” said Mike Black, chief growth officer of Profitero+. “Consumers will reward the retailers who keep prices competitive and make value easy to see — and punish those who don’t.”
Additional findings from the latest Price Wars study include the following:
- Chewy was Amazon’s closest challenger in the pet supplies category, with prices averaging just 1% higher.
- In the video game category, GameStop narrowed its price gap with Amazon by eight percentage points (from 20% to 12%), which Profitero+ said was one of the most significant year-over-year gains in the study.
- Amazon’s price advantage in beauty narrowed slightly to 20 percentage points cheaper on average (from 21% last year), driven by modest improvements from CVS (improved by five percentage points) and Walgreens (improved by three percentage points). Ulta, however, moved in the opposite direction, with its price gap widening sharply from 20% to 31% higher than Amazon.
- Amazon strengthened its lead in toys & games, expanding its average price advantage from 10% to 13%. The gap widened across most retailers, most notably at Macy’s, which rose from 26% to 31% more expensive than Amazon on comparable items.
Methodology
For Profitero+’s report, only identical items available and in-stock in the same pack configuration were compared. Data was collected daily over 12 weeks (July 7 - Sept. 29, 2025), with daily prices averaged over the full period for comparison. Prices for the same items were collected within 24 hours of each other to ensure validity of the comparisons.
Retailers featured in the study included: Amazon, Albeebaby, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Chewy, CVS, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Gamestop, GNC, iHerb, The Home Depot, Kohls, Lowes, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Petco, PetSmart, Sephora, Target, Ulta, Walgreens, Walmart and Wayfair.
