Survey: The top reason consumers shop Amazon is...

Amazon has been growing rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and low price is not a top five sales driver.

According to the second annual consumer survey from delivery management solutions provider Convey, the top reason respondents shop at Amazon is fast, free shipping (73%), followed by “I am an Amazon Prime member” (67%), easy and convenient purchase process (58%), broad selection (49%), and easy returns process (43%). Best pricing comes in sixth (42%), down seven percentage points from 2020, when it ranked fourth.

More than four in 10 (42%) respondents buy the majority of their goods on Amazon - a growth of 83% since the onset of the pandemic. The number of respondents who buy 75 -100% of their products on Amazon is relatively low at 11%, but has doubled over the past year.

The survey of 1,100 U.S. consumers also measured respondent attitudes toward Amazon’s impact on retail and on the environment. More than half of respondents (52%) believe Amazon has a positive impact on the retail industry as a whole, up 14% since the pandemic began. More than one-third (36%) now say Amazon has a positive impact on the environment – a jump of 36% since the start of COVID-19.  Only 20% say Amazon has been bad for the environment - a decrease of 25% from the 2020 survey.

Younger respondents are more skeptical of Amazon’s effect on the environment, with 32% saying it has a negative impact. Interestingly, while nearly all respondents (95%) feel it is important to support small businesses hurt by COVID-19 shutdowns, 41% of this group admit to still purchasing at least half of all their goods and products on Amazon.

"The pandemic-fueled shift to e-commerce forced shoppers to consider the delivery experience more than ever before – giving the advantage to Amazon and its fast, free delivery network, while also exposing some weaknesses of the retail giant," said Carson Krieg, co-founder and director of strategic partnerships at Convey. “Retailers have an opportunity to combat Amazon’s scale with agility focused on customer needs, such as offering a wide variety of flexible fulfillment options, spotlighting the uniqueness of their brand, and providing proactive, transparent communication during shipping.”