Last updated on March 2nd, 2018
Walmart’s online grocery prices are edging closer to Amazon’s prices, with only a slim gap separating prices between the two retailers, according to a new study by global e-commerce analytics firm Profitero.
In its report, Price Wars: Grocery, Household & Beauty, Profitero analyzed pricing for 21,000 products in grocery, beauty and household supplies, finding a 1.8 percent average difference between Walmart’s and Amazon’s prices for grocery. Target and Jet.com prices were both found to be, on average, about 6 percent higher in grocery than on Amazon.
The latest study builds upon research Profitero published in October when the company compared online price differences for 13 key non-CPG categories across Amazon, Walmart, Target, Jet.com and other retailers and found that Walmart prices were among the most competitive to Amazon, with an average price difference of 3 percent. Furthermore, the tighter gap in CPG prices across retailers suggests that CPG categories overall are more prone to price wars with Amazon than non-CPG categories.
“Amazon still reigns as the low-price leader online, but it’s evident that Walmart is making grocery a key battleground for challenging that leadership,” said Keith Anderson, SVP of Strategy & Insights at Profitero. “Our latest study confirms that price gaps in online grocery are much narrower than what we found to be the case across other non-grocery categories. Walmart is clearly positioning to win shopper loyalty through aggressive pricing on everyday household essentials.”
Other key findings from the report include:
- Walmart is getting aggressive with price matching. The retailer matched Amazon prices on 53 percent of all CPG products studied, and 67 percent in grocery.
- The Amazon Prime Pantry program is paying off, helping create price separation from the competition. Prices on products listed in the Prime Pantry program average about 11 percent less than those found at other retailers.
- Amazon regained its price lead over Walmart in beauty compared with Profitero’s October findings. Jet.com is now nipping at Amazon’s heels in the beauty category with a price gap of just 1.4 percent between the two. Walmart beauty prices averaged about 5 percent more, while Target’s were almost 7 percent higher.
- Specialty retailers continue to lose ground in the battle for price supremacy. Online beauty prices at Walgreens.com and CVS.com averaged about 30 percent higher than Amazon.
The full report can be downloaded here.
Profitero analyzed daily prices collected from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30, 2017, at Amazon.com, Jet.com, Target.com and Walmart.com across the beauty, grocery and household supplies categories. In total, 21,939 Amazon products were monitored and matched across these retailers. Prices at CVS.com and Walgreens.com for beauty and Homedepot.com for household supplies also were monitored. The study only compares prices collected on the same day, with both retailers in-stock.
Keep reading:
Amazon Captured 18% Of The U.S. Online Grocery Market In 2017
NGA And Nielsen: Shoppers Still Prefer Local Store To Online Alternatives
Unata Finds 36% Of Consumers Plan To Grocery Shop Online This Year
