Consumers Trading Down? You Bet They Are

eCommerce
Written By Rick Watson

My own personal data confirms it. But first, the data.

There is a lot of retail data coming out from both Amazon and the NRF in the last week. The NRF looked at last month's credit card data and concluded that consumers are extremely focused on value at the moment, even though consumers are still buying. What they are buying is not the same as it was before.

This matches what Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy recently said on CNBC. He indicated that consumers are extremely price-conscious and are trading down when options are available. This goes in line with his recent comments about lowering Amazon's cost to serve so that the company can afford to offer lower priced items on Amazon and still return a profit.

This matches my own trading down experience!

I was recently searching for replacements for my long-time favorite Bombas running socks since mine had finally worn out. The cost? 6 pairs of socks $74.

😮 Excuse me? Hell no.

One search on Amazon, same materials... 6 socks $14.00. Next-Day Prime. For that price, I could donate 6 pairs myself instead of the only one pair that Bombas is donating. This has to be some kind of warning to other DTC brands that have gotten over their skis.

After all, it's just socks.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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