May 2013

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Costco v. Target

Amazon started off as a bookstore, so it must offer the lowest prices on books, right? After all, that’s the reason why independent bookstores cannot compete with the online goliath.

By no means is Costco a bookstore. At best, it offers a rotating stock of selected books all in one convenient aisle. However, since I’m in Costco on a weekly basis, I do browse and see what books Costco has for sale on occasion. Bookstores? Not so much.

So, Costco is selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days for $7.99.

Target is selling the same book for $9.99, or 25% more!! So much for being a discount retailer.

Amazon sells Dog Days for $10.39, which “saves” you 26% off the list price. But that is 4% more than Target and 30% more than Costco.

Amazon v. Costco

A while back, there was some controversy over Amazon’s price check promotion. The assumption in all the complaints is that Amazon offers the lowest prices and that bricks and mortar stores simply cannot compete. That is not true.

Lately, the weather has been blazingly hot. So, I was thinking ice cream during a recent visit to Costco.

Costco was selling the Cuisinart Pure Indulgence Ice Cream Maker for $39.99.

Using the Amazon iOS app, I scanned the bar code and came up with this:

Costco beats Amazon by almost 30%!

Next item, which must be a Cinco de Mayo special: Casa Maria Natural Stone Mortar & Pestle.

$14.99 from Costco.

From Amazon, it was $45.87 + Free Shipping. This stone mortar and pestle is heavy. So, shipping must cost the retailer a small fortune. When I searched for the same item again today by scanning the bar code, Amazon returned a price of $32.89 + $12.99 Shipping (or $45.88).

The lesson is don’t buy into the myth that Amazon always offers the lowest prices. For large bulky or heavy objects, this is particularly true. What Amazon does offer is convenience. You don’t have to drive around town to find a specific item that a bricks and mortar store may not have in stock.