Amazon has just discreetly increased the minimum purchase amount to benefit from free home delivery, from 25 to 35 euros. A way to encourage consumption or to subscribe to the Prime subscription.
Bad news for people who are used to ordering from Amazon without being a Prime subscriber! There are currently two ways to benefit from the sacrosanct free delivery for your orders: be a subscriber to Amazon Prime or have a basket of a minimum amount of 25 euros. However, a few weeks ago, the e-commerce platform increased the minimum order threshold in the United States. It is now our turn to have to put our hands in our wallets. While we already have to pay an additional 3 euros for delivery for book orders placed online since October 7 (see our article), the minimum purchase amount to benefit from free home delivery now increases to 35 euros, as noted by our colleagues from Phonandroid. A good way to encourage consumers to opt for the paid subscription, the price of which was revised upwards last year, in mid-September, going from 4.99 to 6.99 euros per month and from 49.99 to 69.99 euros per year in France…
Indeed, the Amazon page concerning delivery costs and times in mainland France and Monaco now indicates that standard home delivery is free for orders worth more than 35 euros – provided that the items are sold by Amazon or third-party sellers and shipped through the platform. Below this amount, shipping costs of 2.99 euros or 3.99 euros are applied depending on the type of product.
Free Amazon delivery: a minimum threshold raised to 35 euros
Amazon spokesperson Kristina Pressentin confirmed at the end of August that the company was testing the new free condition. “We continually evaluate our offerings and make adjustments based on these evaluations”she explains to CNBCbefore specifying that “Prime members continue to enjoy free shipping on more than 300 million items, with tens of millions of items available for free same-day or one-day delivery.”
The tests, spotted by the site EcommerceBytes, were carried out discreetly this summer in certain regions of the United States, which saw the floor amount just increase to 35 dollars, against 25 dollars previously. Strangely, this seemed to apply to some customers based on where they live, as if the new free shipping threshold was being tested randomly by region. News that was far from pleasing to the users concerned, who criticized Amazon not so much for the price increase as for the lack of communication and transparency on this subject. “No one in customer service seems to know anything about this”lamented an Internet user on Reddit. “I had someone look at it again today and they said it was a business decision because of the economy. The fact is it’s not difficult to get goods worth 35 dollars, but this should have been announced. There is no news of this increase anywhere”.
Free Amazon delivery: tests carried out far too discreetly
This is not the first time that Amazon has changed the minimum basket amount to benefit from free shipping. In 2016, this amount had increased from $35 to $49 in the United States. But faced with fierce competition from Walmart, the e-commerce giant finally returned to the base amount before lowering it to $25. However, its competitor has since increased its minimum to $35, leaving the field open for Amazon to do the same. This involves, in addition to collecting additional dollars on delivery costs, convincing its users to opt for its paid Prime subscription, but also pushing them to purchase in order to reach this famous free level, even if it means adding things to the basket that they don’t need and that they hadn’t planned to buy.
This decision is hardly surprising and is part of the company’s cost reduction approach. The latter has in fact cut more than 27,000 jobs in 2022, frozen hiring and canceled numerous internal projects. In the United States, it also began charging for certain returns and deliveries on fresh produce. In addition, some rumors report that the e-commerce giant is working on an offer with advertising for Prime Video, a bit like what Netflix and Disney+ offer (see our article). A way to conquer a new audience, with a more “affordable” subscription, to collect money from advertisers, and to provide a gateway to attract customers to the Prime formula, which casually triggers a subscription among subscribers. “reflex” purchase on the e-commerce platform. In short, it’s only a profit for Amazon!