The holidays are around the corner and that much awaited holiday cheer, has now become directly proportional to the arrival of an Amazon package. According to a new report, in partnership with Bain & Company, DataWeave has observed that early in November, Amazon had the lowest price 30%-50% of the time and matched the lowest price 35%-60% of the remaining cases, based on an analysis performed on a sample of over 16,000 products across 10 websites and 5 product categories.

Aggressive pricing strategies have been Amazon’s modus operandi for a while now and it’s not about to change this season. In the build up to the Black Friday promotions this year, they even slashed their prices of the rarely discounted Apple products, such as the iPad Pro. This sets the tone for what shoppers can expect as the holiday season comes upon us.

Results of a recent survey, published as part of the Bain report, revealed that ‘value for money’ was the primary concern that influence purchasing decisions, across categories. In the same breath, the respondents went on to say that they perceive Amazon as a ‘value leader’, sans womens’ clothing and pet supplies.

Although this season might continue to see Amazon rake in the most market share, competitors are not far behind. There’s heavy investment from the likes of Walmart and others in order to negate the effects of the undercut. If these competitive responses become louder, the dent on customer perception could begin to tilt to more neutral ground.

Stay tuned as we follow this pattern during the season and release our findings over the next few weeks.

For access to the full article that was published in the Retail Holiday Newsletter by Bain & Company and powered by DataWeave, click here.