Why are customers so loyal to Amazon?

[chris100]

Knowing that my accounts would only last so long i pointed all buyers to a simple website where they could purchase the same products for less (£9.99 instead of £12.99) and use paypal for payment protection.

From 100-200 different people i think only 2 became regular 'direct' buyers. The others were seemingly content to spend more buying through Amazon and wait a long time between one account being closed and another one started.
The products are adult related. Legal but not allowed on Amazon.

Here are my thoughts...

1. Convenience. The Amazon buying experience is easy and quick. These people aren't hunting for bargains?
2. Security. Amazon allows no fuss refunds. People are wary of third party sellers (especially adult related) even after multiple transactions?
3. These people prefer Amazon over ebay...and therefore Amazon payments over paypal? They are not aware of Paypal buyer protection?
4. Safe to surf on a shared device at home or PC at work. No need to worry about browsing history or malware.
5. People buy on impulse. After an Amazon purchase they keep seeing links to similar items and pick them up on a whim?

Feel free to add any other thoughts or comments....

[JamesNorth101]

Mainly convince and being able to see product reviews

If I only saved £3 or so I would always get something on Amazon over a third part website personally

If I was saving say £50/100 odd and I could pay via PayPal on a third party website then that may change my mind

Even though I sell 95% of my item on eBay I buy 80% of items on Amazon. I just really like the product reviews that are very easy to see on Amazon even though I prefer the eBay user interface

When I buy things I also tend to buy 3 or 4 things at once which is easy to do on Amazon (again convenience) as oppose to searching through 3 or 4 different websites which would take time and time is money. Getting next day and Sunday delivery is also a massive bonus and means I can get my item within 24 hours of ordering it.

Overall Amazon is a very good experience for buyers which is why buyers stick with it

[GreenBean]

You can get some great bargains in amazon, especially amazon.com

[chris100]

I too buy alot on Amazon, but it's usually items which are at a better price than ebay or in the shops.
£3 isn't much for an item that is £100 plus...but when i buy bubble wrap envelopes, for example, i found that ebay had better deals and switched to their sellers.

I definitely get the security thing. Easy to return (free) and get a refund from Amazon itself.

[elmo]

Convenience... Prime makes it very enticing

[aspkin]

Price in most regards does not matter.

It's about convenience and trust.

Make it easy and make it trusting and customers will come. You should sell at the same price as on Amazon because (price doesn't matter). If you want customers to come to your website make it as easy as possible for them to checkout and make the website look trusting.

What you could do is offer the item for the same price but have a loyalty coupon code for your customers to get the product at slightly cheaper price on your website.. maybe offer free shipping, etc.

There has to be a reason you're not attracting more customers to your shop..

[BigCJ]

Why are customers so loyal to Amazon?

1: Orders 10 - 16lb bags of dog food for Cane corso mastiffs
2: 1 box of 2 bags break during transit
3: tells amazon
4: Amazon refunds for 2 bags of dog food ON TOP of sending another 10 bag order of food for being a loyal customer since 2008 no charge.
5: .....
6:.........
7: Profit and loyal until they prove otherwise.

[123]

Amazon's customer service is just unmatched, they're willing to take a loss just to make the customer's experience as optimal as possible, in order to win that customer's business for life

[rsot]

Originally Posted by 123

Amazon's customer service is just unmatched, they're willing to take a loss just to make the customer's experience as optimal as possible, in order to win that customer's business for life

Very true - replacements, refunds, shipping....customer service is top-notch

[ploughman]

Originally Posted by 123

Amazon's customer service is just unmatched, they're willing to take a loss just to make the customer's experience as optimal as possible, in order to win that customer's business for life

Amazon is itself the largest seller and has a brand to worry about, whereas eBay is "just a venue" and sells nothing itself.

OTOH, Amazon has really stumbled with its handling of the Chinese knock-off problem this year, downplaying the severity to the media and throwing affected sellers under the bus in pursuit of short-term profit from commissions. The worst of the ⊗⊗⊗⊗rs DON'T CARE about TOS violations or feedback ratings and know they're going to be constantly having to register new accounts. They then post counteroffers to pages with the genuine product (easy to do) even though theirs isn't and is markedly inferior.

Amazon's system is geared toward a race to the bottom on price, so maybe the knock-off scammer even gets the buy box and it's easier to lead people into being ripped off.

And that's the part I don't understand: The Chinese knock-offs are leading to lots of unhappy customers who get something of much lower quality than was described. That rubs off on Amazon, not the Chinese seller who keeps getting new accounts anyway.

[Play]

Pretty much what every else has said is on the money.

In addition to that though, I think your method for enticing users to go to your site is not *enticing* enough. A small savings is just not good enough. Getting users to your site, the first thing you need is a bait, and telling them they'll save 20% isn't great because in the back of their mind their thinking they'll have to go through an entire signup process, which isn't worth it.

Give them 100% off their first order, as a thank you for signing up to your site.
Then give them 50% off the next order, to ensure they come back to your site. etc.

Also people would only go through the hassle of signing up to your website if they had intent to buy from you in the future, so the main question is, the products you have for sale, are they one off, or recurring purchases? i.e. coffee cups versus a TV.

Also try to implement the same Amazon values into your own website business: Convenience, Prime (Fast Next Day Delivery), Excellent customer service etc.

[chris100]

Yes, the problem i have is definitely convenience. I can't offer Paypal direct because it is adult related and they won't want to process the payments (paypal says multiple laws on adult products outside the US is the issue).

Instead i ask them to checkout and i send the paypal money request manually. I assume if i set up a direct link to checkout with paypal they will eventually follow it back to my site to check what is being sold?

The regular customers i have just use bank transfer. A couple use paypal but it is a bit of a farce compared to normal retailers.

I'm going to try coupons with 20% discount. I'll message previous Amazon customers with a discount code. The account will be lost soon anyway so i don't have to worry about Amazon terms and conditions on private messages.

[TOOKNAPA]

2 quick advices

For the payment, when you send the order confirmation to your customers, put a picture of the paypal's "pay Now' button, and associate the paypal invoice link to this pictures. You will have a better payment completed rate with it.

When you'll message your previous amazon customers, make a nice picture for the coupon code , and a text file with the address of your website, and your email address. Then, send it as attached file to a simple message as " hey look what I found about your last order" This will help your account to last a bit longer

[Play]

hmm... now PayPal is an obstacle for you?

If it is, offer alternative payment solutions, here's bunch to choose from (https://www.shopify.co.uk/payment-ga...united-kingdom)

Note Braintree is owned by PayPal - but perhaps their terms are different and they may allow for sales of your products? Worth looking into.

Since you brought Amazon into the equation, Amazon payments is also an option. That way your Amazon customers can checkout of your website using their Amazon login details (again, worth checking their terms).

[chris100]

Thanks for this info. I thought about taking Amazon payments but if they can trace the transactions back to the website than they will surely withdraw their checkout service.

Generally most card processors avoid adult because (like gambling) it's considered a high risk of chargebacks. Those that do (ccbill?) take a high % to cover their risk.

Paypal do offer there service to large US adult retailers....but in Europe there are many different laws (and in the case of some countries) material that is too strong by US legal standards (bdsm on dvd for example....though downloads are fine to sell).
Obviously Amazon/ebay draw the line at certificate 18 (simulated sex and nudity).

[Superfly101]

I manage Best Buy, Staples, Walmart, Target. I was at a huge trade show promoting my accounts on this vendors line I manage and people just kept saying thats great I'll just go to amazon and get the product there. Its pretty insane everyone prefers them.

[chris100]

Well, i messaged out discount coupons to my 20 best Amazon customers offering half price dvds on my site (£6.00). I set up paypal so they could pay direct. I even said they could use the coupon discount code twice and that this Amazon account wouldn't last long!

Not one taker. They still continue to buy on Amazon for £13- £16.
Amazing how strong Amazon loyalty is. I'm going to have to open another account!

[idds]

Originally Posted by 123

Amazon's customer service is just unmatched, they're willing to take a loss just to make the customer's experience as optimal as possible, in order to win that customer's business for life

Wish this was true for the way they treat their sellers.

[idds]

Originally Posted by chris100

I too buy alot on Amazon

I have stopped. I can find the same crap from independent websites for the same price. Most shops offer guest checkout now, and browser settings store all my info to prepopulate the form.

Now that I have my own independent website, I see the value that my attitude has in the marketplace, and I really appreciate the buyers out there that are buying on my site and giving independent sellers a chance.

To add to the other points above, people have a fantasy that their data is "safe" on Amazon. Its a false sense of security. In fact their data is safer on properly secured small seller websites because Amazon has a big target on it's back. There will be a day that Amazon is hacked, and that will end the myth.

[ploughman]

I still tend to buy from eBay more, possibly a legacy from 15 years ago and habits formed then. OTOH, Amazon has the edge in many categories like books and media, and sometimes it's a dogfight on common items. With a SanDisk Clip Sport (ipod imitator) eBay won out with a slightly used at $20+3 for an 8GB vs. $30 or so for a 4GB official refurb on Amazon. Ebay still gets the edge on unique collectibles.