5 Amazon Features That Will Change The Way You Shop Online

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Shopping online has revolutionized the consumer experience. 2022 saw eCommerce rise to another new height, with 14.8% of retail sales taking place online rather than in store. This amounted to $1.07 trillion in total sales at digital outlets, according to Zippia. While shopping is done all across the internet, Amazon accounts for a staggering piece of the pie. In 2021, 50% of American eCommerce flowed through the giant. Amazon provides easy access to millions of products as well as a plethora of digital services that can make living a digital lifestyle a breeze. Despite dipping to 168 million in 2022 from 170 million Prime subscribers in the United States at the end of 2021, it has continued to be one of the preeminent online retailers for virtually anything a shopper might need.

Amazon isn't just a shopper's paradise, however. Its Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's largest cloud infrastructure provider, making it a major player in the success of many other businesses as well. With all the products and data that Amazon brings to bear, the company offers shoppers a wealth of benefits and favorable features. Amazon Prime is the most visible of these add-ins to the eCommerce experience that a shopper can enjoy while browsing the Amazon digital storefront, but it's by no means the only feature that improves the user experience.

Another feature of the Amazon platform that can't be matched by competitors is the scale of pricing changes that buyers can see while shopping. Amazon alters prices so often that the average item will see a tweak roughly every 10 minutes, according to Business Insider. While this might not help much if you're in the market for a time sensitive item, it's a great for those who can afford to be patient. Adding items to your saved for later list will place them directly below your basket on the corresponding page. This will give you a list of routinely purchased items in an easy to find location that you can keep track of without additional work.

The price changes are often negligible, just a few cents at a time, but for some items it's not uncommon to see price swings of a few dollars, or much more for high priced goods. Saving an item for later and watching the price for a few days or weeks before pulling the trigger might give you a notable discount as stock in the Amazon warehouses and buyer interest change over time. Amazon uses complex algorithms based on clicks, purchases, and "anticipatory shipping" to predict consumer behavior. With the enormous volume of data that Amazon collects, the company is able to shift prices in accordance with maximum potential earnings on a second-by-second basis. So, if you're patient, you can use this to your advantage to score discounts.

Amazon Lockers were introduced in the United States in 2011. Lockers make ensuring safe delivery far simpler. Using an Amazon Locker can bring peace of mind that a package will remain safe until you've had a chance to retrieve it, for instance if you're not home when it's delivered. There are countless horror stories of bandits snatching up porch packages. Accessing a package is done with a code that's sent only to you.

Locker services have made a big impact in urban locations and on college campuses in particular. Young professionals and students on the go are big buyers with Amazon, but they may not have the same ability to collect a package right away as some other consumers would. It should be noted, though, that a package left in one of Amazon's Lockers must be collected within three days of the delivery date.