隨著亞馬遜繼續(xù)通過生鮮店AmazonFresh Pickup和最近收購的全食超市挺進(jìn)食品雜貨市場，他們也在超快遞送上持續(xù)增加投入。該公司在食品和快遞上的最新嘗試是“即刻取貨”。它能讓消費(fèi)者在網(wǎng)上購買特定商品，例如小吃和飲料，兩分鐘以內(nèi)，人們就能在附近的帶鎖儲物箱中拿到這些商品。目前這項(xiàng)服務(wù)只對五所大學(xué)的校園開放，但I(xiàn)nstant Pickup會讓亞馬遜直接面對便利店、藥店、校園內(nèi)自動售貨機(jī)的競爭。不過，如果Instant Pickup的價(jià)格與亞馬遜網(wǎng)站甚至7-11的價(jià)格相當(dāng)，這項(xiàng)服務(wù)恐怕難有吸引力。

對亞馬遜的好處

Instant Pickup模式值得一試的理由主要有二：首先是產(chǎn)生營收，其次是減少凈運(yùn)輸費(fèi)。

增加錢包份額

ComScore.com的最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，家庭可支配零售消費(fèi)中，只有不足20%是通過電子商務(wù)實(shí)現(xiàn)的。如果亞馬遜計(jì)劃繼續(xù)發(fā)展，就需要攫取更多可支配的錢包份額。

歷史上看，消費(fèi)者在利用數(shù)字設(shè)備購物上總是猶豫不決，直到2016年，大部分電子商務(wù)的交易還是通過臺式機(jī)完成的。去年是移動設(shè)備的引爆點(diǎn)，我們可以說Z世代的受眾已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好接受Instant Pickup了。如果說有哪家公司能夠找到鼓勵大學(xué)生消費(fèi)者購買小吃、牙膏、移動設(shè)備充電器的奧秘，那這家公司一定是亞馬遜。畢竟，它是第一批使用算法給消費(fèi)者推薦新書的電子商務(wù)公司之一。亞馬遜有著洞察消費(fèi)者的數(shù)據(jù)（點(diǎn)擊流、瀏覽和購買歷史），從而了解這一關(guān)鍵人群的愿望和需求。亞馬遜的在線購物行為信息，配合移動定位服務(wù)/GPS坐標(biāo)數(shù)據(jù)，構(gòu)成了相當(dāng)完整的消費(fèi)者行為檔案。亞馬遜完全知道消費(fèi)者在何時想著某樣產(chǎn)品，他們又是何時何地使用自己的移動設(shè)備搜索它。

減少運(yùn)輸費(fèi)

亞馬遜運(yùn)輸成本的增長速度遠(yuǎn)超其運(yùn)輸收入，這已不是什么秘密。公司以免費(fèi)和快速物流作為籌碼，成功定位了Amazon Prime訂閱服務(wù)。最近的ComScore數(shù)據(jù)顯示，消費(fèi)者如今希望大部分大型網(wǎng)絡(luò)零售商提供免費(fèi)的次日送達(dá)。

將特定的大量物品集中運(yùn)輸?shù)絇ickup站點(diǎn)，可以減少亞馬遜的運(yùn)輸費(fèi)用。不過在這筆省出的費(fèi)用對年基凈運(yùn)輸收入的趨勢產(chǎn)生明顯的影響之前，這種做法會大大改變消費(fèi)者的行為。

對消費(fèi)者的好處

Instant Pickup給消費(fèi)者提出的價(jià)值命題可能是便利和價(jià)格上的，但這一定位并不獨(dú)特。也許，把購買的商品放在柜子里等你來取，這種新鮮感可能會吸引一些消費(fèi)者進(jìn)行嘗試，但是當(dāng)消費(fèi)者想要的商品能在宿舍的自動售貨機(jī)或?qū)W生活動中心的商店買到時，他們愿意為它多走一兩個街區(qū)嗎？Amazon Prime和Prime Now已經(jīng)分別承諾把商品在幾天和幾小時內(nèi)送到了。Instant Pickup需要有足夠的差異化特色才能在便利這個領(lǐng)域擁有競爭力。

信賴品牌

消費(fèi)者當(dāng)然很信賴亞馬遜這個品牌，在其電子商務(wù)平臺上購物也感到放心。正因如此，公司在贏得首次移動購物的消費(fèi)者上占據(jù)了獨(dú)特優(yōu)勢。

價(jià)格

亞馬遜鼓勵消費(fèi)者選擇Pickup而非最近的藥店或便利店的途徑之一，就是提供極具競爭力的價(jià)格。盡管這一戰(zhàn)略可能提升客流量，但很有可能會讓公司賠本賺吆喝，因?yàn)楣驹谶\(yùn)輸上節(jié)約的資本可能都會由于便利商品的低利潤而流失。

例如，如果亞馬遜給所有的Pickup商品提供10%至25%的折扣，這筆省下的錢是否足以讓消費(fèi)者走點(diǎn)路去Pickup站點(diǎn)買一瓶可口可樂？還是說消費(fèi)者寧愿多花一點(diǎn)錢，走到宿舍或公寓大廳買一瓶就算了？

獎勵

也許Instant Pickup贏得消費(fèi)者的更好辦法是提供一些獎勵項(xiàng)來激勵高頻用戶（項(xiàng)目可以整合到Amazon Prime Rewards Visa簽名卡中，或是另外設(shè)立）。獎勵可以是在亞馬遜網(wǎng)站購買商品時以現(xiàn)金的形式返利，或是更多以買一送一的形式提供，但只能通過Instant Pickup購買。

這家電子商務(wù)巨頭可能有點(diǎn)變成了自己成功的受害者——Prime和Prime Now有著獨(dú)特的價(jià)值定位，很難被打敗，即便現(xiàn)在有了一個兩分鐘提貨的服務(wù)選擇。除非亞馬遜能夠勸說消費(fèi)者利用Instant Pickup獲得更好的價(jià)值或獨(dú)特的服務(wù)，否則這種配送模式恐怕給不了亞馬遜他們想要的增長。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

作者海蒂?曼尼特是德雷克大學(xué)商務(wù)與公共管理學(xué)院營銷學(xué)實(shí)踐專業(yè)的助理教授。

譯者：嚴(yán)匡正

As Amazon grows further into the grocery space, through both AmazonFresh Pickup and the recent acquisition of Whole Foods, it continues to raise the stakes when it comes to super-fast delivery times. It’s latest foray into grocery and delivery, “Instant Pickup,” will allow shoppers to buy certain items online, like snacks and drinks, and pick them up within 2 minutes at nearby lockers. While it’s only launching at five college campuses for now, Instant Pickup puts Amazon in direct competition with convenience stores, drugstores, and on-campus vending machines. But if Instant Pickup’s prices are comparable to Amazon.com or even 7-Eleven, the service may struggle to find traction.

Benefits to Amazon

There are two primary reasons that the Instant Pickup model is worth testing: One is to increase top-line revenue, and the other is to reduce net shipping costs.

Increased share of wallet

Recent data from ComScore.com suggests that less than 20% of household discretionary retail dollars are spent on digital commerce. If Amazon plans to continue to grow, it needs to capture more of that discretionary share-of-wallet.

Historically, consumers have been hesitant to make purchases with their digital devices, and until 2016, most e-commerce transactions occurred via desktop. Last year was a tipping point for mobile, and one could argue that the Gen Z audience has been primed (no pun intended) for Instant Pickup. If any company can crack the code on how to encourage the collegiate consumer to purchase their snacks, toothpaste, and phone chargers via their mobile device, surely it’s Amazon. After all, it was one of the first e-commerce firms to use algorithms to recommend new books to consumers. Amazon has the consumer insight data (click-stream, browsing, and purchase history) to understand the wants and needs of this key demographic. Amazon’s online shopping behavior information, combined with mobile location services/GPS coordinate data creates a fairly complete consumer activity profile. Amazon knows exactly when the consumer is thinking of a product and where they are when they are searching for it on their mobile device.

Reduced shipping costs

It’s no secret that Amazon’s outbound shipping costs are significantly out-pacing its shipping revenue (see Statista graphic), and the company has successfully positioned its Amazon Prime subscription service, with its free and fast shipping, as table-stakes. Recent ComScore data shows that consumers now expect free and overnight shipping from the majority of major online retailers.

The ability to centralize the shipping of specific, high-volume items to a Pickup location would cut down on a portion of Amazon’s shipping expense, but it would take a large shift in consumer behavior before that savings would be obvious to the bottom line based on year-over-year net shipping revenue trends.

Benefits to consumers

The value proposition Instant Pickup offers to the customer may be both convenience and price, but this positioning lacks uniqueness. Perhaps the novelty of having shopping items waiting in a locker will drive some shoppers to take it for a test drive, but are consumers willing to walk even a block or two for a product they could likely purchase in their dorm room vending machines or from the store in the student union? Amazon Prime and Prime Now already promise delivery within days or hours, respectively. Instant Pickup will need to be differentiated to compete in the convenience space.

Trusted brand

Consumers certainly trust the Amazon brand and feel safe shopping on its e-commerce platforms. Because of this, the company is uniquely positioned to win over first-time mobile shoppers.

Price

One way that Amazon could incentivize its consumers to choose Pickup over the nearest drugstore or convenience store is by offering an extremely competitive price. While this strategy may drive traffic, it will most certainly be a loss leader for the company, for any gains the firm may make in shipping will be lost due to the lack of profit on low-margin convenience items.

For example, if Amazon applies a blanket 10% to 25% discount to all Pickup items, is that savings going to be enough to convince a consumer to purchase a bottle of Coca-Cola (ko) from a Pickup site vs. paying a few cents premium and wandering down the hall of a dorm or apartment building?

Rewards

Perhaps a better way to win consumers over to Instant Pickup is to offer some form of rewards program that incentivizes frequent users (a program outside of or in addition to the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card). Rewards could be offered in the form of dollars off any Amazon.com purchase, or could take more of a form of a buy-one-get-one offer and only be available through Instant Pickup.

The e-commerce giant may be a bit of a victim of its own success—Prime and Prime Now have a clear unique value proposition that is difficult to beat, even with a two-minute service option. Unless Amazon is able to persuade consumers that they getting a better value or unique service with Instant Pickup, this distribution model won’t give Amazon the growth its looking for.

Heidi Mannetter is an assistant professor of practice in marketing in the College of Business and Public Administration at Drake University.