Amazon’s Price Advantage Widens in the U.K. Ahead of Christmas

Amazon’s prices were found to be 13% cheaper than Argos, Asda, and Currys, with the price gap increasing in 10 of the 13 categories studied.

LONDON - November 18, 2021 — Global eCommerce analytics company Profitero today announced the results of its second annual U.K. Price Wars study. The study analysed prices for more than 5,000 products across 13 categories from four leading online retailers, including Amazon, Argos, Asda, and Currys.

For the second consecutive year, Amazon was found to be the cheapest online retailer, beating every competitor examined across all categories. Amazon is in a strong position ahead of the Christmas shopping season, with prices that were, on average, 13% less expensive than competitors, including lower prices in key categories like electronics, toys and games, and video games.

“We found online prices are up more than 5% since last year as global supply chain problems and labour shortages continue to affect the costs of goods and services,” said Mark Wilkinson, Managing Director of EMEA & APAC at Profitero. “The 2021 Christmas season could be the most expensive of all time. Shoppers will start looking for deals early in order to spread the overall cost and make sure they don't miss out on key items — otherwise they risk paying over the odds for gifts this year.”

Other key findings of the report:

• Amazon’s price advantage widens: The price gap between Amazon and its top competitors increased in 10 of the 13 categories studied compared to results from the 2020 Price Wars study. With the exception of fashion and home furniture, Amazon’s prices were lower in all categories by double digits. The retailer was strongest in beauty products and health and personal care items, with prices for both found to be 20% less expensive than competitors.
• Argos and Asda lose ground: Prices at Asda were 16% higher than Amazon, an increase of 1 percentage point from 2020. The retailer made impressive improvements for household supplies, dropping 13 percentage points from last year, however prices were still 10% higher than Amazon. Those improvements were also offset by an increase of 10 percentage points for office equipment and supplies, which jumped from being within 3% of Amazon in 2020 to 13% in 2021. Meanwhile, Argos saw its price gap with Amazon widen by 2 percentage points, increasing to 14% from last year. The retailer fared well for fashion and home furniture, with prices within 7% of Amazon, however this was still a percentage point higher in both categories compared to last year.
• Currys remains steady: Currys was the only retailer that didn’t see its overall price gap with Amazon increase compared to 2020. While it may be the retailer that is most competitive with Amazon, prices at Currys were still, on average, 10% more expensive. The retailer’s most competitive categories were appliances and video games, with both categories having prices within 7% of Amazon.

Profitero’s full Price Wars: 2021 U.K. Edition report can be found here. 

Methodology 

Each day, Profitero monitors prices and other data on more than 70 million product pages across hundreds of unique retailer sites and mobile apps. For this study, Profitero analysed online prices of 5,330 identical products across 13 categories over a 12-week period beginning July 12 and ending October 3, 2021. Retailers examined include Amazon U.K., Argos, Asda, and Currys, which were chosen based upon online traffic, assortment of products, and a high level of consumer interest. Profitero’s methodology includes comparing online prices between retailers only on items that are identical (same UPC, brand and pack configuration). The study only compares first-party prices collected on the same day, with both retailers in-stock. Where prices were unavailable for both retailers on the same day for matched items (as in the case of out-of-stocks at one retailer), items were excluded from Profitero’s comparison. Inflation data comes from Profitero’s eCommerce Price Index (eCPI), which tracks monthly online price changes of more than 11,000 top-selling products across 15 key consumer categories from six leading retailers. 

About Profitero

Profitero is a leading global provider of eCommerce performance analytics. Google, L’Oreal, General Mills and more than 4,000 other brands use its platform to measure their eCommerce performance across more than 600 retailer sites and mobile apps in 49 countries. Profitero’s proprietary technology and algorithms estimate daily sales for products sold on Amazon and provide actionable insights to improve product content, search placement, ratings and reviews, availability, assortment, and pricing to help brands identify competitive advantages and accelerate their eCommerce sales. On average, brands that use Profitero are able to grow their Amazon sales 70 percent faster than category competitors. To learn more, visit www.profitero.com