上周，亞馬遜開始為接受美國政府救助的消費者提供Prime會員折扣，與沃爾瑪之間本已激烈的競爭更趨白熱化。

Prime會員打折意味著亞馬遜將目標轉向沃爾瑪一項利潤豐厚的業務：低收入人群。亞馬遜也是借此反擊，最近沃爾瑪動作不斷：免費配送商品，自行取貨補貼，收購電子商務公司等。投資研究和基金評級機構晨星統計，去年美國國民獲得的“補充營養援助計劃”（SNAP）（人稱用電子福利轉賬卡（EBT卡）的“食品補助券”）政府福利之中，每5美元就有將近1美元花在沃爾瑪，合計消費額約有130億美元。行業研究機構Retail Metrics估算，去年21家公開上市的實體零售商銷售額總計也不過130億美元左右。

此外，亞馬遜還瞄準了4300萬每年領取666億美元SNAP的消費者。亞馬遜眼光長遠也很有耐心，打算將許多暫時需要政府救助的消費者變為長期Prime會員。首席執行官杰夫·貝佐斯已經表明這一愿景：“毫無疑問，亞馬遜Prime會員發展的目標是讓用戶相信，如果不加入Prime會員就是不負責任。”

根據資產管理機構Piper Jaffray的研究，亞馬遜在高收入人群滲透率很高，年收入11.2萬美元對的家庭中有82%已是Prime會員，因而開展了最新的拓展會員人群行動。這只是亞馬遜稱霸零售業全盤戰略的一部分。對于年收入不足4.1萬美元的低收入家庭，Prime的滲透率僅52%。而大部分靠政府補助收入低于2.5萬美元家庭，滲透率甚至更低。正因如此亞馬遜還有很高的增長潛力，而且可以將沃爾瑪重要的消費人群吸引到亞馬遜系統里，給沃爾瑪迎頭痛擊。

假以時日，Prime的折扣會員價可能產生重大影響。亞馬遜堅持不懈地推陳出新，其經營格局幾乎超過了其他所有美國零售商。市場研究公司Slice Intelligence數據顯示，2016年，亞馬遜占據的網購市場份額由2012年的25%升至2016年的43%。亞馬遜還有望繼續增長，因為在貧困線上下徘徊的消費者中有74%都是互聯網用戶。

互聯網的普及意味著為低收入人群提供平價配送服務變成巨大商機。折后Prime會員費用約為2017財年低保消費者平均每月所獲SNAP補助的5%。成為Prime會員后，還能在音樂、視頻、原創內容、相片存儲和上門配送等方面享有多種優惠。Prime會讓消費者難以拒絕。

此外，今年4月亞馬遜推出名為Amazon Cash的新服務，讓Prime會費折扣更具吸引力。Amazon Cash為缺少信用卡的低收入人群帶來便利，消費者可以將現金存入亞馬遜的賬戶，在全美一萬多家實體店消費時均可使用。此項功能為擴大Prime購物范圍鋪平道路，也進一步刺激消費者加入亞馬遜的系統。

而且，將目光轉向低收入美國人可能會變成穩健的商業策略。通常情況下Prime會員購物一般更頻繁，但也會推升送貨成本。而以折扣會費加入的Prime會員網購沒那么頻密，拉低送貨成本，但亞馬遜還是照樣收取每月的會費。另外，提供折扣會費還可能有額外的好處，可以提升亞馬遜在低收入消費者心目中的形象，維持積極的公共關系。這對號稱提供一流客戶服務的亞馬遜而言堪稱錦上添花。

總之，Prime會費折扣是亞馬遜揮出的又一記重拳，而且贏面極大。沃爾瑪、一元店、雜貨店和折扣店等實體商家都得小心了。如今的亞馬遜對整個零售業界都是極大的威脅。零售商須全方位增強業務實力，方可與之一戰。（財富中文網）

肯·珀金斯在行業研究機構Retail Metrics任總裁。他在本文提及的所有公司沒有任何投資。

譯者：Pessy

審稿：夏林

Amazon took its heated battle with Walmart to another level this week through its discounted Prime membership offering to consumers receiving U.S. government assistance.

Discounted Prime is a direct attempt to garner share in what has been a lucrative business for Walmart: low-income customers. It also counters Walmart’s recent introduction of free shipping with no fees, curbside grocery pickup, and E-commerce acquisitions. According to Morningstar, nearly $1 out of every $5 in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (more widely known as “food stamps” using EBT cards) was spent at Walmart last year, amounting to roughly $13 billion. Just 21 publicly traded brick and mortar retailers generated more than $13 billion in total sales last year, according to Retail Metrics calculations.

Moreover, Amazon is tapping into a broader customer base of 43 million consumers that received $66.6 billion in annual SNAP payments. The E-commerce giant has the foresight and patience to convert many of these consumers that are in temporary need of assistance to what Amazon hopes will be lifelong Prime members. CEO Jeff Bezos has made Amazon’s intentions clear: “Our goal with Amazon Prime, make no mistake, is to make sure that if you are not a Prime member, you are being irresponsible.”

This move was prompted by Amazon’s own success penetrating upper-income consumers, with 82% of households making $112,000 a year already Prime members, according to a Piper Jaffray study. It is also simply another component of its overall strategy to dominate every segment of retail. Low-income household Prime penetration is only 52% for consumers making under $41,000 and even lower in the under $25,000 segment, where many accepting government benefits reside. This offers Amazon higher growth potential and deals a blow to Walmart by luring a key customer to Amazon’s ecosystem.

Amazon’s discounted Prime will likely make major inroads over time. Amazon is relentless, innovative, and executes at a higher level than virtually anyone in corporate America. Amazon’s share of online sales has grown from 25% in 2012 to 43% in 2016, according to Slice Intelligence. It can grow even further: Of consumers living at or below the poverty line, 74% have access to the Internet.

This presents a huge opportunity to provide an affordable delivery service to this segment of the population. The cost of discounted Prime membership is roughly 5% of the average monthly SNAP assistance a consumer received in fiscal year 2017. Layer on top of this the further advantages Prime membership offers—music and video streaming, original content, photo storage, and doorstep delivery—and it becomes a difficult proposition to decline.

Dovetailing nicely with the introduction of discounted Prime was the launch of Amazon Cash earlier this year. Amazon Cash offsets the lack of credit card ownership among the low-income population by allowing consumers to put cash into Amazon accounts at more than 10,000 physical locations throughout the U.S. This paves the way for more Prime purchases while providing further impetus to join the Amazon ecosystem.

Targeting low-income Americans could prove a solid business strategy as well. The economics of Prime are such that frequent Prime users, while purchasing more, drive up shipping costs. Discounted Prime members are likely to shop less frequently, lowering shipping expenses while Amazon still receives their monthly membership fees. Positive public relations and goodwill from lower-income consumers are additional ancillary benefits Amazon may derive from discounted Prime. This would be another feather in the cap of a company that already boasts top-level customer service ratings.

With discounted Prime, Amazon has taken the gloves off once again. It will almost certainly be successful. Walmart, dollar stores, grocers, and discounters are all on notice. Amazon presents an existential threat to the entire industry and retailers must sharpen every aspect of their business to compete.

Ken Perkins is president of Retail Metrics. He has no investments of the companies mentioned in this article.