#Amazon Ends ‘Try Before You Buy’ in Another Move Prioritising Shareholders Over Customers 👎🔻

For those unfamiliar with the service:

'Try Before You Buy' allowed Prime members to order clothing, try it on, and decide whether to keep it before paying.

Shutting it down will undoubtedly improve Amazon's bottom line, considering that return rates average 20-30% in fashion categories.

The confusing part:

If any retailer can fund expensive but CX-focused initiatives, it's Amazon. The company is set to report another 10-12% in operating margin for Q4-2024.

Yet instead of focusing on long-term value to secure its competitive advantage, the tech giant chose short-term margin gains.

Which only leads to one conclusion:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆.

And it reveals how Andy Jassy's focus is different to the one of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos:

Shareholder interests are taking priority, influencing the decision-making of Amazon's S-Team.

Suppliers have known this for quite some time:

→ 3P Sellers are facing higher fees and lower reimbursements
→ 1P Vendors are getting squeezed in trade negotiations

↳ At the same time, Amazon is cutting many of the initiatives that set it apart from its competition.

It's easy to see why:

GenAI and Adtech have become the love children of Amazon executives. Anything that clouds their performance will be axed over time.

The bottom line?

🚫 Amazon's Retail Business isn't the priority anymore. It now must operate at a profit and has officially entered Day 2.

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Does Amazon's margin focus go too far?
Share your thoughts in the comments!