Last week, Amazon.com announced it was exiting the incentive merchandise business.
Larry Schoenecker, BI’s President, writes “In my 30+ years in the business, I have seen several retailers (and now one e-tailer) come into the business with a big splash, win some clients, and then decide to exit. In the 80′s it was the Spiegel catalog company, in the 90′s it was Target (who had over 100 employees in their incentive division when they closed up several years ago), and now Amazon.
But we’re still here. And now with over 28,000 items in our award selection, 13,000 of them under $100. And more on the way. We have a bigger selection of TV’s, PC’s, computer peripherals, and video games than Best Buy. More housewares than William Sonoma, more musical instruments than Guitar Center, and more watches than Macy’s. We are buying at lower supplier costs and have reduced margins across all categories. Our prices are better. And all backed up by our 100% satisfaction guarantee and free extended warranties on everything.
And don’t forget we do 3000 unique auctions per year, have 500 travel packages +2,100 Marriott properties, and tickets to 15,000 events annually.
Amazon had the largest selection of merchandise available for incentive programs and my guess is that we were a distant second.
Until now. We have a good story to tell.”