Can a CVS Loyalty Program Compete With Amazon Prime?
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) changed the game in retail in 2005 when it debuted its Prime loyalty program, and though it took a few years to really take off, once it did, it left the company's rivals struggling to catch up.
The program's core perk -- its free two-day (soon to be one-day) shipping benefit -- took two of the key pain points out of e-commerce, and since Prime costs the same amount whether your order once a month or five times a day, members get more value from using it more often. That has driven sales for Amazon, helping to turn it into something of the retail default option for its members.
That's an enviable position to hold, and given the number of Prime members in the U.S. -- and the many other perks they get -- it's not enough for competitors to simply offer something similar. Walmart, for example, scrapped its paid membership service, and simply offers all customers free two-day shipping on qualifying orders over $35.
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