Bargain shopping is nothing new to almost any consumer out there today. People are always looking for high-quality items at a reasonable price point. Following the 2008 recession, this has become even more apparent with the rise of online second-hand stores selling a range of items, from high-end luxury goods to furniture and jewelry.
As consignment stores have seen growth over the last decade, they have certainly had an impact on consumers and the way they shop for new items. Today, people are on the hunt to find the best bang for their buck and sometimes will spend hours scouring the internet, reading customer reviews and checking out various sites to find the exact desired item.
Amazon is looking to help out with the launch of its Amazon Assistant. It’s being introduced as an extension to browsers that helps people quickly find the highest-quality product at various price points to meet the consumers’ budget. The way it works is that people can add items onto their Amazon Wish List, which then in turn shares notifications as a new sale or special offer becomes available. This offering is compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera but not on Safari for now.
It’s likely that anyone looking to get the best price for what they would like to buy would use this new feature for items to be bought down the road. This would probably not work for any impulse buying decisions. As Amazon continues its forward momentum, this new extension may be a new way for the eCommerce giant to expand its presence among long-term customers.
