Amazon Marks ‘Haul’ Expansion With 11-Cent Deals

Amazon said it is marking the one-year anniversary of its “Haul” service with $1 deals.

It‘s part of a two-day “shopping event” scheduled for Monday (Nov. 10) and Tuesday (Nov. 11), with the eCommerce giant selling tens of thousands of products priced at $1 on the first day, and “exclusive $0.11 hidden treasures” on the second.

“When we launched Amazon Haul, we weren’t just building another way to shop. We were reinventing how customers purchase ultra-low-priced products in a trustworthy shopping experience,” Dharmesh Mehta, vice president for worldwide selling partner services at Amazon, wrote on the company blog.

“We asked ourselves: How can we invent new capabilities for our selling partners that allow us to delight customers with a wide selection of products at fantastic, low prices? And how can this include everything from hidden treasures to clearance-like discounts on branded products?”

Amazon debuted Haul in November of last year, selling products priced at $20 or less, though the company has said most cost no more than $10 and some sell for as low as $1. The service is also known as Amazon Bazaar in certain markets.

Last week, the company announced it was expanding Amazon Bazaar to 14 new markets: Argentina, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kuwait, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, Philippines, Qatar and Taiwan.

In other Amazon news, PYMNTS wrote recently about efforts by the company — and rival Walmart — to chase “an increasingly fickle and cash-strapped consumer.”

Global headwinds, that report said, have forced consumers into sharper trade-offs, giving must-haves more weight than nice-to-haves.

Data from the October “New Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report” by PYMNTS Intelligence finds more consumers are struggling to get by. Twenty-six percent reported they had trouble paying their bills last month, the highest share in at least two years.

“Overall, nearly 7 in 10 consumers are now living paycheck to paycheck, with varying degrees of difficulty in paying monthly bills,” PYMNTS wrote. “This represents the second-highest level over two years and nearly equal to the record high this summer.”

Amazon’s recent quarterly earnings showed a notable shift in consumers getting their groceries online, and at relatively lower price points. As reported here, the company said online grocery sales climbed strongly as more shoppers turned to digital channels for everyday purchases. Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky noted that “customers are finding more value in recurring essentials like groceries and household items.”