Set it and Forget it! - Order Frequency vs. Consumption - Amazon Subscribe and Save

3 tubs of protein at my desk work
4 tubs of protein at home
2 bags of dog food at home
1 bag of dog food in the car
11 sticks of deodorant in the closet at home 

Amazon has changed the way I shop but the Subscribe and Save offering on Amazon has changed what I spend time doing and thinking about.

Thanks to Amazon’s Subscribe and Save offering, items we use on a consistent basis are automatically delivered between 1 and 6 months. It works as follows: on certain items Amazon sells, mostly consumer goods, there is an option to, instead of receiving delivery now, you can order and receive at a later date and then again on an auto recurring basis. 

And despite some recent news on deceptive practices by certain independent sellers, Amazon’s expansion of the program is evidence that I am not the only one loving it. 

In this series, I will explore what makes Amazon’s Subscribe and Save offering great and not so great both from Amazon’s and a customer's point of view.

Theme: Set it and forget it! - Order Frequency vs. Consumption
Perspective: Customer

This week’s post addresses the inventory, mentioned above, piling up in my personal spaces. 

As mention above, Subscribe and Save changes what I think about. More specifically, I don’t think about purchasing the things we use most often. This lack of thinking is why this program is so valuable to Amazon. 

Nearly similar to a subscription or club membership revenue, the user signs up for a product based on their estimated use of the good and then stops thinking about it. “Set it and forget it!”

Balancing Risk vs. Reward

The downside: if you are ordering toilet paper and you choose the Subscribe and Save option, this item will be delivered on a date on or near the middle of the month. Thus after your first month’s delivery, if you don’t consume the product as expected it could result in an inventory build-up or running out of toilet paper at the exact wrong time… :) 

The upside: if you order 5 or more goods to be shipped at this predetermined time, you receive 15% off all the goods included in the order. Not to mention the extra brain power/time you now have because you don't have to go to the store to purchase x good. 

So for example... Lady’s bag of dog food costs $50 at a retail location near our house. We go through a 26 lbs bag just about every month, through Amazon Subscribe and Save, the same bag of food is delivered to my desk at work for $42.50. I save $7.50 per order. $7.50*12 = $90. For an extra nearly $100, I feel like I can manage the downside. 

Next week, I will explore the “move to <MONTH> delivery” feature.