Amazon smart speakers hit their lowest ever price on Prime Day yesterday but some shoppers may have been unaware thanks to an error.
Analysis by Brand View found the voice activated Echo and Echo Dot speakers were cheaper than ever before, at £59.99 and £29.99, but the banner at the top of the page listed them at old prices.
The Echo was still listed at £89.99 and the Echo Dot £34.99. The Echo Show, which features a screen, was advertised at £199.99 when the Prime Day deal was half that.
The Echo was £10 cheaper than on Black Friday last year while the Echo Dot was £5 cheaper.
The report said some shoppers ‘might not have been tempted into these deals as Amazon did not update all its web banners’.
The analysis also identified 10 promoted products that had previously been available at a lower price, including a £54.99 Bosch cordless drill which had been £5 cheaper on Black Friday last year and £7.50 cheaper on Prime Day 2017.
Brand View concluded ‘some shoppers may be put off purchasing as they cannot be confident that they are getting the best deal’.
The report said: ‘Only a few hours after the kick-off of Prime Day 2018, Amazon has already fulfilled its promise and offered the best deals ever seen on its own devices. However, shoppers were right to take notice of Which?’s warning that some products would be cheaper outside of Prime Day, with some branded items cheaper on Black Friday 2017 and even on last year’s Prime Day.’
Of Amazon’s rivals, Brand View concluded Currys had countered the most by launching ‘Flash Deals’ on Google Home smart speakers, one of the major rivals for Amazon’s Echo range. The Google Home speaker was on sale for £94, £10 cheaper than at Ao, Argos, John Lewis and Very.
The lowest price for a Google Home speaker was on the official Google store on eBay, where it was £83.20, but it sold out by 9am yesterday and was removed from the store by midday.
Even at that price, shoppers could have received a better deal on Black Friday 2017 when the Google Home was £77.50 in Argos, Currys and John Lewis, according to the report.
The report added: ‘As with previous years, rival retailers did not remain quiet and launched ‘flash deal’ campaigns on their websites instead. However, in some of these instances too, shoppers could have found prices lower than today’s.’
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