On August 28 Amazon stopped giving a 20% discount for pre-ordered video games and replaced it with a $10 credit for pre-ordering select video games. Originally, Amazon offered the discount for its Prime members as a counteroffer to match Best Buy’s Gamers Club 20% discount on pre-ordered games. Now, both companies have stopped their respective deals and replaced them with a $10 credit for select pre-ordered games.
Amazon Prime members also lost their ad-free viewing of “Twitch,” a video game streaming service. Ad-free viewing will now require users to sign up for the Twitch turbo service, which costs $8.99 per month. This follows the January of 2018 increase in Amazon Prime subscription cost from $99 to $119 per year. As Amazon grows, it fees are growing too. Walmart.com and other E-commerce channels may be a good balance to Amazon’s expansion and increasing reach. Navazon supports vendors selling on Walmart.com and sees Walmart.com as having better product quality processes in place than Amazon. For example, the article at this link mentions that Walmart requires merchants to be pre-approved.