Sports and Outdoors
By Jeffrey Tabet
Looking at the data in its raw form for analysis was intimidating proposition. Especially with the realization that there were 596 items to analyze. To tackle this incredible task of analysis, we took all the data and broke it down into several smaller task and departments. The departments being: Health and Beauty, Home and Kitchen, Sports and Outdoors, Babies and Toys, Computers and Electronics, and Clothing.
We then made a graphical visualization of the data for each department using Tableau. The graphs are comprised of information about Amazon and Costco’s products. It contains information about their average price, average customer ratings, total customer ratings, differences in individual product prices, which company offered more items for less, and which company was cheaper by average price per product.
I was responsible for the Sports & Outdoor items, and I actually found the data for that department interesting.
The good news was that we were able to acquire data for ~70% of the items we scanned regarding Sports and Outdoor items. And the general findings show that the average price for the items on Amazon was $257.57 while the average price on Costco for the same items was only $303.26. That showed that Costco was cheaper for our items by an average of $54.32. I honestly expected Amazon to be cheaper, so that was a big surprise. What was even more surprising was that Costco was actually cheaper for 76% of the items. That really stuck out to me. What that tells me is that Costco does offer very competitive prices for their items.
Below is a comparison of six specific items using the pricing data we captured. These items are all examples of exercise equipment (cycles, ellipticals, or treadmills).
I was actually fascinated by the pricing of these treadmills. Both Amazon and Costco offer very similar equipment but they differ in price dramatically, sometimes for hundreds less. That tells me that Costco may be cheaper in general when you’re not looking for something specific, but when you have something specific in mind it is best to shop around at various merchants to find the best price.
One other thing worth mentioning is the ratings and reviews for the items. I found it interesting that the two companies shared a similar average rating for the same items. That indicates to me that the items are of comparable quality, which adds to the shock that Costco is so much cheaper. Not surprisingly is that the number of reviews is significantly higher on Amazon for the items. That make sense to me since more people shop on Amazon. Not everyone has a Costco membership. I do not have one. Thus, more people are likely to write a review because there are more customers.
My final thoughts are that Amazon is a definitely cheaper overall. While it is interesting that the majority of items were cheaper on Costco’s website, it is very noteworthy that Costco did not offer a wide variety of items. In fact, the 250 items we scanned for sports and outdoor items were pretty much the full extent of what Costco offers online. In contrast, Amazon has seeming less endless options when it comes to products available. For me, Amazon is still my vendor of choice when it comes to purchasing items at a cheap price while also having a wide variety of options to choose from. But there is no denying the cheaper price for the items on Costco.
As for what makes these companies successful, I don’t think I can answer that question solely on this data. This analysis only captures a comparison of price for the same item on both websites, and it compares the number of reviews that people have left for the item. It does not indicate whether sales are better by one vendor over the other, and the data does not indicate if either vendor is profitable or successful at selling the items. We only have the price to compare. However, some might say that the companies are successful because they offer quality of products and easy to access. Regarding Amazon, the ease of access allows for many customers to purchase from their website without a membership. That allows Amazon to have a higher potential number of customers when compared to Costco. Amazon also allows for many people to create stores and sell products via their platform, while Costco is the only seller on their website. Items on Costco do have a higher rating by customers. And we cannot forget that Costco requires a membership to shop there. Thus, each item has a built-in price which is paid for by memberships. I think many people often overlook their membership cost and don’t take it into consideration when they see an item that might be slightly more expensive on another site such as Amazon.
