Using Amazon Price App In Stores Saturday Could Yield $5 Discounts

In the battle for consumer holiday dollars, Amazon is taking on brick-and-mortar retailers Saturday with a free shopping app -- available on iPhone and Android devices -- that gives shoppers a discount if they buy from Amazon while in a physical store. The move comes a week after Target used the lure of a store return option on Cyber Monday as a way to differentiate from Amazon and other Web-exclusive retailers that can’t compete with in-store returns.

Consumers who use Price Check by Amazon will get a maximum of $5 off Amazon’s price on up to three qualifying products in eligible categories, including electronics, toys, music, sporting goods and DVDs, Amazon said. Numerous tech websites had incorrectly reported the potential savings as up to $15, but a spokeswoman for Amazon confirmed the savings as up to $5 per item. The spokeswoman wasn’t able to say how the eligible products were chosen or whether the discount plan might be a permanent option for shoppers in the future.

According to Amazon, the ability to check prices on a mobile phone while in a physical store is changing the way people shop. “Price transparency means that you can save money on the products you want and that’s a great thing for customers,” said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile. In addition to the price check for in-store deals, shoppers can also submit in-store prices with the Price Check app, “ensuring they are really getting a deal and allowing all Amazon customers to get the lowest prices year-round,” he said. Amazon scours online and in-store ads from other retailers every day, year-round, Hall said.

We tried the Price Check app from our office, plugging in the Toshiba 40FT2U 40-inch LCD TV as the product, and sent it to Amazon in text form. Best Buy had the TV on sale, down $120 from $499 to $379. The app showed Amazon’s price for the TV as $499, and prices of $522 at Frugal Buys and $534.89 at Deal-Hunters. When we sent the price to Amazon by text, a message on the phone’s display said, “We'll use your feedback to ensure that our prices remain competitive."

Shoppers can also input a product by voice. We spoke, “Chicco DJ Piano Electric Keyboard,” hoping to find a price better than Target’s $49. Immediately after we hit “Done,” the app spewed out 10 options. Amazon’s $35.19 was eclipsed by OrangeOnion’s price of $32.98 and Imagine Toy’s $24.97 price, with $4.97 shipping.

In addition to text and voice inputs of product models and numbers, consumers can scan product bar codes with their phones to get similar price comparison results, Amazon said. We scanned a Garmin Nuvi 1450 LMT GPS unit we had purchased from Amazon as a Christmas gift to see if we might want to return it for a better price. It’s questionable whether many consumers would consider the $5 price differential we found to be worth the trouble of a product return. But it bears watching to see if the scan feature comes back to bite Amazon when consumers use Price Check and find a better deal elsewhere.

Although Amazon is offering the Price Check by Amazon app to iPhone users, it is differentiating the Android version slightly, offering those users the ability to scan in either portrait or landscape mode, Amazon said. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is an Android-based device.