Amazon is Teaching Retailers the Wrong Lesson About Customer Loyalty

For two decades, Amazon.com has been the gold standard for “effortless shopping.” One-click checkout, simple returns, and friction-free buying built a habit that reshaped consumer expectations. The magic wasn’t just about speed — it was certainty. You knew you could return anything. You knew checkout wouldn’t make you second-guess. Amazon has redefined what shoppers expect from every retailer, online or offline. Effortless became the new normal.

Jeff Bezos built Amazon on the idea of being customer-obsessed vs. competitor-obsessed. He continually noted that the most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. That ethos defined Amazon’s rise. However, today some of its moves risk drifting away from that foundation.

Restrictions on Prime account sharing and other limiting policies add doubt at precisely the moment consumers are tightening budgets for the holidays. When the shopper starts calculating instead of clicking, the brand has already lost ground.

That’s especially dangerous now. Research shows over half of today’s consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending.

And this isn’t just Amazon’s challenge. Every retailer is searching for efficiency while facing consumer caution. But there needs to be a balance between improving revenue and still serving the needs of the customer. The answer can’t be making loyal customers feel like rule-breakers for behavior that used to be welcomed.

There’s a better path: innovate in ways that add value rather than subtract it. The winners will be those that optimize without eroding the trust that makes loyalty possible.

Here are four ways to do it:

1. Flexible Subscriptions Build Confidence

Subscriptions should be the ultimate “no doubt” experience. Yet many shoppers hesitate: What if I don’t need new filters this month? What if I forget to cancel?

The fix is simple and customer-centric: make frequency flexible by default. After the first shipment, prompt an easy one-tap “adjust to 45/60/90 days.” Offer a grace period to skip, and make cancellation so obvious that people are more likely to try subscribing in the first place. Subscriptions should feel like a safety net, not a trap.

2. Personalization That Anticipates

If I buy running shoes, don’t just show me more running shoes. I already have some. Show me what comes next: foam rollers, injury-prevention gear, running shorts. Great personalization doesn’t mirror what I just bought — it helps me reach the outcome I actually care about.

Done well, personalization can also become the argument against account sharing. The goal is to make the experience so tailored that I don’t want my spouse’s algorithm bleeding into mine, the way no one wants their playlists mixed on Spotify.

3. Assortment as Differentiation

Assortment is another overlooked lever. For years, Amazon excelled at being the everything store, but “everything” can blur into sameness. Elevating boutique, emerging, or up-and-coming brands — and making them easy to discover — transforms a marketplace from warehouse to destination.

Curation drives delight. If you’ve built the world’s best storefront, use it as a launchpad for what’s next, not just an index of what’s obvious.

4. Convenience is Now a Category

Amazon no longer owns convenience. Big-box rivals are compressing delivery windows with local fulfillment, curbside pickup, and rapid last-mile partnerships. Whether it’s 15-minute pilots in dense markets or reliable same-day in the suburbs, convenience has become a category in itself.

That’s good news for every retailer. Consumers will forgive higher prices before they forgive hassle.

Double down on two differentiators: convenience and loyalty. Convenience means choices, such as same-day local fulfillment, precise delivery windows, and painless returns. Loyalty means knowing me, such as targeted bundles, early access to new brands, and rewards that compound value.

Trust is critical for retailers. It takes years to build and seconds to burn. This holiday season, the brands that win won’t be those with the deepest discounts but those that make buying — and being loyal — feel effortless again. In this climate, trust is non-negotiable.

If your policies create second thoughts, you don’t have a margin problem. You have a customer problem. Fix that first.

Efrat Ravid is chief marketing officer of Quantum Metric, a customer-driven digital analytics platform.