Amazon has long been accused of undercutting its competitors with its Echo Smart speakers, which is said to keep competitors like Sonos from gaining a foothold in the market – but Amazon's Jeff Bezos says the company is at its fullest Selling price does not suffer a loss of these products.
During the big antitrust hearing today, at which Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also facing legislative issues, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) asked a targeted question whether Amazon his Echo devices rated below the cost. This may refer to the predatory pricing theory, in which a company tries to get its competitors out of business by selling products, something Amazon has been accused of, especially at Diapers.com.
Bezos from Amazon replied that the company does not lose money on the echo at the "list price", suggesting that it will either break even or make a profit. But he also admitted that "sometimes when it comes to advertising, it can be below cost, yes."
This is key because Amazon's Echo devices are almost always for sale. Camelcamelcamel.com, which tracks Amazon's price history for a variety of products, suggests that devices such as Amazon's Echo Dot and Echo Show be offered for sale as often as not:
Screenshot of Camelcamelcamel
I personally advise people never to buy a full price echo as there is always a $ 40 discount, a $ 1 promo, a free giveaway or a BOGO deal just around the corner.
In 2018, ABI Research estimated that an echo dot for the parts alone cost $ 31, suggesting that Amazon would definitely have lost some money at a typical retail price of $ 30. The same company came to a similar conclusion in 2017.
