In a scenario of more cautious consumption and pressured margins, global digital retail seems to be waging a price war. But behind the generous coupons and mega sales, what Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba are competing for is not just consumer attention — it’s their retention. The 2025 edition of Prime Day projected sales of $23.8 billion in four days, while Walmart launched ‘Walmart Deals,’ with intense promotions across physical and digital channels. On the other side of the world, Alibaba alone invested $7 billion in coupons and e-commerce incentives. The question is: does this tactic really work?
The immediate answer lies in the numbers — and they are seductive. According to Adobe Digital Insights, this year’s Prime Day recorded the highest average ticket in the historical series, even with fewer products on sale. Meanwhile, Walmart, betting on integrated offers with Walmart+ membership and in-store pickup, saw physical visits rise by 18% during the campaign week, per Placer.ai data. Alibaba, in turn, uses large-scale coupons as part of a strategy to reactivate inactive consumers and offset the slowdown in the Chinese market. But short-term success does not guarantee lasting loyalty.
Consumer behavior studies suggest that deep discounts tend to attract ‘deal hunters,’ but not necessarily loyal customers. According to Harvard Business Review, only 15% of consumers who enter for price become recurring without relationship-building actions or a superior experience. The risk, analysts warn, is creating vicious cycles of promotional dependency — especially when the perceived brand value becomes solely about price.
“To address this, retailers have been combining promotional aggressiveness with structured loyalty strategies. Amazon, for example, doesn’t just bet on discounts but on the extreme convenience of Prime, ultra-fast delivery, and its ecosystem of services. Walmart has been reinforcing its perceived value through channel integration, a focus on essential assortment, and app-based incentives. Meanwhile, Alibaba is advancing in AI for personalized recommendations, gamified rewards, and more immersive shopping experiences, like live commerce,” says Rebecca Fischer, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Divibank.
Coupons are just the visible tip of a battle for relevance and retention. The real strategy lies in what happens after the purchase: in customer service, re-engagement, ease of use, and building continuous value. In a saturated market, winning a click is easy — what’s hard is convincing the consumer to return without a discount.
