Looking up prices using Amazon’s price history feature is a great way for customers to see whether the current price is a good deal. Traditionally, this feature was limited to 30 or 90 days, but an update now lets customers check up to a year of price history.
In addition to providing deeper insights for customers and boosting their confidence in their purchases, the move also has a major impact on sellers.
Amazon Deepens Price History Feature
Since launching back in 2024, more than 50 million Amazon customers have used Amazon’s price history feature to gain more confidence in their purchasing decisions. In fact, the average customer checks this feature three times per month, which shows it has become an important part of the shopping journey for many customers.
However, in the past, they would only be able to view the pricing over the last 30 or 90 days. While better than nothing, this may not have provided every shopper with the insight they needed. For example, these shorter price histories may not have been able to accurately capture seasonal, annual, or other long-term pricing trends.
Thankfully, Amazon has addressed this by giving customers the option to view up to 365 days of price history. This lets customers see how the price of an item has changed over the past year, to get more pricing insight than ever before.
Currently, the price history feature is available to all customers in the USA, UK, Canada, and India. The 365-day insights are rolling out to customers now, with full availability arriving in the coming weeks.
The Feature is a Win for Customers
The improvement of this feature is a major win for Amazon customers. It gives them better transparency about price history, giving them more confidence about whether the price they see is good or bad. There’s no more guessing or assuming whether an item is priced well, as you have the data to confirm it.
Using the feature is also incredibly simple, as all you have to do is click the price history link on any product page, or tap the Rufus icon and ask about the price history.
More extensive price history data also helps customers identify fake discounts and other marketing gimmicks, as they can easily see if a company artificially raised its price right before marking it down as part of a sales event.
The addition of this feature also frees up customers from having to use third-party tools or other strategies to accurately track prices on Amazon beyond the original 30 and 90-day periods.
This move is also far from the only one that Amazon has recently made to improve the shopping experience for customers. For example, the company has added a voice AI shopping assistant to millions of product pages and also introduced faster deliveries.
How the Change Impacts Sellers on Amazon
While this shift may not be as impactful on sellers as other recent changes, like Amazon adding a fuel and logistics surcharge for customers, it’s certainly something sellers need to keep in mind going forward. Customers have more pricing information than ever before, so brands need to ensure they’re prepared for this level of transparency.
For example, companies that rely on artificial discounting likely won’t see conversion rates as high as they used to, as customers can now sniff out these fake deals easily. Instead, sellers should rely on honest pricing and ensure that their sales are actually at a lower price than long-term averages.
The move may also impact trust. If a company has a long history of fluctuating prices, this chaos may lead to a company seeming unreliable. Also, if prices are very volatile, it may lead to customers thinking “this could go lower” and not buying at the current price.
Instead, companies should use a disciplined, consistent, and long-term pricing strategy with slight increases and decreases when it makes sense. For example, you may increase prices when your operating costs rise or when competitors raise prices, and decrease them if an item isn’t selling or it’s around a holiday or an important Amazon event (such as Prime Day).
With more pricing data at their fingertips, customers may also be more willing to wait for the lowest price point on an item. This could lead to pricing wars, as each company aims to undercut to get more sales. Also, while this feature is often used by shoppers, companies can also use it to monitor and track their competitors’ pricing over the whole year.
