Jet intends to dethrone Amazon with stupidly low prices

With its lower overhead relative to brick-and-mortar rivals, Amazon.com has long enjoyed a reputation as a price leader. But buzzy e-commerce startup Jet.com — which hasn’t officially launched yet — is hoping to upend that pricing model with an array of discounts on everyday merchandise, including for shorter shipping distances and larger orders. By one indication, Jet seems to be trying to undercut Amazon right out of the gate. According to a study by data pricing startup Boomerang Commerce, Jet’s prices for items ranging from Cuisinart coffee makers to Gain laundry detergent are lower than Amazon 94% percent of the time. It’s worth cautioning that Jet.com has yet to open to the public – it is currently in a beta testing phase with select partners and a limited group of consumers. And when it does launch later this year, the site will have a small fraction of items for sale compared with Amazon. Boomerang says Amazon has 300 million items for sale on its site, compared with about 5 million on Jet.