{"id":9913,"date":"2026-06-30T17:31:54","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=9913"},"modified":"2026-06-30T17:31:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:31:54","slug":"amazon-challenges-costco-with-july-4-gas-savings-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=9913","title":{"rendered":"Amazon challenges Costco with July 4 gas savings deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p>Amazon does not operate gas stations, so it generally can&#8217;t compete with Costco&#8217;s low-priced gas pumps. <\/p>\n<p>The gas stations at the membership-based chain drive members to its warehouses, which leads to them going into the stores.<\/p>\n<p>Costco CEO Ron Vachris said during the company\u2019s fiscal Q3 earnings call that gas customers tend to become higher-value members over time.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We believe this will drive even greater loyalty with these members in the future as members who use our gas stations typically spend more with us in the warehouse,&#8221; he shared.<\/p>\n<p>Costco\u2019s fuel operations are widely viewed as traffic-driving amenities that encourage more frequent in-store shopping. Retailers are competing for a larger share of household discretionary spending, particularly around seasonal events like Independence Day.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Amazon has a new holiday deal for Prime members that might keep them from making the trip to Costco,<\/p>\n<h2>Amazon offers a chance for a cheap fill-up<\/h2>\n<p>Having just passed Prime Day, Amazon wants to keep its sales momentum up as the Fourth of July holiday approaches.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;87% of consumers plan to celebrate the Fourth of July in 2026 and spend a record average of $94.41 on food items,&#8221; according to the National Retail Federation Fourth of July 2026 report.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the study shows that 62% of people celebrating will do so with a barbecue or picnic, which creates sales opportunities for both Amazon and Costco. By giving Prime members a chance to fill-up at a gas station that might be closer to home than Costco, the retailer could win more of the sales connected with those celebrations.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon explained how the deal works on its website.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Prime members can link their Amazon account to Earnify and save 50\u00a2 off per gallon July 2-5 only (one-time use). Simply enter your phone number or use the Earnify app at 7,500 bp, Amoco, and participating Thorntons locations. Before July 2, Prime members save 10\u00a2 per gallon,&#8221; the company shared.<\/p>\n<p>Joining Earnify gives members a baseline savings of $0.05 per gallon with Amazon offering to match that until July 2, when an additional $0.40 per gallon will be offered until the end of the day on July 5.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Once the promotional period concludes, Prime members will be able to access a total of 10\u00a2 off a gallon at participating stations,&#8221; Amazon shared.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon framed the promotion as part of its broader summer savings strategy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Summer is a time for making memories, and Prime is here to make the entertaining more affordable,&#8221; said Amazon Vice President Carmen Nestares in a press release. &#8220;&#8230;this July 4 holiday we\u2019re excited to introduce $0.50 per gallon fuel savings.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The retailer is also offering Prime members a $5 monthly grocery credit from July through September, applied automatically at checkout on orders of $25 or more, up to $15 in total savings.<\/p>\n<h2>Gas prices have fallen but remain high<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Drivers are continuing to see relief at the pump as the national gas price average declines for the fifth consecutive week. Today\u2019s national average is $3.91 per gallon. Crude oil prices have also continued to fall as the U.S. and Iran work toward a long-term deal,&#8221; according to AAA. <\/p>\n<p>Despite lower prices, demand could rise as a record number of Americans prepare to travel for Independence Day weekend, with 85% planning to drive to their destinations.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>June 29 National Average: <\/strong>$3.918<\/li>\n<li><strong>One Week Ago: <\/strong>$3.999<\/li>\n<li><strong>One Month Ago: <\/strong>$4.507<\/li>\n<li><strong>One Year Ago: <\/strong>$3.227<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thestreet.com\/.image\/NDA6MDAwMDAwMDAyOTExMTQz\/a-person-prepares-to-gas-up-their-car.jpg?profile=rss\" height=\"675\" width=\"1200\"><figcaption>Costco gas stations can only be used by members and they do not take cash.<\/p>\n<p>Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Costco keeps it simple<\/h2>\n<p>While Amazon&#8217;s deal may be enticing for non-Costco members, RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino won&#8217;t see its customers go elsewhere because the warehouse club makes getting low prices easy for members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCostco wins because its value proposition is completely frictionless. You show your card, and you get the lowest price in town immediately,\u201d he told TheStreet.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More Costco:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>As consumers struggle, Costco sets a troubling record<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Costco makes an even bigger bet on its house brand<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Costco just lowered prices on key items<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He was critical of a recent Kroger promotion which, like the Amazon deal, required steps beyond just tapping your membership card on the pump. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cKroger\u2019s model requires digital coupon clipping, tracking specific calendar windows like \u20184X Fridays,\u2019 and monitoring point balances. In a tight economy, convenience-fatigued consumers eventually reject complex loyalty gamification,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Miserandino does think the gas promotion will be seen as a positive by Prime members.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In this economy, gas is king and it&#8217;s a good way to increase loyalty,&#8221; he wrote. <\/p>\n<h2>Americans do want gas savings<\/h2>\n<p>Consumers are looking to save money on gas, and high gas prices are forcing them to cut back in another area, according to a Numerator survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers. Key findings included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>93% of drivers are <strong>trying to save money on gas<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>36% <strong>choose stations based on price<\/strong> over convenience.<\/li>\n<li>61% say gas prices are <strong>impacting ability to afford other expenses<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With gas prices averaging more than $4 per gallon, BMO Capital Markets Senior Economist Sal Guatieri explained that most Americans will have to spend less in other areas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApart from undermining confidence, the increase will erode spending power, particularly for lower-income households. Gasoline and other fuels account for 2% of U.S. personal consumption, so the <strong>price increase, if sustained, could cut annual spending by about 0.7%<\/strong>. That works out to more than $1,000 for the average American household,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><strong>Related: Ulta Beauty is leaving Target, here&#8217;s what&#8217;s replacing it<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>#Amazon #challenges #Costco #July #gas #savings #deal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amazon does not operate gas stations, so it generally can&#8217;t compete with Costco&#8217;s low-priced gas pumps. The gas stations at the membership-based chain drive members to its warehouses, which leads&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[310,3852,1047,110,281,3116,109],"class_list":["post-9913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-popular","tag-amazon","tag-challenges","tag-costco","tag-deal","tag-gas","tag-july","tag-savings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}