Rising gas prices may push more household spending toward Amazon

The spike has squeezed household budgets and changed how people shop. Consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending: Foot traffic data from Placer.ai shows visits to discretionary retailers declined year over year for the fourth consecutive week as of the week of May 11, while visits to non-discretionary retailers rose for the fourth straight week. Shoppers are gravitating toward warehouse clubs, superstores and off-price chains instead.

That sets up a potentially favorable moment for Amazon. The company has made same-day and ultrafast delivery a central priority in recent years, and it has leaned heavily into grocery as a growth category. Analysts say those investments could now pay off.

The e-commerce giant has spent the last several years building out faster delivery options for groceries and everyday items. Amazon’s recent push into one-hour, three-hour and even 30-minute delivery positions the company to capture more demand from consumers who want convenience without additional trips by car.

“E-commerce can benefit from higher gas prices as consumers look to cut back on the driving they do,” said Sky Canaves, principal analyst at eMarketer. “Consumers are being strategic with their spending across the board, and that filters down to how many trips they make and whether they can consolidate more of their outings and gas usage,” she said.

Amazon has increasingly marketed Prime as a tool for handling routine household purchases, groceries and pantry staples. In March, Amazon rolled out one-hour and three-hour delivery in parts of the U.S. for more than 90,000 products, including pantry items, cleaning supplies and over-the-counter medications.

Then in May, Amazon expanded its “Amazon Now” service, which promises delivery in 30 minutes or less in dozens of U.S. cities. The service focuses heavily on groceries and household essentials such as detergent and toothpaste.

CEO Andy Jassy has argued that faster delivery leads shoppers to return to Amazon more often. In April, during the company’s most recent earnings call, Jassy said customers shopping same-day perishables build larger baskets, adding nearly three times as many items to their order and spending over 80% more than customers who don’t.

Amazon’s grocery push may be particularly well-timed. Canaves said Amazon is in a strong position as a first-party retailer to absorb cost pressures and price competitively on groceries, even at the expense of short-term margins, in order to win over more of that spending. Indeed, other grocers, like Walmart, have warned that higher fuel costs could lead to higher price tags on the shelf.

Recent consumer survey data suggests Americans remain highly price-conscious even as many still plan to spend this summer. Optimove Research found that 52% of U.S. consumers expect to spend more this summer than they did a year ago, while only 17% expect to spend less. Discounts remain a major factor in purchasing decisions, with many shoppers saying promotions motivate them to buy items earlier than planned.

Another survey from Omnisend found that nearly one-third of consumers planned to do more shopping online in order to reduce driving as gas prices climbed. The study also found online spending rose sharply in March as consumers tried to avoid additional trips. Similarly, a survey of 2,500 Americans released earlier this month by Ipsos, the Washington Post and ABC News found that 44% of respondents are cutting back on the amount they drive.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said Amazon is benefiting from consumers increasingly viewing online shopping as a way to consolidate routine purchases and avoid extra trips to stores.

“For people that order household goods online already, it isn’t a huge leap to start adding other things from the perishable market,” he said. “People naturally see it as a kind of extended grocery shop.”

Amazon also benefits from the types of products shoppers increasingly purchase during uncertain economic periods. Numerator data from Prime Day 2025 showed that many consumers used the event to stock up on essentials rather than splurge on luxury goods. The top-selling items included Premier Protein Shakes, Dawn Platinum Powerwash and Liquid I.V. packets, while household essentials ranked among the most purchased product categories. Additionally, two-thirds of Prime Day items sold for less than $20, according to Numerator’s data.

“We’ve seen a long-term change for the last several years of more of the Prime Day spending shifting to essential categories and smaller ticket items,” Canaves said.

Amazon has also leaned more heavily into perks tied to fuel savings as consumers feel pressure from higher everyday costs. Earlier this year, the company promoted discounts of up to 20 cents per gallon for Prime members at participating gas stations. Canaves said she expects Amazon to continue introducing incentives aimed at budget-conscious shoppers — including discounts and deals on groceries and household essentials — as the company looks to keep consumers spending within its ecosystem during a period of economic strain. She added that this year’s Prime Day, which Amazon has moved to June, will help the e-tailer capture more consumer spending sooner rather than later.

“Amazon will double down on grocery and essentials and potentially create some enticing offers for consumers to draw more of that spending,” she said. “[Consumers] will also be waiting to make the most of the good deals on household essentials and things like personal care items.”

To be sure, higher fuel costs could also create new headaches for Amazon and the merchants that sell goods on its marketplace. In April, Amazon imposed a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on sellers that use Fulfillment by Amazon services, citing rising transportation and operating costs tied to elevated oil prices. Some sellers warned at the time that the added costs would force them to raise prices or absorb additional margin pressure.

“Because Amazon has been passing down some of its costs to third-party sellers through the fuel surcharges that it has imposed, that creates the risk that third-party sellers will then raise prices to pass those costs on to shoppers,” Canaves said. “Ultimately, there’s a bit of a balance.”

At the same time, Saunders said Amazon’s vast marketplace could help blunt the impact of higher seller prices because shoppers can easily compare products and trade down to lower-cost alternatives.

“The strategic advantage Amazon has is that there are so many products on Amazon’s website, the impact tends to get diluted,” Saunders said. “People can usually find cheaper products or cheaper brands to trade down to.”