Amazon dropped ground beef to $1.99 a pound: The deal was about 71% below the July national average of $6.89 per pound.
Shoppers quickly jumped on it: The bargain spread on deal sites including Slickdeals, and some shoppers were already reporting it unavailable in their areas by Aug. 28.
It could come back: Amazon also sold tens of thousands of packages at $1.99 in July, suggesting the late-August promotion may not have been a one-time deal.
At a time when a pound of ground beef can easily cost $6 or $7, Amazon started selling it for $1.99.
Then word got around.
Amazon's 80/20 Amazon Grocery ground beef was offered for $1.99 per one-pound package in select markets, a price that quickly caught the attention of online deal hunters in late August.
The deal spread on sites including Slickdeals, where shoppers reported buying the maximum five packages and sharing the bargain with others.
It didn't take long for availability to become spotty.
Some shoppers were already reporting the beef was unavailable in their areas on Aug. 28, while others could still order it in places including South Florida and Ohio.
The product is now listed as unavailable on Amazon.
But this wasn't necessarily a one-weekend wonder.
Amazon was selling a lot of $1.99/lb beef
Third-party Amazon sales data from ASINsight shows the exact Amazon Grocery product sold for $1.99 during July. And shoppers apparently loved it.
ASINsight estimates Amazon sold about 70,000 one-pound packages in July alone, making it the top-selling listing in its Amazon burger-and-patty category for the month.
Then came the late-August promotion.
Slickdeals listed the beef at $1.99, down from $5.99, for Prime members in select locations. Shoppers could buy up to five packages, and the promotion was scheduled to run through Aug. 30.
But availability varied dramatically by location as shoppers jumped on the deal.
Just how cheap was $1.99?
Very cheap. The average U.S. price for a pound of ground beef reached about $6.89 in July, according to federal data.
That means Amazon's $1.99 price was about 71% below the national average.
At those prices, five pounds would cost:
National average: $34.45
Amazon: $9.95
That's nearly $25 in savings. No wonder shoppers took notice.
Why would Amazon sell beef this cheap?
The pricing resembles an old retail strategy known as a loss leader. That's when a retailer prices one product unusually low to attract shoppers in hopes they'll buy other things while they're there.
That doesn't necessarily mean Amazon lost money on every package, as we don't know what Amazon paid for the beef. But supermarkets have used this strategy for decades with things like cheap Thanksgiving turkeys, milk, and other staples.
Amazon's version has another advantage: You don't even have to leave your couch.
The company says Prime members in more than 2,300 U.S. cities and towns can now order perishable groceries through Same-Day Delivery.
Will the $1.99 beef come back?
Possibly, but there's obviously no guarantee.
The latest deal has ended, and the one-pound package is currently unavailable. But considering Amazon sold tens of thousands of packages at $1.99 in July and brought the price back in late August, it's worth watching.
If it returns, don't be surprised if it disappears quickly again.