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Grocery stores have been doing this for decades.

"Our milk supply expires at the end of the week? 50% off!"

And then they raise the price of eggs, bread, peanut butter, and other frequently purchased items by 5 cents each.

That's not the same. This is more along the lines of examining what is causing the negative CP. The margin is impacted by several factors that determine the cost, but then you can go a step further and look at the net impact on profit based on the items it was purchased with. Much of what is sold on Amazon is not stocked by Amazon. Therefore the symbiotic relationship that is best is to maximize vendor profit AND Amazon profit. This means being competitive on the Amazon marketplace as well as against other retailers and that can be best achieved by Amazon lowering the net margins to be profitable, but not uncompetitive. These are things from the quality of images and detail about the product to the shipping options, to the damage incurred during storage/shipping. The end goal is to optimize for the customer propensity to checkout and not return the items which is also a good sign of customer satisfaction. Most people who walk into a grocery are going to walk out with whatever they put in their cart. Cart abandonment is much higher in e-commerce and so there's a good deal of effort understanding what lowers the propensity to complete the order.

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