MGR Amazon Weekly Update | August 12, 2019
Top News This Week
Amazon is Trying to Squeeze Prices of Sellers With Lower Prices Elsewhere
Amazon removed the provision in their Seller Agreement that prohibited sellers from offering a lower price outside of Amazon back in March, but now they’re using other methods ensure Amazon.com has the lowest price. Amazon has bots that scan other major retailers like Walmart to see if there is a price discrepancy and will punish sellers if there is. They have been sending warnings to sellers that if they don’t lower their price to match elsewhere that they could lose the ‘Buy Box’ on their own listings. There are rumors that they are even trying to scan not just other retailers but also sellers’ own separate eCommerce sites to see if the prices match.
Amazon Explains How it Uses 3rd Party Sellers’ Data in Defense of Competing With Them
Many sellers have found themselves competing not just with other sellers, but with Amazon itself as Amazon continues to create more private label brands of best selling products. Not only does Amazon not give sellers access to customer data, but they have been accused of using that data to compete against sellers. Amazon came out last week and said that they do not look at data from any individual seller or brand, they only look at aggregate data from categories and broad selections of products. Even if they are telling the truth, that data still gives them a distinct advantage over sellers who are always left in the dark.
FedEx Ends Ground Delivery Contract With Amazon
After ending their Express air deliveries with Amazon in June, Fedex is now ending its ground shipping contract as well. FedEx simply said that they were not making enough money from Amazon and that the contact was only responsible for 1.3% of the company’s revenues. Amazon is actively trying to expand their own fleet of air and ground deliveries, so they are not likely willing to negotiate heavily with FedEx on paying them more. This may have short term implications for Amazon, but in the long run this will likely help them to gain more control over the entire customer experience from ‘Purchase to Doorstep.’
Other Notable Links:
1. Scout, Amazon’s mini delivery robot will begin delivering packages in Los Angeles this month – NBC-LA
2. UPS and FedEx will begin delivering on Sunday’s to compete with Amazon – WSJ
3. Prime members can now pay an extra $5/mo for ‘PrimeCloset’ which will compete in the curated clothing space with StichFix and others – PEOPLE
4. Listen to the latest MGR Unplugged podcast where we discuss new developments with Amazon, Shopify, Facebook advertising, and more – MGR
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