MGR Amazon Weekly Update | August 26, 2019
Top News This Week
Amazon Announced Plans to Spend $15 Billion On Improving the Seller Experience & Lowering Selling Costs
Amazon has heard sellers loud and clear, especially Nicholas Denissen, who last month was appointed as the VP of Small Business at Amazon, a new position that didn’t exist previously. Every seller knows how difficult working with Amazon can be at times, and now it is Denissen’s full time job to make the experience much better. Some of the new initiatives have already begun rolling out, like lower storage fees, faster product availability times at FBA centers, and a new “Brand Analytics” portal that gives access to much more detailed data for brands than ever before. As an agency that works with many Amazon sellers, we’ve experienced the full gamut of problems that come up when selling on Amazon, and we think this new push could be very promising.
Even Amazon Fails at Creating New Products, Their Private Label Skin Care Brand Has Been Unsuccessful
One of the biggest gripes sellers have is that Amazon doesn’t give out nearly as much customer data as they should, and instead uses it to create their own private label products to compete with sellers. They’ve done this in many categories, and in March of this year they tried to do the same in Skin Care. However, in a category where brand is so important, they have failed to compete with established brands big and small. This proves that strong execution and building a meaningful brand are what matters most, allowing sellers to overcome the ‘data disadvantage’ they have against Amazon.
Other Notable Links:
1. Amazon is favoring brand owners over distributors, leading to major clashes – VICE
2. In depth reporting on Amazon’s counterfeit fighting failures, and what sellers are doing about it – WSJ
3. How digitally native brands are able to out compete Amazon, the tactics and strategies they use – BUSINESS INSIDER
4. High end watch maker, Shinola, is creating a new line of high quality affordable watches to try and capture a new market they have yet to tap – GEAR PATROL
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