What's New With Amazon This Week?

Welcome to the very first of our weekly blog posts on Amazon. In this blog series we comment on three recent news stories related to Amazon. Please leave your feedback (good or bad) in the comments below.

Nike pulled out of Amazon this week

Well, they've stopped selling shoes and clothing on Amazon for now. What many of the main news outlets forgot to mention, or delve into deeper, is that Nike still has more than 40,000 listings on Amazon with 1000s of unauthorised sellers selling Nike products via Amazon. Nike still needs an Amazon strategy.

Still, losing Nike is not a good thing for Amazon. The frustration felt by Nike about Amazon’s operations is common in the industry and a signal that Amazon needs to step up its game to be relevant for major fashion brands, or risk being shunted by more major brands.

Amazon Appeals $10B Pentagon Contract Won by Microsoft

Amazon’s AWS unit was frontrunner until Trump basically said no. Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, is a vocal critic of Trump, and Trump is a vocal critic of Amazon. It’s probably a good opportunity for Amazon to sue Trump for a legitimate reason (rather than personal spite). For Amazon, $10Billion is about 4% of their current global revenues. That's about 2 weeks of turnover.

Is Amazon Turning Into A Flea Market For Lousy Chinese Goods?

Wasn’t it already?

In all seriousness, some 3P Amazon-only sellers are up in arms about Amazon’s strategy to source directly from Chinese factories, outcompeting them. Amazon simply seems to look which third party products sell well on their website, then copies what has potential. It has unlimited budget to source in volume, has the data to make precise forecasts and then puts their new products front and centre on their website’s precious real-estate.

Some of the more seasoned sellers shrug their shoulders and recommend a two-pronged strategy: "Differentiate so you can’t be copied and focus on building your brand off Amazon." Amazon is just one of the many channels after all. Spot on.

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Joppe

Founder & CEO

Generation AMZ