#121 - Amazon's Evolution, Extra Fee For Shipping, and more
Hot News
Amazon's Evolution to Retail Infrastructure Provider
In the second quarter, Amazon generated $52.9 billion in revenue from selling goods online. It also generated $32.3 billion from collecting marketplace transactional and fulfillment fees and $10.6 billion from advertising services. The latter two combined are its online retail infrastructure business and were 81% as big as Amazon’s online retail business.
marketplacepulse.com
Amazon Will Reportedly Charge Sellers an Extra Fee For Shipping Their Own Products
Amazon will soon start tacking on an extra fee for sellers who don’t use the company’s fulfillment service, according to reports from Bloomberg and CNBC. Documents viewed by the outlets indicate that Amazon will start imposing a fee on each product that merchants send out themselves.
theverge.com
FTC Could End Amazon Prime Benefits for Consumers
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reportedly has a far-reaching antitrust lawsuit against Amazon in the works alleging that the e-commerce platform abuses its power to reward online merchants that use its logistics services and penalize those that don’t. But the allegation that Amazon’s business practices constitute anticompetitive behavior relies on questionable economic logic and little evidence of actual competitive harm.
datainnovation.org
Good to Know
Amazon Releases Some Seller Funds After Complaints
Amazon has started releasing some sellers' funds back to them after many UK and EU sellers complained of money being held unexpectedly. The change in policy comes after the BBC reported Amazon's actions led some businesses being close to collapse. Amazon told some sellers it will now delay the temporary holds on money until January 2024.
bbc.com
Seattle Startup Raises $1.3M to Help Amazon Sellers Manage Back-End Tasks
Workflow Labs, a Seattle startup that helps Amazon sellers, recently raised a $1.3 million seed round. Founded last year by e-commerce veteran Justin Leigh, Workflow acts as an e-commerce assistant for online retailers selling on Amazon, monitoring product descriptions and automating parts of the listing and billing processes.
geekwire.com
Amazon Extends U.S. Delivery to Third-Party Sellers: Business Insider
The in-house delivery service delivers products sold on Amazon's marketplace and other sites, including the seller's own or other channels. For now, the services if for within the contiguous U.S. Amazon Shipping first launched a beta service in 2018 in select cities, including Los Angeles and London. It was suspended when the pandemic hit.
seekingalpha.com
Independent Sellers Keep Choosing Amazon For The Value We Provide
While there are lots of reasons, most sellers tell us they choose to sell in the Amazon store because it’s a great value. Sellers get to sell in a store that many customers trust, they get access to powerful tools, services, and programs to drive their business growth, and sellers can do all of this at a cost that is typically lower than their alternatives.
aboutamazon.com
Amazon Axes Some Private Label Brands as Part of Wider Cost Cuts
Amazon is eliminating some private label brands as part of broader efforts to rein in costs across the company. Amazon sells goods from its own brands, in addition to those from third-party sellers and other retailers, on its sprawling e-commerce website. The company’s private label goods have been a key focus of antitrust regulators.
cnbc.com
Amazon SFP to Reopen in October; Sellers Wary of 2% Fee and Lack of Regional Participation
Amazon will reopen Seller Fulfilled Prime service to new merchants on October 1, 2023, the company announced on Tuesday. Back in June, it had announced its intention to reopen the SFP program “later this year” – see, “What It Will Take to Get a Prime Badge on Amazon with Revival of SFP” where we reported on sellers’ reaction to the news when first announced.
ecommercebytes.com
Split Up Amazon, Prime and AWS? If Biden's FTC breaks Up Bezos' Company, Consumers Lose
Lina Khan is not tired of losing. Fresh off her latest defeat in court in pursuit of antitrust enforcement against Microsoft, President Joe Biden’s Federal Trade Commission chair is reportedly ready to launch the fight of her career to break up Amazon.
usatoday.com
Authors and Booksellers Urge Justice Dept. to Investigate Amazon
With mounting signs that the Federal Trade Commission is preparing to file a lawsuit against Amazon for violating antitrust laws, a group of booksellers, authors and antitrust activists are urging the government to investigate the company’s domination of the book market.
nytimes.com
Amazon Aggregators Are Rightsizing, But What Does That Mean for FBA Brands?
In 2021, Wall Street and private equity firms invested 12 billion dollars in startups consolidating popular brands sold on Amazon. These aggregators of brands seemed like they would be the next big thing. By 2022, that number had risen to 16 billion dollars in capital raised. It was a "cool" time to be in ecommerce.
entrepreneur.com
Amazon Copies Etsy and eBay with Offsite Ads Program
Sellers who pay extra for visibility through Sponsored Products ads on Amazon may now have their ads appear off-Amazon as well. Amazon announced Wednesday it was expanding Sponsored Products ads to other apps and websites. All such ads will link back to the Amazon product page.
ecommercebytes.com
On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Amazon will charge an additional 2% fee on all Seller Fulfilled Prime orders starting October 1. This new fee targets merchants enrolled in Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime program where brands ship their Amazon orders directly from their own warehouses. This comes on top of Amazon’s existing listing fee of up to 15% for selling via Amazon.
modernretail.co
With Installments Push, Amazon Opens Up New Avenues to Cement Merchant Loyalty
For Amazon, in its ever-continuing bid to draw merchant loyalty and widen the use of Amazon Pay, installment payments are now the latest arrow in the quiver. And by making installments usable anywhere that Amazon Pay is accepted, the broadening of the ecosystem is a shot across the bow at other evolving commerce ecosystems such as PayPal’s.
pymnts.com
Sellers Turn to Black Market to Get Accounts Back
There's an active black market for Amazon sellers looking to get their accounts reinstated and help them get an edge over rivals, according to CNBC, which found an instant-messaging group of over 13,000 members seeking and offering such services - and that wasn't the only group they found.
ecommercebytes.com
Tips and Tricks
Amazon’s Vine Program for Sellers: What Is It? And Is It Worth It?
If you want your product to succeed on Amazon, you need to explore all possible ways to get product reviews. Customer feedback helps build trust and social proof that your product is worth purchasing, which is especially important early on in a listing’s lifetime.
junglescout.com
Amazon AI-Generated Customer Review Summaries: Pros & Cons
AI-generated customer review summaries on Amazon aim to highlight the best or worst features of a product. Ensuring the accuracy and reliability of these summaries is critical to avoid mistrust and potential damage to sellers' reputations. The adoption of AI for this purpose reflects a broader trend in leveraging technology to enhance online shopping experience.
searchenginejournal.com
What is Amazon Emerald? View Jungle Scout Notifications in Amazon Seller Central
Amazon Emerald is a new program from Amazon that allows third-party seller apps to connect to Amazon Seller Central. It provides sellers with important data and notifications directly through their seller accounts, saving them time and helping ensure they make the most out of their third-party apps. And Jungle Scout is one of the first tools to be included in Amazon Emerald!
junglescout.com
Selling Books on Amazon: Essential Tips & Guide for 2023
Amazon is seller central when it comes to any kind of book. It can be a great place for individual sellers to create their own e-commerce business and start raking in sales. Once you sign up for your Amazon seller account, you can decide if you want an individual or professional account.
gobankingrates.com
What Is an Amazon Fulfillment Center & How Does It Work?
New sellers who want to start selling on Amazon often hear the term “Amazon FBA.” FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon and means that Amazon will store, pick, pack, and fulfill your orders for you – they will even handle customer service for orders fulfilled by Amazon. When sellers use FBA to fulfill their orders, they will send their products to one of Amazon’s many fulfillment centers across the country (and the world).
junglescout.com
7 Ways To Prevent Retail Shipment Shrink On Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day kicks off on July 11, and the porch pirates are set to sail. While many retailers from Target to Home Depot have recently reported up to $763 million in lost profit due to in-store theft, damage and loss – called shrink – the threat is not limited to stores. At this time of year, online retailers should be bracing for shipment shrink.
thewisemarketer.com
Podcasts
Amazon PPC Optimization Strategies To Improve Your Conversion Rates
In this episode, we answer your top Amazon PPC questions and talk about underrated optimization strategies that can potentially transform your click-through and conversion rates.
helium10.com