Amazon & Marketplaces
In an ecommerce world increasingly dominated by Amazon and other huge marketplaces, we address how independent merchants can best use those channels to grow their businesses and brands. We analyze selling tools, listing optimization strategies, multichannel selling options, back-office efficiencies, pros and cons, common mistakes, and much more.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
How PopSockets Prospered after Leaving Amazon
January 7, 2019 • Phil Masiello
PopSockets opted not to be a direct vendor to Amazon. Instead, it chose one major reseller to represent it on the marketplace. But, Amazon would not allow it. So, PopSockets walked away.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Will Amazon’s Private Labels Squeeze Out Smaller Brands?
December 13, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Amazon is aggressively expanding both the number of private label goods it sells and the product categories it offers. Besides dominating online sales, Amazon is the source of over 50 percent of all online product searches, surpassing Google. Amazon's private label strategy is simple.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Resellers on Amazon Can Damage a Brand
November 8, 2018 • Phil Masiello
Selling on Amazon can generate revenue, reinforce your brand’s reputation, and expose your product to 8 million U.S. visitors per day. Using the Amazon marketplace, the opportunity for success is ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
4 Myths about Amazon’s Private Label Brands
October 8, 2018 • Phil Masiello
To date, Amazon has introduced roughly 70 private label brands. This has rattled many observers. But private label products are not new. The only difference between Amazon and other retailers is that consumers shop on their computers instead of physical stores.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Indian Grocery Sector Embraces Ecommerce
September 20, 2018 • Manish Dudharejia
An increasing number of young Indians are switching to smartphones with 4G data connections and making online purchases. Thanks to this ever-increasing consumer base, the Indian ecommerce sector has witnessed a steady growth in the recent years. It's the food and groceries segment that is fueling much of this growth.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Accessing Amazon’s and eBay’s delivery services
September 12, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
As far as Amazon is concerned, a parcel is tracked only if a seller uses a delivery service that Amazon approves of — one it can interface with to confirm the tracking number and delivery. Any other service is not tracked as far as Amazon is concerned. This has consequences if you use a service that does not integrate with Amazon.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
4 KPIs to Improve Results from Amazon Ads
August 29, 2018 • Phil Masiello
Advertising on Amazon is challenging for many sellers. There are many KPIs that will help manage your seller account on Amazon. For advertising, I focus on four metrics: advertising cost of sales; search term impressions; conversion rate; and order acquisition cost.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Growing a Business on Amazon — and Beyond
August 1, 2018 • Phil Masiello
Success on Amazon requires work, effort, and time. Don't believe the get-rich-quick peddlers. If they were as successful as they claim, they wouldn't be selling you their secrets.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
58 Leading Online Marketplaces Worldwide
July 23, 2018 • Gagan Mehra
In this post, I will list all major worldwide marketplaces — B2C and B2B. I have categorized the marketplaces by their home continent.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon’s 2018 Prime Day Sets Record Despite Glitches
July 19, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Amazon’s 2018 Prime Day event got off to an inauspicious start at 3 p.m. Eastern time on July 16 when eager shoppers received error messages due to overwhelming site traffic.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
One Click Retail Exec on Amazon’s Private Label Brands
July 19, 2018 • Armando Roggio
Amazon has made significant investments in its own private label brands, in areas such as diapers, dog food, and paper towels. The company’s private label strategy could be indicative of ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Using Amazon to wind down a retail business
July 13, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
There are many blogs on how to improve sales on Amazon. In this post, I’ll address the opposite: how to wind down and stop selling on Amazon entirely. It is becoming ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Are Amazon’s Private Label Brands a Trend for Other Merchants?
July 2, 2018 • Armando Roggio
Amazon has made significant investments in its own private label brands, such as diapers, dog food, and paper towels. The company’s private label strategy may be indicative of a burgeoning ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
The Real Benefit of Amazon Reviews
June 19, 2018 • Phil Masiello
I’m a longtime seller on Amazon’s marketplace. I also mentor many sellers and help brands to improve their marketplace sales. And I belong to various Amazon forums. The topic of ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
What the Walmart-Flipkart Deal Means for India
June 11, 2018 • Manish Dudharejia
The Indian ecommerce market is growing quickly thanks to smartphone penetration and fast internet. Overall ecommerce revenue in India is projected to reach $64 billion by 2020 from $38.5 billion ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Beardbrand Founder on Moving Away from Amazon
May 24, 2018 • Kerry Murdock
In an ecommerce world that is seemingly dominated by Amazon, Eric Bandholz has just moved his company’s products away from that marketplace. The company, Beardbrand, is now focused on selling ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart Wins Flipkart; Amazon Expands Prime; Target Beefs Up
May 23, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
In “Ecommerce Briefs,” I address news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll review Walmart’s purchase of a majority interest in Flipkart, India’s dominant marketplace. I’ll also address ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Has Amazon altered A-Z claims process to help sellers?
May 17, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
I recently took a break from selling on Amazon whilst reorganizing my stock. When I returned I noticed a difference in the A-Z claim process. First, I found that customers are ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Has Superlative First Quarter, Raises Prime Fee
May 10, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Ecommerce giant Amazon had a blockbuster first quarter. The period from January 1 through March 31, 2018 easily surpassed analysts’ predictions. Revenue jumped 43 percent to $51 billion, compared with ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Former Amazon Exec on Maintaining Brand Control
April 25, 2018 • Armando Roggio
James Thomson spent six years as head of Amazon Services, which recruits sellers to Amazon’s marketplace. He is now co-founder and partner of Buy Box Experts, a consultancy, and co-founder ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
How to convert Amazon buyers to your customers (without breaking the rules)
April 16, 2018 • Phil Masiello
An ecommerce brand has to decide whether to sell its products on Amazon's Marketplace, which is the dominant buying resource for today’s consumer. Independent brands can use Amazon as a tool to obtain customers. Through proper merchandising of their products, brands can turn Amazon buyers into their own loyal customers.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart, Amazon Vie for Flipkart; Etsy and Adidas Refocus
April 11, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address the competition between Walmart and Amazon to acquire Flipkart, India’s dominant marketplace. I’ll ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
17 Amazon Seller Tools to Find Profitable Products
March 25, 2018 • Connor Gillivan
As an Amazon merchant, I'm always looking for the next best product to sell — a high-potential item that no seller has discovered. In this article, I will share 17 Amazon seller tools that help source new products. Select a tool from the list, put together a standard process, and hand it off to a team member. Keep the process running at all times. It will increase your chances of finding that next best product.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Walmart’s Ecommerce Sales Up 23 Percent in Fourth Quarter 2017
March 1, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
Last month the Department of Commerce announced its estimate of U.S. retail ecommerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2017. The Department issues two sets of figures. One is seasonally ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Protect your brand on ecommerce marketplaces
February 23, 2018 • Phil Masiello
Marketplaces can help brands add incremental sales — and build awareness. The more avenues on which the consumer sees your brand, the more recognizable it becomes. As your brand gains recognition, consumers will remember it and will be more likely to purchase. But selling on marketplaces could backfire if you don't utilize the tools correctly.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
3 hooks to lure shoppers away from Amazon
February 14, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
In 2017 nearly 50 percent of all U.S. ecommerce sales went through Amazon. In the run-up to Thanksgiving, the rate was even higher. It is thus difficult to ignore Amazon if you want to succeed in selling online. But that is not to say that you have to follow other Amazon sellers and chase the price to the bottom. Instead, look carefully at the behavior of your target customers and determine how best to profit from them.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Alibaba Eyes Kroger; Walmart Partners with Rakuten
February 14, 2018 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series of news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address grocery wars, international expansion by Amazon and Walmart, and Pepsi’s embrace of ecommerce. In an effort to diversify and expand, Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant, is following in Amazon’s footsteps with its “New Retail” initiative — acquiring brick-and-mortar stores in China and looking to make similar acquisitions overseas.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
How to benefit from Amazon ads
February 1, 2018 • Phil Masiello
Amazon Marketing Services offers three advertising options, for vendors and sellers: Product Display Ads, Sponsored Products, and Headline Search Ads. To win the Buy Box and build your brand, the key is to know which type of ad to use and how to use it — whether you sell on Seller Central, Vendor Centra
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Amazon & Marketplaces
11 Amazon Seller Tools to Manage Customer Feedback
January 30, 2018 • Connor Gillivan
Amazon’s metrics help keep sellers aligned with the company’s overall mission of outstanding service for all customers. But the process of managing and optimizing customer feedback, product reviews, and overall seller rating can be time-consuming. Fortunately, third-party software companies can help. In this post, I'll list 11 vendors that help Amazon sellers manage customer feedback.
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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Merchant Voice
Dissecting Amazon’s new ‘Pay by Invoice’ method
January 10, 2018 • Richard Stubbings
The new payment method is "Pay by Invoice." It is an attempt to entice new customers to Amazon that prefer to pay after receiving the goods. It is presumably based on the assumption that there are organizations — libraries, public bodies, larger companies — who do not let their staff pay in advance for an item. On the face of it, it seemed like a good idea.
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