Category

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.

Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Takes On the Digital Advertising Industry

April 13, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon, the ecommerce giant, is showing greater interest in the digital advertising arena, expanding its offerings and attracting a new type of client: big brands that advertise on television and ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
BigCommerce CEO on Amazon, Other Channels

April 12, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

Many merchants view Amazon as a competitor, albeit one they are forced to sell on. Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce, disagrees. He believes Amazon can complement an ecommerce business. I ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Doesn’t Do Long-tail. Why Should You?

April 4, 2017 • Jeremy Hanks

The idea of “endless aisle” and “long-tail” retail has gained much traction since the publication in 2005 of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
The problem of fake products on Amazon

March 20, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

One of Amazon’s strengths is its extensive catalog and its requirement that every retailer selling an item has to list its offer on the same page. This means that when ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Advertising options for Amazon marketplace sellers

March 15, 2017 • Phil Masiello

In “To drive sales on Amazon, optimize keywords,” my previous post, I discussed the importance of keywords on the Amazon marketplace, especially for sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon. Keyword optimization ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
FedEx to Challenge Amazon for Ecommerce Fulfillment

March 15, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

1994. Ecommerce is in its infancy. A new company in Bellevue, Washington begins selling books online. Business analysts wonder if people will buy products online. Most people are skeptical. 2017. That ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Data Platform Identifies Counterfeits on Amazon, Other Marketplaces

March 13, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

The dominance of Amazon and its marketplace is clear. What’s not so clear are the counterfeit items that are also sold there. Rob Dunkel is the founder of 3PM Marketplace ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Sales Tax Nexus Hits FBA Sellers

March 9, 2017 • James Thomson

When a seller uses Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon program to store inventory in Amazon fulfillment centers across the U.S., that placement of products can create a tax “nexus” — a ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
To drive sales on Amazon, optimize keywords

March 4, 2017 • Phil Masiello

There are three ways to sell on Amazon. First, you can become an Amazon vendor, a first-party wholesaler of your products to Amazon, to resell. There are marketing opportunities for this ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
For success on Amazon, sell your own brands

February 15, 2017 • Phil Masiello

I have been selling on Amazon for many years. I have learned a few things about how to use the marketplace to expand and enhance my ecommerce efforts. In this ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Dissecting Amazon’s 2016 Financial Performance

February 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

For years when Amazon failed to show a profit, financial analysts were unperturbed. Now that Amazon is profitable, it is taking a hit for not being profitable enough and missing ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Using Amazon to launch NuPeptin, my new brand

February 4, 2017 • Phil Masiello

Launching a brand or ecommerce business is risky and expensive. You can do all of the research in the world, but until the rubber hits the road, you really don’t ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Using Amazon to build an ecommerce brand

January 27, 2017 • Phil Masiello

I love Amazon, both as a consumer and as a seller. There isn’t a more effective place to launch a brand and learn about consumer behavior than the Amazon marketplace. In ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
For Merchants, How to Navigate Amazon’s Marketplace?

January 13, 2017 • Kerry Murdock

The increasing dominance of Amazon has many merchants scratching their heads, wondering how exactly to work with that company, and how that company will impact their own businesses. I recently spoke ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Implications of Amazon’s Dominance for Brands, Retailing

January 10, 2017 • Jeremy Hanks

Consumers around the world are acquainted with Amazon. I spent $3,607.08 on Amazon in 2016 alone. With 54 million U.S. consumers (64 million worldwide) in its Prime program, Amazon rivals ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
The dreaded Amazon A-Z claim, part 2

January 7, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

There are still readers who are commenting on “The dreaded Amazon A-Z claim,” my post from May 2013. I will not repeat that post here. But in light of some of ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
No, Your Small Business Cannot Compete with Amazon

December 4, 2016 • Armando Roggio

Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, and other large retailers have competitive advantages over small ecommerce or brick-and-click businesses, making it difficult to compete on identical products. But this does not mean ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Strategy for Amazon Sponsored Product Ads

November 29, 2016 • Rob Sieracki

In “Are Amazon’s ‘Sponsored Product’ Ads Worth It?,” my post last month, I addressed the basic workings and worth of Sponsored Products. In this article, I’ll review tips for getting ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Are Amazon ‘Sponsored Products’ Ads Worth It?

October 27, 2016 • Rob Sieracki

Are you considering advertising on Amazon this holiday season? Curious if Amazon’s “Sponsored Products” campaigns are worth the money? In this article, I’ll offer a high-level analysis to help determine if Sponsored ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
Implications of Amazon’s repricing software

October 13, 2016 • Richard Stubbings

In “The end of automated Amazon repricing?,” my post from 2014, I raised the prospect of Amazon creating its own repricing tool. Well, that tool now exists. It’s called “Amazon ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Common Mistakes from Amazon Sellers

October 5, 2016 • Rob Sieracki

My agency is often called on to do formal audits of Amazon seller accounts. In the last 12 months, we’ve audited more than a dozen small-to-medium sized accounts, from companies ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
The Anatomy of an Amazon Legal Dispute

September 21, 2016 • John Di Giacomo

I represent a number of sellers who utilize Amazon’s various services to increase their ecommerce sales. Though I often advise clients against relying on Amazon as their sole source of fulfillment or ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Juggernaut Rolls; Third-party Sellers Benefit

September 13, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon’s 2016 second-quarter financial statements for the period ending June 30 showed robust growth, extending its profitability to a fifth straight quarter after years of spotty results. Revenue was $30.4 billion compared ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
In Acquiring Jet, Walmart Seeks Younger, Higher-income Consumers

August 16, 2016 • Marcia Kaplan

Last week Walmart purchased online merchant Jet for $3 billion in cash plus up to $300 million in Walmart shares to Jet founders. While this is a lot of money,
Amazon & Marketplaces
SEO: Most Online Shoppers Start at Amazon and Google, Study Says

July 1, 2016 • Jill Kocher Brown

When searching for products online, Amazon and Google are the leading places to start, according to a study released this week. Thirty-eight percent of shoppers polled reported starting their shopping ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
Ecommerce brands vs. Amazon sellers

June 27, 2016 • Peter Keller

I’ve worked in ecommerce for 15 years. When I started, those of us in the industry made the rules as we went along. No one knew for sure what would ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
For marketplace selling, know written and unwritten rules

June 18, 2016 • Richard Stubbings

If you are selling on a third-party site like Amazon or Ebay, it is important to understand the rules — the written rules and the unwritten ones. The unwritten rules ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Payments: Pros, Cons for Ecommerce Merchants

June 9, 2016 • Bruce Harpham

Fewer than 10 percent of Amazon’s 304 million customers reportedly used Amazon Payments on third-party sites in 2014 and 2015. This, potentially, could be an opportunity for ecommerce merchants that ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Getting Sales Tax Setup Right on Amazon

December 3, 2015 • James Thomson

Every seller on Amazon has the responsibility of paying sales tax in those U.S. states where it has tax nexus. When the tax isn’t paid, that seller builds a tax ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
How to Sell an Amazon Marketplace Business

November 16, 2015 • James Thomson

Most Amazon sellers have enough on their plates keeping their businesses running and maintaining sales and profits. But no matter how long a merchant lasts on Amazon, there may come a ...

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