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
Ecommerce Briefs: Amazon’s Earnings; Walmart’s In-store Pickup

August 10, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series on news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll decipher Amazon’s Q2 2017 financial results and its recently-announced returns policy for certain marketplace ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
Independent retailers, repeat buyers, and Amazon

August 3, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

It is getting harder to gain and keep customers. Traditionally, independent retailers have earned their business by providing a better service or product to consumers — a unique selling point ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Amazon Prime Day 2017 Smashes Sales Record

July 18, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

Amazon held its third annual Prime Day on July 11. The event actually began the evening of July 10 and offered 30 hours of deals instead of the 24 offered ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Viral Launch C.E.O. on Amazon Selling Tactics

July 14, 2017 • Armando Roggio

The Amazon marketplace contains nearly 500 million products, from about 2 million sellers. That’s a lot of competition for businesses that sell items there. In fact, being competitive on Amazon is exactly what ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
2 new marketing options for FBA sellers on Amazon’s Brand Registry

July 9, 2017 • Phil Masiello

There have been many articles and discussions over the past few weeks about Amazon’s Brand Registry. We’ve addressed it here, at “Will Amazon’s Brand Registry restrict marketplace sellers?” and “Why ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Why Use Amazon’s Brand Registry?

June 29, 2017 • John Di Giacomo

Protecting against knockoffs on Amazon can be a problem for ecommerce merchants. Thankfully, Amazon recently instituted its Brand Registry program, which is intended to protect the brands of marketplace sellers ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Will Amazon’s Brand Registry restrict marketplace sellers?

June 26, 2017 • Phil Masiello

There are two types of Amazon sellers. Both can be successful. The first type is a reseller of other brands. This is a highly competitive type of selling with very small profit ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
For Amazon, Is Whole Foods a Grocery Chain or a Distribution Network?

June 20, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan

The announcement that Amazon is buying Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion, or $42 a share, generated an enormous amount of commentary, with financial and technology analysts chiming in on ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
The 2 Winners in Amazon vs. Walmart Battle

June 19, 2017 • Jeremy Hanks

After an ecommerce power-up that included acquiring a string of online retailers, including Jet.com, Walmart took a major swing at Amazon by offering free 2-day shipping for qualified orders of ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
2 strategies to boost Amazon sales

May 26, 2017 • Phil Masiello

Amazon is a great additional sales channel for any ecommerce company. Not only will it provide incremental sales, but it also provides brand exposure. In my prior posts, I have focused ...
Amazon & Marketplaces
Can ecommerce marketplaces expand a brand?

April 23, 2017 • Phil Masiello

It’s funny how ecommerce brands fear established online marketplaces. When I discuss with those brands selling on Amazon, Walmart.com, Sears.com or any of the hundreds of online marketplaces, I often ...
Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
My (unplanned) survey of Amazon resellers

April 23, 2017 • Richard Stubbings

In the last few days I have been conducting an unplanned survey of the customer service of hundreds of Amazon resellers. It is unplanned and unwelcomed because someone sent phishing ...
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 ...

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