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 > Merchant Voice
Every Amazon A-Z claim is a failure in customer service
November 28, 2017 • Richard Stubbings
Every Amazon A-Z claim is a failure in customer service. I could have avoided every one of the claims filed against my company, no matter how unfair it was. An Amazon ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
4 ways to get legitimate Amazon reviews
November 13, 2017 • Phil Masiello
Merchants on the Amazon marketplace realize the importance of product and seller reviews. Products with more reviews and better ratings appear higher in Amazon’s search results. Buyers also tend to ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
5 Steps to Find Profitable Products to Sell on Amazon
November 9, 2017 • Connor Gillivan
There are many strategies for choosing products to sell on the Amazon marketplace. In this article, I’ll explore a 5-step strategy that uses information provided by Amazon on all products ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
T-shirt Designers Thriving on Merch by Amazon
November 2, 2017 • Connor Gillivan
Merch by Amazon is an on-demand t-shirt printing service. Sellers can create t-shirt designs as product listings, and earn royalties on every sale. Amazon prints the t-shirts, and then ships ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
My favorite strategies, tools for selling on Amazon
October 18, 2017 • Phil Masiello
Amazon is a bridge between buyers and sellers worldwide. For business owners, Amazon can provide an excellent sales and awareness channel without incurring the high costs associated with branding or ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Amazon and Kohl’s, Food Wars, Toys’R’Us
October 9, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
“Ecommerce Briefs” is my occasional series on news and developments from online merchants. In this installment, I’ll address: Amazon’s new partnership with Kohl’s; activity in the U.S. online food delivery ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
6 ways to optimize Amazon listings
September 20, 2017 • Phil Masiello
Amazon has a huge catalog of products from around the world. Consumers rely an Amazon’s site search to find those products. But it doesn’t mean they will find the best ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Ecommerce Briefs: Walmart Steps Up Acquisitions
September 14, 2017 • Marcia Kaplan
One economic sector’s implosion is another sector’s lucky break. Physical store closures are disproportionately occurring in the apparel category, pushing more consumers to online clothing shopping. Seizing the opportunity for ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
Legal: Protect Against Counterfeit Goods with Amazon Brand Gating
September 6, 2017 • John Di Giacomo
There is no question that service providers like Amazon must constantly be on guard against nefarious third party sellers who might use their service for unlawful means. In order to ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces > Merchant Voice
For success on Amazon and eBay, don’t follow others
August 22, 2017 • Richard Stubbings
For many ecommerce merchants, it is essential to list stock on the likes of eBay and Amazon. The potential sales volume from these sites is too large to ignore. However,
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Amazon & Marketplaces
3 new Amazon tools for brands
August 13, 2017 • Phil Masiello
Amazon continues to improve the experience of brands selling on the marketplace. There are a few new tools that are worth noting, for Fulfillment-by-Amazon sellers in Brand Registry. One tool,
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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 ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Amazon & Marketplaces
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...