I have not been posting as frequently on this blog, for several reasons. One of them being that I am working on different projets, but I will tell you more about it when the time is right.
However I still post frequently on my LinkedIn page, and I wanted to share a couple of recent posts.
Amazon Expands Its Delivery Network
What is better than next day delivery? Same day delivery. And what’s better than same day delivery? Next 3 hours delivery.
Walmart recently announced that by the end of the year, they will be able to deliver within 3 hours to 95% of Americans.
Walmart is making tons of progress in ecommerce. Their revenues grew 5.1% but what impresses me more is the 21% increase in membership revenues.
Their membership, Walmart plus. is becoming a serious competitor for Amazon Prime.
And I think that is why we now see Amazon making moves in rural areas. Because they think they are about to lose market share to Walmart, a company with a huge network of stores all over the country.
Now for brands, Amazon is still the king of ecommerce in the US, but disregarding Walmart is a mistake. And over the last year, I became more pessimistic about Amazon, but have high expectations for Walmart
China Calls for Reasonable Merchant Fees From eCommerce Platforms
It’s a rare day when I don’t see complaints about the fees Amazon and other platforms charge. And I understand, the cost of doing business online is becoming unsustainable for many SMBs.
Is the solution to emulate China’s e-commerce regulator and ask platforms to charge reasonable fees and better support small businesses?
Would that encourage people to start businesses and innovate, or would that create even more clutter on these marketplaces? Not to mention how complex this would be from a legal standpoint.
Ideally, we would be able to see new sales channels emerge, with more reasonable fees, that would allow SMBs to breathe. But network effects make it very difficult for new entrants to grow. And it looks like whenever a platform reaches a critical size (Amazon, Walmart, eBay…), it aligns its fee structure close to the ever-increasing industry standard. I am not saying there is price fixing among e-commerce giants, but this creates a very difficult environment for sellers.
What is the solution? At a large scale, I don’t know. At a smaller scale, it is more important than ever for businesses to create products and services that have healthy margins and don’t only rely on sales channels they don’t fully control.
The Golden Age of TikTok is Over
Just read Paul Drecksler latest Shopifreaks newsletter, and I agree 100% with his take on TikTok and the “golden age” of free organic reach being over.
Are we really surprised? This is the classic play for every major marketplace. Think about Amazon: once they hit critical mass, they gradually increased fees and gave sellers less and less organic visibility. As of today, advertising makes almost 10% of their revenues.
TikTok is just following that path. For us brands, this means we can’t just cross our fingers and hope for viral organic hits anymore. It’s time to factor paid TikTok campaigns into our budgets and focus on creating content that really connects.
It’s never fun to pay for what used to be “free,” but this is a sign that a new platform is maturing, and ecommerce in 2025 is much more than just Amazon and D2C channels.
Should businesses be required to price match their in-store prices on their online channels?
A recent lawsuit accuses Costco of misleading customers by charging higher prices online than in-store, all while advertising “free shipping” that’s actually built into the inflated price. This tactic, increasing prices to offset the cost of offering free shipping ,is the oldest trick in the ecommerce playbook. Many customers would rather pay $100 with “free” shipping than $90 plus $9 for shipping.
What I find concerning here is the implication that businesses should be forced to charge the same price online and offline. While this sounds easier for customers, it makes little sense for the business. Some customers don’t mind paying a bit more for the convenience of home delivery. Also, lower in-store prices can attract foot traffic and encourage impulse buys.
To me, this idea of forced price matching feels like a slippery slope. What if businesses were required to offer the same price across their DTC channels, online stores, all marketplaces, and social media? That would make managing pricing strategies a nightmare and limit opportunities to offer customers special deals. And where would it stop? Should B2B businesses be forced to offer every customer the same rate, eliminating bulk discounts entirely?
I think there are way worse examples of misleading customers than what Costco is doing here. Can regulators review drip pricing before looking at basic multichannel pricing strategies?
Tariff Costs Boost Demand for Efficiency in Reverse Logistics
In other words, businesses affected by the tariffs are trying to find extra revenue. Sustainability is only a piece of the puzzle; profitability and control are the two main reasons why brands like to build their own resale channels.
If prices go up on new items, the second-hand market will be impacted as well, as we see with used cars. And with C2C models where platform operators make the bulk of their revenue through referral fees and advertising, that means increased revenue as well.
For consumers, there will always be bargains, but the second-hand market isn’t what it used to be. Technology has made it easier for professionals to find the best deals and resell them for a profit. Hopefully, it won’t be as bad as the used car market, where 2-year-old cars with 30k miles are very close to the price of new cars.
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