According to the FTC, Amazon now takes nearly half of every dollar in sales from sellers who use its fulfillment services. Wow, that is quite a bold statement, and I can’t help but picture a high school bully stealing lunch money from scrawny kids. But is the situation really this dramatic? In the final part of my FTC lawsuit review, I’d like to go over the allegations concerning Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) program.
Continue readingAuthor: Francois Maingret (Page 10 of 14)
Some people remember their first kiss, others their first time flying, I remember my first Amazon order. It was almost a decade ago, I had just moved to Philadelphia as an exchange student. I remember finding the stupidly expensive textbook I needed for a class on Amazon at 20% of the university bookstore price. This is when my journey with Amazon began. Back then, Amazon US already offered a huge selection of products, compared to European marketplaces. I was fascinated by how easy it was to find unique products and great deals. And let me tell you, things have changed. Sometimes, I’d like to go back in time and analyze the 2014 Amazon to compare it to the current version. As we will see in this article, there were many changes regarding the product search process. Changes so radical the FTC now has an eye on it.
Continue readingDid you know that even when shoppers discover a product they like on a retailer’s website, 90 percent of them still compare it with Amazon’s offerings or prices? It shows how bug Amazon’s influence is in the ecommerce landscape and why they strive to offer the best deals to their customers. However, if you’ve been reading the news, you likely know of the antitrust lawsuit that has brought Amazon under scrutiny.
Having spent many years as a seller on Amazon in multiple countries, I was very interested to hear more about it. The lawsuit accuses Amazon of using monopoly power to push higher prices for consumers, overcharge its 3rd-party sellers, and stifle competition. I would like to go through the key parts of the lawsuit, and reflect on what can be done to improve the situation for all stakeholders, including customers.
Continue readingHave you ever heard the term “TikTok brain”? Tiktok videos, reels, and other short formats are killing our attention span, and there is now a name for this phenomenon. In fact, nearly 50% of users surveyed by TikTok said that videos longer than a minute long were “stressful”. ONE minute is stressful now?! In addition to shrinking our attention spans, short videos are highly addictive, with the average TikTok user spending a whopping 95 minutes a day on the app. With this data in mind, it is no surprise that the recent TikTok ecommerce venture, TikTok Shops, is successful. But this success might be short-lived in some countries, with Indonesia very recently banning shopping transactions on social media apps.
Continue readingIn the latest news, the President of Indonesia has announced that his country is considering issuing new regulations regarding social commerce, the use of social media for direct online product sales. The main reason behind these potential regulations is the concern over predatory pricing and unfair competition that offline businesses might face.
Continue readingDon’t we all hate it when we see a hotel room, plane ticket, or concert ticket at an attractive price, only to be hit with a million extra fees during checkout? Convenience fees, payment processing fees, because-we-can fees, and various fuck-you fees makes a miserable shopping for customers. That delicious $12 burger you found on the food delivery app? $40 after various fees, delivery, and tip. And what’s this? An “e-ticket delivery fee”? Receiving your football game tickets via email now comes with a price tag.
Continue readingChances are, you’ve heard about Amazon’s Big Deal Days, that magical event that makes our wallets lighter. But do you know about Walmart’s Holiday Kickoff sale? Planned from October 9th to 12th, this event will overlap with Amazon’s own sale on October 10th and 11th. Walmart has big plans to increase its ecommerce presence and also said it generated over $80 billion from ecommerce in 2022, which is a 9% growth. That is better than Amazon’s overall ecommerce revenue growth of less than 6%.
Continue readingBack in April 2022, Amazon launched their “Buy with Prime” program, allowing sellers to offer customers shopping on their website the option to make purchases using their Amazon Prime accounts and receive items through Amazon’s sophisticated fulfillment network. The goal was to generate additional revenue for Amazon, gather data, and compete with platforms like Shopify.
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In the grand theater of ecommerce, competition takes center stage, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. But not every performance is a heart-pounding Shakespearean tragedy. Each business has its unique script, stage, and actors, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors can vary dramatically.
Today, we will explore the competitive dynamics of the business world, with a special focus on the ecommerce world. For the business strategy nerds out there, we’ll delve into Porter’s analysis of the intensity of rivalry and apply it to online businesses. We’ll review the key factors that impact the intensity of rivalry before looking at strategies to successfully navigate a competitive environment. So, let’s dive in and discover what keeps our audience applauding.
Continue readingI am fascinated by the increasing competition between social media platforms and online marketplaces. In a recent piece, I wrote about the concept of omnichannel e-commerce and how the distinction between sales channels is blurring. However, it seems that figuring out who is engaged in ecommerce and who is doing social media is becoming increasingly difficult.
Continue readingAbout This Blog
My name is François, I’m the author of this blog. I love writing and talking about business and ecommerce. I hope you enjoy my work, feel free to contact me for any suggestion!