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FYI - Amazon is a huge driver of small businesses. More than 50% of all the revenue from their whole e-commerce business is from 3rd party sellers, who are gene

by cm2012 9y ago

FYI - Amazon is a huge driver of small businesses. More than 50% of all the revenue from their whole e-commerce business is from 3rd party sellers, who are generally small operators.

dwc 9y ago
This can be true and still be not so great at the same time. What any company like Amazon tries to do is capture revenue, typically by taking it away from someone else rather than create something new. In the short term that can mean a boon for small business as large competitors to Amazon are undermined. In fact, Amazon uses small sellers to do the undermining. Once everyone in a market segment essentially works for Amazon then they are free to tighten down the screws and extract more profits.
- dusing 9y ago
  In my experience when we brought our small (10yr old) brand to Amazon prime it doubled our revenue in the first year. Albeit at a lower margin, but still higher that wholesale. The customer crossover is surprisingly minimal, so it is not stealing from our traditional online business. I know this through extensive promotions on our direct website that do not seem to sway demand on amazon.com for the same thing at a much higher price.
  - dwc 9y ago
    Yes, this is true. I have bought things on Amazon from small sellers that were difficult or impossible to find otherwise, or that were only available on a custom site where I was hesitant to give my payment info.
  - sah2ed 9y ago
    Wait, are those products listed at higher prices on Amazon or your website? If I can get an item cheaper from the seller directly, assuming paying them securely is not a problem and shipping costs stay constant, of course I'll switch to buying from the seller's website directly. Unless if the seller's website is harder to use or their business/domain is name not that memorable/trustworthy.
rossdavidh 9y ago
There's a lot of ways in which I worry about Amazon's dominance, but actually if the alternative is (and it was) Barnes&Noble (books) and Wal-Mart (everything else), which drove small retail completely out of business instead of just coopting them, I prefer Amazon.
deckard1 9y ago
How many of these businesses are fly-by-night vendors offloading junk-tier goods at inflated prices? Most of the unbranded goods are straight from Alibaba, with a 40%+ markup. Just try buying batteries on Amazon. You'll wade through countless reviews claiming "counterfeit" before tiring and just buying some batteries that you hope are legit. Or driving to an actual store that you trust sells legit items on its shelves. 3rd party sellers are going to be a pain in Amazon's ass and a massive ding to their reputation if they don't fix it soon.
- cm2012 9y ago
  Some, but in my experience going to conventions and such it's more often established businesses.

by cm2012 9y ago

FYI - Amazon is a huge driver of small businesses. More than 50% of all the revenue from their whole e-commerce business is from 3rd party sellers, who are generally small operators.

dwc 9y ago

This can be true and still be not so great at the same time. What any company like Amazon tries to do is capture revenue, typically by taking it away from someone else rather than create something new. In the short term that can mean a boon for small business as large competitors to Amazon are undermined. In fact, Amazon uses small sellers to do the undermining. Once everyone in a market segment essentially works for Amazon then they are free to tighten down the screws and extract more profits.

dusing 9y ago
In my experience when we brought our small (10yr old) brand to Amazon prime it doubled our revenue in the first year. Albeit at a lower margin, but still higher that wholesale. The customer crossover is surprisingly minimal, so it is not stealing from our traditional online business. I know this through extensive promotions on our direct website that do not seem to sway demand on amazon.com for the same thing at a much higher price.
- dwc 9y ago
  Yes, this is true. I have bought things on Amazon from small sellers that were difficult or impossible to find otherwise, or that were only available on a custom site where I was hesitant to give my payment info.
- sah2ed 9y ago
  Wait, are those products listed at higher prices on Amazon or your website? If I can get an item cheaper from the seller directly, assuming paying them securely is not a problem and shipping costs stay constant, of course I'll switch to buying from the seller's website directly. Unless if the seller's website is harder to use or their business/domain is name not that memorable/trustworthy.

rossdavidh 9y ago

There's a lot of ways in which I worry about Amazon's dominance, but actually if the alternative is (and it was) Barnes&Noble (books) and Wal-Mart (everything else), which drove small retail completely out of business instead of just coopting them, I prefer Amazon.

deckard1 9y ago

How many of these businesses are fly-by-night vendors offloading junk-tier goods at inflated prices? Most of the unbranded goods are straight from Alibaba, with a 40%+ markup. Just try buying batteries on Amazon. You'll wade through countless reviews claiming "counterfeit" before tiring and just buying some batteries that you hope are legit. Or driving to an actual store that you trust sells legit items on its shelves. 3rd party sellers are going to be a pain in Amazon's ass and a massive ding to their reputation if they don't fix it soon.

cm2012 9y ago
Some, but in my experience going to conventions and such it's more often established businesses.