4 ms·

What is the difference between this and the store brands at supermarkets?

by viahoptop 6y ago

Guest42 6y ago
Supermarkets don’t have even a fraction of the internal business data which leads to a more competitive marketplace.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
theturtletalks 6y ago
This is different that Costco selling their own brand vodka or toilet paper because buyers can see those items side by side when shopping. Amazon has their products on the top every time and if 3rd party sellers want to be next to them, they have to pay for ads. Amazon doesn't pay for its own ads so they can effectively hide their competition.
- dathinab 6y ago
  I believe amazone should pay for their own advertisement to well themsell and prices should be transparent (amazone has to pay them self what other would have to pay), _because then they would still need to pay tax_ for this. At least in countries where taxes are not very low this could make the situation slightly better. Through not that much better tbh.
  - hnick 6y ago
    Yes this sounds like an antitrust situation to me (I know they are not technically a monopoly but different countries have different takes on these laws so it's worth considering why they exist). A phone wholesaler with a retail business will be broken up since it is a problem for their other retail customers. This is quite similar where Amazon is acting as both the provider and a retail customer competing against their other retail (marketplace business) customers, with a number of advantages. Having them forced to provide services at arm's length, at published costs, with audited public books and no inside information would level the playing field. They probably already account for advertising "spend" internally anyway if they're smart, since as another poster alluded they miss out on PPC when someone clicks on an Amazon product so need to know what it cost them.
  - Talanes 6y ago
    That is how it works in the physical goods world, at least. A corporate owned store "buys" it's inventory from the corporation. I'm not sure exactly how taxes intersect with those transactions, but they establish a much clearer picture of how money moves within the organization. Opportunity costs become a lot clearer when it's not "we could have made X amount from ads here" but instead "we spent X on advertising."
- heyoni 6y ago
  You think store brands are sitting side by side with name brands? If anything they’re at eye level. And with amazon, they can’t actually delete the listing, but maybe you have to scroll down a bit.
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    You think store brands are sitting side by side with name brands? Based on my last trip to the supermarket, absolutely. The stores have to put their brand next to the name-brand, or nobody will see their stuff. They can't just shove the name brand items to the bottom of the shelf because the brands have done all of the advertising, and those are the logos, colors, and packaging that people are looking for.
    - adamc 6y ago
      Yeah, this. I often buy house brands of things like Ibuprofen (same stuff, but cheaper), but they absolutely put it next to the well-advertised brands, because otherwise finding it would be a nightmare and nobody would bother. Display in a store is much more limited than online. They have to put like items together if they want customers to find them.
      - heyoni 6y ago
        Then that's even worse! They're counting on the fact that you're going to look at one item, to make you see theirs. The point isn't that Amazon is great, it's just that stores do the exact same dumb shit and we've grown accustomed to it. Why the sudden outrage? PS: I didn't read the article because of what I consider an even more grotesque form of consumer manipulation...blocking your news website from displaying the full article unless you interact with it, and breaking reader mode so that you have to see their ads/graphics. I'd get my pitchfork out for that.
- aogl 6y ago
  You say Amazon doesn't pay for ads, but by them taking the space of the ads others aren't buying, they're losing ad money, which probably equates back to the value of the ad. ?
  - hnick 6y ago
    Good point, is Amazon only PPC? I mean, they own the whole platform so click fraud would be easy to get away with but hopefully that's not happening. I'm not sure if anyone has the ability to audit their honesty.
- kevindong 6y ago
  > because buyers can see those items side by side when shopping I can't speak for Costco, but that's not really true in a conventional supermarket though. It's pretty well known that food manufacturers [can/are required to] pay to get better shelf placement (e.g. eye level vs. way high up or way down low): https://qz.com/807723/inside-the-secret-backroom-deals-big-brands-make-to-vie-for-control-over-grocery-stores/ https://qz.com/807723/inside-the-secret-backroom-deals-big-b...
friendlybus 6y ago
Not much. Walmart crushed an art supply company by enticing them in, copying the product at a lower quality and price, then slowly reduced shelf space of the other guy as he deflated. He ended up worse off than when he started.
- peanutz454 6y ago
  This sounds awful. Is there any reference to this? I can't find anything but would like to update the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart#Allegations_of_predatory_pricing_and_supplier_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart#Allegatio...
Terr_ 6y ago
IIRC supermarkets typically don't manufacture their own, they offer a re-branding partnership with an existing product.
wh1t3n01s3 6y ago
Here the supermarkets buy from the private label. He is still in the business. Maybe with less margin, but bigger volumes.
Ensorceled 6y ago
Nothing. That is also a bad thing.
jkukul 6y ago
With its huge market share Amazon has practically a monopoly as a marketplace or as an online-retailer, depending how you define it. If a supermarket starts playing dirty there are many others in which you can sell your product. If Amazon steals your product, you have no other marketplace to turn to. Amazon gives an opportunity for many businesses to flourish, but then can kill them on a whim. "Live by the Amazon, die by the Amazon."
gundmc 6y ago
Traditional retailers buy their inventory from manufacturers to place on the shelf and in turn sell to customers. There may be some agreements on buying back unsold inventory, but generally the retailer takes on risk for the inventory they are selling. Amazon, conversely, only provides the platform connecting manufacturers to customers. They may hold consigned inventory in their warehouse, but they typically don't take on the risk for any unsold stock. This is a big difference between grocery private labels and Amazon basics. Amazon is reaping the benefits without taking on any of the risk. Disclaimer: I don't work in retail, this is my understanding based on reading but I could be mistaken.
scotu 6y ago
we should really stop thinking there is always a direct parallel between web and physical equivalent. On the surface they look alike but the reality is that they are fundamentally different in scale and personalization/targeting/tracking possibilities which makes the online case completely different than the physical case. I can see all the products at costco, I cannot see all products on amazon for example. Besides, costco is not a monopoly, and I can go to target or safeway if I want to...
- sigstoat 6y ago
  > Besides, costco is not a monopoly, and I can go to target or safeway if I want to... amazon doesn't have a monopoly in online retail, and i can go to any other website just as easily. far more easily than you can drive to a different store.

What is the difference between this and the store brands at supermarkets?

Guest42 6y ago

Supermarkets don’t have even a fraction of the internal business data which leads to a more competitive marketplace.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

theturtletalks 6y ago

This is different that Costco selling their own brand vodka or toilet paper because buyers can see those items side by side when shopping. Amazon has their products on the top every time and if 3rd party sellers want to be next to them, they have to pay for ads. Amazon doesn't pay for its own ads so they can effectively hide their competition.

dathinab 6y ago
I believe amazone should pay for their own advertisement to well themsell and prices should be transparent (amazone has to pay them self what other would have to pay), _because then they would still need to pay tax_ for this. At least in countries where taxes are not very low this could make the situation slightly better. Through not that much better tbh.
- hnick 6y ago
  Yes this sounds like an antitrust situation to me (I know they are not technically a monopoly but different countries have different takes on these laws so it's worth considering why they exist). A phone wholesaler with a retail business will be broken up since it is a problem for their other retail customers. This is quite similar where Amazon is acting as both the provider and a retail customer competing against their other retail (marketplace business) customers, with a number of advantages. Having them forced to provide services at arm's length, at published costs, with audited public books and no inside information would level the playing field. They probably already account for advertising "spend" internally anyway if they're smart, since as another poster alluded they miss out on PPC when someone clicks on an Amazon product so need to know what it cost them.
- Talanes 6y ago
  That is how it works in the physical goods world, at least. A corporate owned store "buys" it's inventory from the corporation. I'm not sure exactly how taxes intersect with those transactions, but they establish a much clearer picture of how money moves within the organization. Opportunity costs become a lot clearer when it's not "we could have made X amount from ads here" but instead "we spent X on advertising."
heyoni 6y ago
You think store brands are sitting side by side with name brands? If anything they’re at eye level. And with amazon, they can’t actually delete the listing, but maybe you have to scroll down a bit.
- reaperducer 6y ago
  You think store brands are sitting side by side with name brands? Based on my last trip to the supermarket, absolutely. The stores have to put their brand next to the name-brand, or nobody will see their stuff. They can't just shove the name brand items to the bottom of the shelf because the brands have done all of the advertising, and those are the logos, colors, and packaging that people are looking for.
  - adamc 6y ago
    Yeah, this. I often buy house brands of things like Ibuprofen (same stuff, but cheaper), but they absolutely put it next to the well-advertised brands, because otherwise finding it would be a nightmare and nobody would bother. Display in a store is much more limited than online. They have to put like items together if they want customers to find them.
    - heyoni 6y ago
      Then that's even worse! They're counting on the fact that you're going to look at one item, to make you see theirs. The point isn't that Amazon is great, it's just that stores do the exact same dumb shit and we've grown accustomed to it. Why the sudden outrage? PS: I didn't read the article because of what I consider an even more grotesque form of consumer manipulation...blocking your news website from displaying the full article unless you interact with it, and breaking reader mode so that you have to see their ads/graphics. I'd get my pitchfork out for that.
aogl 6y ago
You say Amazon doesn't pay for ads, but by them taking the space of the ads others aren't buying, they're losing ad money, which probably equates back to the value of the ad. ?
- hnick 6y ago
  Good point, is Amazon only PPC? I mean, they own the whole platform so click fraud would be easy to get away with but hopefully that's not happening. I'm not sure if anyone has the ability to audit their honesty.
kevindong 6y ago
> because buyers can see those items side by side when shopping I can't speak for Costco, but that's not really true in a conventional supermarket though. It's pretty well known that food manufacturers [can/are required to] pay to get better shelf placement (e.g. eye level vs. way high up or way down low): https://qz.com/807723/inside-the-secret-backroom-deals-big-brands-make-to-vie-for-control-over-grocery-stores/ https://qz.com/807723/inside-the-secret-backroom-deals-big-b...

friendlybus 6y ago

Not much. Walmart crushed an art supply company by enticing them in, copying the product at a lower quality and price, then slowly reduced shelf space of the other guy as he deflated. He ended up worse off than when he started.

peanutz454 6y ago
This sounds awful. Is there any reference to this? I can't find anything but would like to update the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart#Allegations_of_predatory_pricing_and_supplier_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart#Allegatio...

Terr_ 6y ago

IIRC supermarkets typically don't manufacture their own, they offer a re-branding partnership with an existing product.

wh1t3n01s3 6y ago

Here the supermarkets buy from the private label. He is still in the business. Maybe with less margin, but bigger volumes.

Ensorceled 6y ago

Nothing. That is also a bad thing.

jkukul 6y ago

With its huge market share Amazon has practically a monopoly as a marketplace or as an online-retailer, depending how you define it. If a supermarket starts playing dirty there are many others in which you can sell your product. If Amazon steals your product, you have no other marketplace to turn to. Amazon gives an opportunity for many businesses to flourish, but then can kill them on a whim. "Live by the Amazon, die by the Amazon."

gundmc 6y ago

Traditional retailers buy their inventory from manufacturers to place on the shelf and in turn sell to customers. There may be some agreements on buying back unsold inventory, but generally the retailer takes on risk for the inventory they are selling. Amazon, conversely, only provides the platform connecting manufacturers to customers. They may hold consigned inventory in their warehouse, but they typically don't take on the risk for any unsold stock. This is a big difference between grocery private labels and Amazon basics. Amazon is reaping the benefits without taking on any of the risk. Disclaimer: I don't work in retail, this is my understanding based on reading but I could be mistaken.

scotu 6y ago

we should really stop thinking there is always a direct parallel between web and physical equivalent. On the surface they look alike but the reality is that they are fundamentally different in scale and personalization/targeting/tracking possibilities which makes the online case completely different than the physical case. I can see all the products at costco, I cannot see all products on amazon for example. Besides, costco is not a monopoly, and I can go to target or safeway if I want to...

sigstoat 6y ago
> Besides, costco is not a monopoly, and I can go to target or safeway if I want to... amazon doesn't have a monopoly in online retail, and i can go to any other website just as easily. far more easily than you can drive to a different store.