The problem is that Amazon is selling the same stuff at double or triple the cost of these direct marketplaces. Too much of Amazon is just marked up imports so

The problem is that Amazon is selling the same stuff at double or triple the cost of these direct marketplaces. Too much of Amazon is just marked up imports sold by meaningless brands. Companies like Temu keep happening because Amazon is not operating a cost efficient marketplace and they are vulnerable. Presumably Amazon would win because of reputation and the reliability of their return guarantees, but they’ve lost their trusted status by letting their review systems be corrupted and no longer have the high degree consumer trust that gave them such defensibility. So, some significant marketplace extraction will happen here as their suppliers essentially move up the value chain and start to eat their market, which looks like company-after-company from supply side countries making an entrance into the Western markets selling the exact same or similar products for much lower prices… exactly what we are seeing. This flattening out of the supply chain is a phenomenon that Amazon has not done a good job of protecting against. The only other big defense besides reputation is shipping speed and the risk annd complexity of importing, and perhaps at some point Amazon will wake up and start to lobby against the subsidized shipping policies. But in the short term they benefit from it too much to do so.