Start of "Amazon Style" & end of "Sold by Amazon"
Last year, Amazon became the largest fashion retailer in the US, and now the e-commerce giant wants to extend its lead even further offline with its first “Amazon Style” store. Presumably, the second intention behind this plan is to test the “Amazon Go” technology for another industry beyond groceries and then license it later.
In contrast, Amazon is discontinuing other programs. Under the name “Sold by Amazon”, there was alleged illegal price fixing – to the detriment of customers and ultimately participating retailers – and the so-called “Ambassador” program for employees probably resulted in more ridicule than positive PR.
There are also some important platform updates such as the ability to A/B test A+ Content for Vendors in Europe. As always, these are summarized here in the newsletter in the section “What caught our attention”.
We would also like to take this opportunity to once again call for your participation in our Amazon Merchant Survey 2022. Click here to access the questions – below you will also find the results of last year’s survey.
Updates: Amazon
“Amazon Style”: first fashion store to open in the US
Amazon has announced that it will open a physical fashion store called “Amazon Style” with women’s and men’s fashion in Los Angeles this year. The store will feature only “showroom” items: customers can access sizes, colors, product ratings and other information via their smartphones. In addition, the desired item can be ordered directly to the checkout or fitting room. These will be equipped with touch displays to request additional items.
Higher shipping and sales fees for sellers
Amazon has announced to raise some fees for sellers. These include higher shipping fees for standard package sizes, new weight classes for packages and higher monthly storage fees for FBA sellers. Most of the changes are scheduled to come into effect on March 31, 2022. Amazon cites rising ongoing operating costs as the reason for this move. From our point of view, it is yet another argument to take a closer look at the FBM model, which can bring many advantages for sellers.
Alleged illegal “Sold by Amazon” program shut down
After being sued for alleged price fixing, Amazon must now pay a $2.25 million fine in addition to terminating its “Sold by Amazon” program. The “invitation-only” program took over as a convenient solution for sellers to optimize prices and guaranteed a minimum price. Amazon is accused of simultaneously preventing sellers from undercutting the prices of Amazon’s own brands – and thus always offering the lowest price itself.
Higher prices for Amazon Prime?
According to former Amazon employees and Wall Street analysts, there could be price increases for Prime members in the US this year. While a membership cost $79 a year when the service was introduced in 2005, it was already $119 in 2018. Reasons for a further price increase are said to be primarily the current inflation, supply chain problems, and increasing investments in new services. Presumably, the price increase of Amazon’s video streaming competitor Netflix also plays a role in this regard.
Amazon ends controversial employee PR program
In several countries, Amazon paid employees at its warehouses to write positive posts on Twitter about the company and working conditions as “ambassadors.” Back in 2019, the campaign sparked some backlash after tweets from the “Amazon Ambassadors” went viral. Stopping the program is officially justified with too low reach – presumably, however, the posts rather caused the opposite of positive PR over time.
Updates: E-Commerce
US retailers expect 6% more returns during the past year
US retail returns increased from 10.6% in 2020 to an average of 16.6% in 2021, with some categories like apparel generating more returns than others. The question of what to do with unwanted orders has led to new approaches such as a virtual fitting room (Walmart) or online outlets (Best Buy). Our recommendation: retailers can prevent returns by using reviews the right way.
What caught our attention
A/B testing of A+ content is now available for vendors on all of Amazon’s European marketplaces. Previously, the feature was only available for sellers in the core European markets of Germany, UK, Spain, France and Italy. However, the application still seems to be a bit bumpy so shortly after the launch.
As of now, deal widgets on Sponsored Brand ads are always visible even when using a lifestyle image. In this particular case, deals were previously not displayed.
In Amazon’s Seller Central, it is now possible to contact buyers who have left a negative review under the “Customer Reviews” tab. There is a choice between “Goodwill Refund” and “Customer Service”, an individual text cannot be inserted. The update presents a new opportunity for Sellers to respond to customer reviews.
Remdash: Suppressed ASINs
Remdash can be used to identify so-called “Suppressed ASINs” – referring to products that meet the following criteria:
there is inventory available for the product, which is displayed in Brand Analytics
in the Buybox, the product is displayed as “Temporarily out of stock” or “Currently unavailable”
Interested in Remdash? Simply click here to schedule a personal product demo with our team.
Amazon Merchant Survey 2022 by Remazing
After our first survey in 2021, we would like to know again this year what development brands expect for their e-commerce activities on Amazon during the year ahead.
For this purpose, we have put together a short questionnaire and would be very happy about your participation. Answering the questions will not take longer than 5 minutes – thank you in advance for your support!
For your reference, the results of our Amazon Merchant Survey 2021 can be found here.
Top 5 Amazon Keywords
In most of the countries we analyzed, protective face masks for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic are still in high demand. Moreover, in the US and UK, Amazon shoppers are preparing for the upcoming Valentine’s Day.