Amazon, Alibaba, Zalando and the Digital Services Act

• Amazon announces app integration for Prime purchases in Shopify stores
• Delivery date based reserve policy: Amazon grants longer transition period
• Amazon faces consumer lawsuit

Further E-Commerce News:

• EU’s Digital Services Act now applies to large online businesses
• B2B sales promotion: Alibaba launches ‘Super September’
• Zalando shuts down ratings

Updates: Amazon Marketplaces

The new update of the Helium 10 extension now displays the organic competitive share as a percentage for search terms on both product and brand levels. The brand share and sales by brand thus not only provide a good insight into the corresponding niche, but also show which competitors should be targeted more closely.

In addition to the main image, advertisers can now also consider the other gallery images in A/B testing in Vendor and Seller Central. We have only discovered this function in the UK so far; it remains to be seen whether it will also be available for Vendors and Sellers in different countries in the near future.

News: Amazon

Amazon Announces App Integration for Buy with Prime on Shopify Stores

The “Buy with Prime” app is designed to enable Shopify merchants to offer Prime shopping to Prime members on their Shopify stores, providing fast, free delivery and easy returns through the Amazon delivery network.

• The integration is designed to make it easier for merchants to operate and use their existing Shopify settings; they will also retain control of customer data in the Shopify admin. Amazon Pay will be integrated with Shopify Payments.
• The app seems to represent a rather large advantage for merchants, as Amazon claims it increases shopper conversion rates by 25% on average.
• The app will initially be available by invitation to select Shopify merchants and will later be available to all US-based Shopify merchants.

Delivery Date Based Reserve Policy: Amazon Grants Longer Transition Period

In the coming months, It was only in August that Amazon introduced a change in the payment modalities for merchants, according to which, payments would in the future only be made seven days after the delivery date.

• Previously, merchants could debit revenues either immediately or seven days after the date of sale. The change was made to bring the basic guidelines for reserves in line with international standards.
• After some displeasure, the changeover, originally scheduled for August 3, 2023, will now be postponed until January 31, 2024.
• Merchants who have already converted also have the option to rescind the conversion until January 31, 2024; Amazon will also inform affected merchants in an email.

Amazon Faces Antitrust Lawsuit

Amazon faces a possible class action lawsuit in Seattle’s U.S. Federal District Court, from consumers accusing the online retail giant of price fixing.

• Amazon is accused of being involved in a price-fixing scheme that artificially raised prices for various goods on its platform.
• The California and Maryland plaintiffs allege violations of antitrust laws.
• The lawsuit is part of a series of legal battles in which Amazon is accused of violating consumer protection laws or antitrust regulations.
• A meeting between the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Amazon failed to reach a consensus, and Amazon has therefore not made any concessions thus far.

News: E-Commerce

EU Digital Services Act (DSA) Now Applies to Major Online Companies

According to the DSA, 19 major online platforms such as X, Facebook, Google, Zalando and Amazon are required to remove illegal content more quickly and facilitate user reports.

• Potentially criminal activity must also be reported and detailed reports on risks to EU citizens created, covering different types of illegal content.
• The DSA also includes rules on T&Cs, advertising, and dark patterns, and there are new advertising rules, including targeted advertising to minors and the use of “special categories” of personal data.
• While large companies are required to comply with the DSA from February 2024, small companies have some exemptions. National German law will still require some adjustments in this regard, especially with the responsibilities of these small and medium-sized companies.

B2B Sales Event: Alibaba Launches Super September

With “Super September,” Alibaba is kicking off the new month with its own B2B sales event, aiming to bring together over 40 million buyers and 200,000 sellers worldwide.

• Over 70 million products will be offered during Super September, many of them at the lowest prices of the last 90 days. Customers who pay with PayPal can receive an additional discount of up to $45.
• German shoppers should benefit from fast delivery, quality assurance and live presentations from vendors in virtual showrooms.
• EU and UK shoppers will have the opportunity to visit the “European Pavilion,” which features 1.5 million EU-certified products. In addition, the money-back guarantee for Trade Assurance orders will be increased from 30 to 60 days to boost buyer confidence.

Zalando Shuts Down Ratings

The online marketplace is removing product reviews from its platform and instead offering a survey on product information to assess support for purchase decisions.

• In Europe in particular, many customers rely on product reviews when making online purchasing decisions, with fake reviews being a particularly common problem that has even been addressed by the European Commission.
• In the context of the body measurement feature introduced in July, this could be a test of the impact on conversion rates.
• Whether this is a permanent decision is unclear so far.

Did You Know?

More than half of the Amazon customers visit the platform even if they have no concrete intention to buy. The majority use the site most often to compare prices and read product reviews. Almost a quarter of the respondents regularly get an overview about products on Amazon. 43% of respondents use the online marketplace only when they have a clear intention to buy – and amongst that group, the youngest age category (16-24 years) is well above the average with 50%.

(Source: Amazon Shopper Report 2022, Remazing & Appinio)

Remdash: Case Study Share of Voice

5 national Amazon marketplaces, hundreds of products, and one tool to measure brand presence. Learn how Kellogg’s used Remdash to increase its visibility on generic keywords by +240% and sales by +331%.

Interested in Remdash?
Just click here to schedule a personal product demo with our team.

Top 5 Amazon Keywords

These are the top 5 most-searched keywords by country from September 3 – 9th, 2023.

The upcoming new school year is reflected in the frequent searches for school calendars in France, Italy and Spain. In the U.S., people are actively searching for Halloween decorations, while German Amazon customers are looking for dirndls for Oktoberfest, and in the U.K., there is strong interest in fans. Across countries, technical devices such as the PS5 and iPhone 14 continue to dominate search queries.

In Case You Missed it.

More than a sales channel: Why is Amazon content being increasingly used for branding – by Sam Armstrong, November 11, 2022

Amazon Browse Nodes – by Andrew Boateng, March 30, 2022

Open Positions

Remazing is constantly growing and, currently, we are especially looking for: 

Senior Finance Manager ? Hamburg

Senior DevOps Engineer ? Flexible

E-Commerce Consultant, Germany ? Hamburg

Junior E-Commerce Consultant, UK ? London

Trainee Content Management, UK ? London

For more details and other open positions, take a look here.