Amazon is Going to Slaughter Your Brand

[Sanj Modha]

You need to ask yourself - what is it that my business can do that Amazon can't? It's not so obvious at first but think about it.

Amazon is a huge so things like customer service will suffer. How can you make a difference and offer better? Also, can Amazon personalize EVERY order? No, but you can with branded packaging, a personal 'thank-you' note etc. Book stores are making a come back because they can offer an 'experience' like cosy reading spaces, coffee from Starbucks/Costa and so on.

There's a lot of smaller things e-commerce can do so focus on that.

 

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[Eskil]

You need to ask yourself - what is it that my business can do that Amazon can't? It's not so obvious at first but think about it.
Amazon is a huge so things like customer service will suffer. How can you make a difference and offer better? Also, can Amazon personalize EVERY order? No, but you can with branded packaging, a personal 'thank-you' note etc. Book stores are making a come back because they can offer an 'experience' like cosy reading spaces, coffee from Starbucks/Costa and so on.

Yes! Time and again it comes back to ADDING VALUE. Things like what @biophase is doing with his current business. Not only selling product, but also adding value, building a brand, and building a community of fans that recognizes what you are doing for it. Come up with ways to give back, educate, help or in some way shape or form be more than JUST a profit machine. One plan I have for my own main brand is to get involved with schools and colleges by providing a training kit that can get young people interested in videography/filmmaking. Amazon can't and won't ever get into that level of value creation or community support for a brand.

 

[Iammelissamoore]

You need to ask yourself - what is it that my business can do that Amazon can't? It's not so obvious at first but think about it.

Amazon is a huge so things like customer service will suffer. How can you make a difference and offer better? Also, can Amazon personalize EVERY order? No, but you can with branded packaging, a personal 'thank-you' note etc. Book stores are making a come back because they can offer an 'experience' like cosy reading spaces, coffee from Starbucks/Costa and so on.

There's a lot of smaller things e-commerce can do so focus on that.

Absolutely agree, often times the panic can really send us crazy, but I believe this is the HUGE point a lot of us are missing and while Amazon may be doing everything now, some things in between may be overlooked which can be captured by others who see the opportunity.

Yes! Time and again it comes back to ADDING VALUE. Things like what @biophase is doing with his current business. Not only selling product, but also adding value, building a brand, and building a community of fans that recognizes what you are doing for it. Come up with ways to give back, educate, help or in some way shape or form be more than JUST a profit machine. One plan I have for my own main brand is to get involved with schools and colleges by providing a training kit that can get young people interested in videography/filmmaking. Amazon can't and won't ever get into that level of value creation or community support for a brand.

This is a H.U.G.E value-creator going beyond product/service value and definitely creating a wonderful win-win scenario.

 

[Digamma]

It seems some Onion writer reads this forum:

My Advice To Anyone Starting A Business Is To Remember That Someday I Will Crush You

 

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[Almantas]

It seems some Onion writer reads this forum:

My Advice To Anyone Starting A Business Is To Remember That Someday I Will Crush You

What if ... Jeff Bezos is an Artificial Super-intelligence from the future? Or some sort of an alien?!

 

[Midas]

That is the smart way to play the game. Leverage the power of Amazon to build your brand till you no longer require them to build your brand. Thanks

 

[MrYoshi]

Amazon jumped into supplements in March 2017: TechCrunch-AmazonElements

In the last 6 months the number of decent sized private label product Amazon businesses I have noticed come up for sale has been increasing (net incomes of $100K-2million). Asking price multiples have been rising at the same time.

Makes me wonder if the INSIDERS are getting out (worried about competition from the Chinese factories and Amazon) and the dumb money is pushing the top up.

This is somewhat worrying about someone who just started learning about e-commerce haha, but I'm glad to see that personalization and adding extra value can still differentiate you from the larger players.

 

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[Walter Hay]

That is the smart way to play the game. Leverage the power of Amazon to build your brand till you no longer require them to build your brand. Thanks

I missed this post previously, but it sums up the value of Amazon. The question is: How do you get to that stage of no longer needing Amazon?

The answer is simple: Build your own eCommerce site and be sure the URL appears on your labeling and packaging, and if possible it should be built into the product using a mold, or some other form of integral branding.

EDIT: Finding other sales avenues (maybe even B2B) can also be a valuable contributor to your independence.

Walter

 

[Action Mike]

This is somewhat worrying about someone who just started learning about e-commerce haha, but I'm glad to see that personalization and adding extra value can still differentiate you from the larger players.

I wouldn't worry too much, Amazon has such a large share of the online retail market they aren't going anywhere as a company, maybe parts of it shift but Amazon will be here for a while.

 

[Your Boy George]

It seems some Onion writer reads this forum:

My Advice To Anyone Starting A Business Is To Remember That Someday I Will Crush You

Lmao, I thought this was real for a second and was like "holy shit."

 

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[Laughingman21]

Despite Amazon’s huge size and growth momentum, I think they’ll eventually start to come apart at the seams and start to shrink for any one of number of reasons:

1. Legislation – governments hate monopolies. When they decide Amazon has got too big, governments will start pushing through legislation forcing Amazon to break apart
2. Jeff Bezos – he’s no doubt the driving force behind Amazon. He has the entrepreneurial spirit and instinct which leads to a desire to keep growing and looking for ways to grow. Once he’s gone, they’ll lose the person with the power to make bold decisions fast and a generation of professional corporate directors will take over and keeping the share price and dividend steady and around inflation will become their target, not making the huge gains previously seen by Amazon.
3. History – go back over time and history is littered with companies that seem too big to ever not be number 1, yet they eventually fall by the wayside. I’ve just finished reading about Sam Zemurray and United Fruits (at one point controlled 61% of bananas going into America and had so much power the CIA went to them to help out with revolutions!) yet they eventually got bought out. General Motors and Ford were huge in the 50’s and 60’s, yet they’re now struggling. In the late 90’s, Microsoft seemed unstoppable in the software market, yet they’re dropped back and other companies have come in and taken their market share. Big companies inefficiencies always bring them back to earth.
4. Impossible to be everything well – Amazon are trying to do everything and it’s impossible to be the best at everything and build a consistent brand. Can they really compete on price for online shopping and claim to produce the best original online content for their video service? One is a low-cost no-frills brand, the other is aiming to be seen as a premium brand. You can’t have both. Eventually other companies will come in and take away areas of the business that they’re doing badly and force Amazon to concentrate on a core business.

I’m not saying Amazon will go bust, but they will definitely fall away and a new kid on the block will come in and become the next big thing in online retail.

I don’t think this is going to happen imminently, probably another 5-10 years or more, but it will happen. In the meantime, I think it’s possible to make money on Amazon with a good/different product, but it’d be a very risky decision to rely on Amazon only as the only sole source of income in this period. Amazon have already started tinkering with their ToS and proved to be happy to ban first and ask questions later. I definitely think the days of succeeding on Amazon by starting with a few hundred quid of stock are long gone.

 

[amp0193]

It seems some Onion writer reads this forum:

My Advice To Anyone Starting A Business Is To Remember That Someday I Will Crush You

"Well, there’s no magic involved, but the keys to success are quite simple: Value your customers, hire well, find a market that isn’t being served, and realize that someday I will utterly crush you."

 

[Sanj Modha]

Make a list of all the things Amazon does that's shitty and you'll feel better instantly.

One example is customer service - in my opinion Amazon is the worst culprit.

 

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[mrarcher]

Personally, I think that depending on your product. Not being on Amazon could work to your advantage.

You could play the idea that your product is exclusive and imply scarcity.