50% of European KAM positions will be gone in the next 3-5 years. ๐ช๐ The uncom
By Martin Heubel ยท April 23, 2026 ยท Curated by George's Blog
50% of European KAM positions will be gone in the next 3-5 years. ๐ช๐
The uncomfortable truth is that 1P vendor margins have been under pressure for some time now.
Hiring local sales teams meant:
โ Direct relationships with local trade partners
โ Better understanding local consumer needs
โ Localising competitor knowledge
โ Strategic budgeting flexibility
โ โฆ
But today, most leadership teams have realised that a local market approach no longer works in their favour.
On top of that, #Amazon is offshoring retail teams to markets with lower labour costs like Eastern Europe and India.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐.
With AI fuelling automation and more brands deploying AI agents into their workflows, one question becomes unavoidable:
Why should EU brands keep local sales teams for 10 EU markets when Amazon itself no longer operates that way?
๐ Has your business already made the switch?
๐ญ Share your thoughts in the comments!
#amazonvendor #amazonstrategy