๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๏ฟฝ
By James Wakefield ๐ก ยท September 29, 2026 ยท Curated by George's Blog
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ.
They manage a category. Your brand is one line in it.
At Tesco, your buyer knows your range. They stock your best sellers. They call you about promotions.
At Amazon, your VM is measured on the whole category. Hundreds of brands. Thousands of ASINs. Your top product is one row in a spreadsheet they check weekly.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ. They are a category operator.
Pricing decisions come from algorithms. Range decisions come from profitability models. Stock allocation comes from forecasting systems.
The VM does not override these. They work within them.
When your product gets suppressed, the VM did not decide that. A system did. When your terms go up, the VM did not set them. A model did.
This is not a criticism. It is how Amazon runs at scale. One person cannot hand-manage thousands of ASINs. So the systems do it.
The problem is that brands negotiate as though a relationship will protect them. It will not.
๐๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐. It has category systems with a human point of contact.
Build your strategy around the system. Not the relationship.