63% of Amazon Sellers think that Amazon is not a fair marketplace.
If we just look at Private Label Brands, that number jumps to 74.2%.
But what about the 1/3rd that think it's fair? Any compelling reasons?
CONTEXT
Amazon is the largest online marketplace. Hauling in over 40% of every dollar on e-commerce, it's the center of universe for ecom if we're being honest. With the leading sellers being small and medium sized businesses pulling in most the revenue, being a fair marketplace and being perceived as a fair marketplace is critical. Amazon needs trust from small brands and established brands.
Here's five ways Amazon isn't "fair".
1. Black Hat Sellers - Whether it's putting in blacklisted keywords into competitor listings, or going so far as getting competitive sellers taken down. This is where the stories of being the nice guy winning end. It's demoralizing when it's a repeated issue. Sometimes they wait until shopping holidays to take action.
2. Pay to Win - More and more it takes money to make money. How many great products never made it because they didn't have an advertising budget. Sure this isn't particularly unfair, but it doesn't leave new and emerging entrepreneurs able to succeed.
3. Amazon Private Label - This has all sorts of conflict of interest. Looking inside competitors data. Free advertising. If there's one thing Amazon can do to change perception, I'd look here first.
4. Buy Box Issues - Whether it's fighting for control with other sellers or Amazon's opaque suppression algorithms. It leads small and large brands throwing their hands in the air. After selling on over 100k Amazon FBA listings, I'm still seeing head scratchers.
5. Seller Support and Compliance Issues - Why does it feel like you're the only one getting scrutinized by Amazon. Or seller support is slow or unable to respond to a repeated listing takedown that is completely bogus.
So what about the case for Amazon being fair? It's easy to argue that Amazon has shortened the product improvement lifecycle. Every year, better and more compelling products are launched. Many of these are chosen by customers. These products win and get accelerated growth. The entrepreneurs dream. Amazon does take this seriously and makes changes rapidly.
TAKEAWAYS
Perception is truth. Even if there are a lot of fair parts to selling on Amazon, people don't feel that way right now. If that were Amazon's end goal, they'd certainly make changes. But they have many competing incentives and ultimately they're a business responsible to their shareholders.
Sellers are shareholders too. They have passion for thriving business and I for one hope that Amazon continues to improve.
Source: The Voice of the Amazon Seller report from SmartScout. For further insights like this, link in the comments.
