What Third-Party Sellers Need To Know In 2019!
When Amazon first opened it’s marketplace in 2000, it had allowed so many individuals to gain business opportunities that may have never been able to. Encouraging individuals to create their own businesses, selling products consumers may truly need, allowing out of norm individuals to win the lottery. As Amazon grew as a company providing their own products against companies like Barnes & Noble, the credentials became a profitable opportunity for a growing numbers of sellers. Moving marketplace activity from companies like EBay to Amazon for constant consumer based business.
The marketplace provided opportunities for white labeling, wholesalers, and drop shipping to co-exist, besides websites hosting companies like Shopify or social media platforms like Facebook. In which a company would provide the resources to create general products, and allow individuals with business skills, to buy the license of the products, put their brands on the products and sell for profit. Or drop shipping that allowed individuals to become a wholesaler of multiple profits in dominated niche areas. Majority of these products would come from destinations like Aliexpress and Alibaba. Meaning a lot of third party sellers may not know the true quality of the products they were purchasing and selling to consumer base.
The hype of marketplace for third party sellers increasingly started to grow. YouTube creators and business influencers started creating online classes and websites, teaching numerous individuals around the globe the financial freedom opportunities they had. Sort of like the Wolf Of Wall Street scam, but this time it was truly a copy and paste opportunity that has worked for numerous sellers.
This space became so hyped, Wal-Mart decided to enter the space providing a new opportunity for third-sellers to utilize a space, just to compete with their competitors. They provided the same easy application opportunity, their brand name, and their resource being free shipping for ALL users regardless of membership cards, and free return of products at retail stores. This allowed for third sellers to exist in a new market space, and detour from the saturated market Amazon provided new sellers.
As the hype started to increase rapidly, Target announced today it’s arrival to the space, hoping to transform it, to it’s benefit. Doing something Amazon and Wal-Mart have historically valued, but recently lacked to be religious too; caring about their customers. Amazon has numerously discussed about caring about the consumers, but lately it has allowed poor quality of products be okay, as long as prices were considered low. Allowing merchandisers to desire to use a platform, even if all merchandisers didn’t have consumers at heart, as much as Amazon. The truth is Amazon, has been worried about beating their competitors so much to play the monopoly card, that it allowed third party competitors to ruin the mission statement, it’s always proudly worn.
Target, was able to recognize this, and made a huge statement to say, we care about our customers more than monopolizing in the market system. As a previous employee, of Wal-Mart, I know that Wal-Mart has been so keen focused on beating Amazon as a competitor, they forgot their competitive advantage, which is low cost for consumers, and acceptance of government aid programs. Target will only be allowing a small selective amount of third party sellers to enter it’s space. Allowing Target to maintain product quality, while providing the benefit to sellers that their product consumers will be able to receive 5% off their purchase with a REDcard, free shipping, and free return of products at retail stores.
What Does This Mean For Sellers?
As the original marketplace giant, is entering into an uncomfortable place, we can expect sellers will also enter one. Amazon has been in a lot of press recently, between its HQ2 building controversy in Long Island City, NY to Jeff Bezos recently divorce headline, Amazon has been unfocused on the main thing Bezos said he would concur in a 1999 interview. Being a large company with small company values.
Here’s an interview with Bezos in 1999 about Amazon:
Amazon will need to rebrand it’s company to focus on the consumer, which will mean making the market less saturated by removing consumer rated products that rate seller products with less quality. Still providing consumers options, to help keep prices low. Wal-Mart will most likely fall in Amazon’s foot spaces.
If third party sellers want to continue to exist in the new market change that will mean that drop shipping can only exist with good products, and brands that can make it. It will also mean that white labeling will probably decrease, to decrease saturation in market for similar products that are not at a good quality.
This can also mean that start up companies and small businesses in these spaces may be pushed out. No longer allowing any business to be able to take advantage of the platform brands they are on. It could kill this lottery dream opportunity for new sellers, and refocus the industry to be reserved for only sellers that are currently in these spaces.
My Recommendation
As this news is still pretty recent, large companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart still have the ability to change their spaces at a fast speed. If you are apart of a white label company:
- Order your products yourself & make sure they are at the best quality.
- Review your product reviews. Make sure your customers truly like your products quality.
- Improve your brand. Make sure your consumers love your customer service you are providing to make your products more valuable to possible new market requirements.
- Improve commerce direct websites sales. To prevent focus on Amazon and Wal-Mart for sale activity.
- If your products are not the best quality from the company you are white labeling from, research good quality companies to transfer to. Just make sure the quality is upmost.
If you are using a drop shipping platform:
- Look up in demand products & look at the reviews carefully.
- Search the web and make sure the products you are drop shipping aren’t already saturated in the market.
- Improve your brand. Make sure to not just exist on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and marketplaces, but have your own website.
- Build your company site like a traditional brand when it comes to marketing.
- Show consumers why you are different.
As the markets continue to change everyday with new trends, opportunities, the focus point of the market consistently stays the same. Companies and markets cannot exist without their consumers, its the prime focus of the opportunity and growth. Even though consumers will always be the main focus of any industry, it is important to make your brand so vital, industries need you to come to table to guarantee certain consumers to be present.
Even though, companies like Target, Wal-Mart, and Amazon will forever focus on consumers happiness, if you are the product of their consumer happiness, you will also become the focus point. No matter the type of products you bring to the table, creating a magnificent brand is the hardest but most necessary part, because that is what creates quality products, and quality third party sellers.
