Well. allbirds has serious supplychain and production problems. This is their own fault
Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
11–20 of 135 posts
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#12If you can't succeed because somebody made a low effort, low quality copy of your product, then you don't deserve to make money. Especially in light of the fact that Coke has been around for 150 years and is essentially just sugar water.
Coke actually has regulatory protections in place. They can use flavor extracted from coca plant through a special arrangement with the dea. Anyway they sell all kinds of varieties of sugar water, and the margins are extremely thin.
Did I read that correctly. The margin on coke are thin?
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#13If you can't succeed because somebody made a low effort, low quality copy of your product, then you don't deserve to make money. Especially in light of the fact that Coke has been around for 150 years and is essentially just sugar water.
This is especially true in the fashion industry, and even more especially true in the shoe industry.
Amazon isn't the only company that makes shoes that look like Allbirds. All the shoe companies rip each other off.
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#14If you can't succeed because somebody made a low effort, low quality copy of your product, then you don't deserve to make money. Especially in light of the fact that Coke has been around for 150 years and is essentially just sugar water.
Coke actually has regulatory protections in place. They can use flavor extracted from coca plant through a special arrangement with the dea. Anyway they sell all kinds of varieties of sugar water, and the margins are extremely thin.
The specific flavor/process of coke is protected, but you can get pretty close outside of that. Their other products are often indistinguishable (e.g. sprite/sierra mist). The value there is the brand, not the specific flavor.
The special dispensation for Coke works on a branding level: "we have a special process dating back to 1890".
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#15Allbirds shoes look very very cheap. I stopped into their NYC store downtown twice. Each time I noticed a ton of glue that had seeped onto the wool when they glued the fabric on. I thought the first time it was a one-off issue. The pattern continues. Allbirds really needs to step up their quality. If you look at the product quality of Merrel, Danner, US Made Red Wing Shoes, it's night and day! I would never buy an Allbird.
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#16This is why I stopped selling on Amazon. It's compelling because there's a built-in customer base. But in the long-run, they will use your selling data against you and eventually attempt to put you out of business by finding a cheaper supplier.
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#17If you can't succeed because somebody made a low effort, low quality copy of your product, then you don't deserve to make money. Especially in light of the fact that Coke has been around for 150 years and is essentially just sugar water.
...in fact you should probably just hurry up and die!
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#18Allbirds is a luxury brand. Retailers offer cheap versions of luxury brands. There's little surprise here. Should Ray-Bans complain that Walmart offers sunglasses that look nearly identical at a tenth of the price? Amazon has plenty of dodgy business practices, but I don't think this is one of them.
Just because it's common doesn't mean it's not also dodgy.
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Coke actually has regulatory protections in place. They can use flavor extracted from coca plant through a special arrangement with the dea. Anyway they sell all kinds of varieties of sugar water, and the margins are extremely thin.
The specific flavor/process of coke is protected, but you can get pretty close outside of that. Their other products are often indistinguishable (e.g. sprite/sierra mist). The value there is the brand, not the specific flavor. The special dispensation for Coke works on a branding level: "we have a special process dating back to 1890".
I'm not sure if this is how you're defining brand, but the real value is in their exclusivity agreements with restaurants and (some) grocers.
This is the reason any restaurant that doesn't just resell soft drinks they bought at the grocery store only sells either Pepsi / Coca-Cola.
It would be really interesting to see what kind of rates major chains/conglomerates (E.g. McDonalds, Subway, 3G, Recipe Unlimited, etc.) get for their soft drinks as these guys are big enough that they can probably push their own soft drinks and really bite into Coca-Cola/Pepsi's turf.
Re: Allbirds CEO on Amazon's copycat strategy
#20Allbirds is a luxury brand. Retailers offer cheap versions of luxury brands. There's little surprise here. Should Ray-Bans complain that Walmart offers sunglasses that look nearly identical at a tenth of the price? Amazon has plenty of dodgy business practices, but I don't think this is one of them.
Just because it's common doesn't mean it's not also dodgy.
Serious question. Why is it dodgy?