They've been doing this for a few years now.
Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
171–180 of 232 posts
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#172> Although customers don’t necessarily realize it, brands have for years been able to bid on search terms to secure the most visible listing positions at the top of Amazon’s product search results pages, where their products carry a “sponsored” tag above the description.
And where they're blocked by an adblocker, as they should be.
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Under Anti-trust law Company A and Company B can do the same exact thing, but 1 Company may violate Anti-trust laws while the other doesn't. >You could argue that Amazon is unique in that it is large and potentially has a monopoly over eCommerce, but it is hard to say that in the end, consumers are on the loosing end. It is not about a "monopoly", under Anti-trust you can't unfairly leverage your market position to f…
Why don't grocery stores get in trouble then? Do you need to be effective at forcing competitors out of the market or does simply the attempt make one guilty? Don't all businesses want to force their competitors out of the market? As an aside it does not surprise me at all when I learn that a law is not worded in a way that's congruent with the popular conception of the law.
Amazon is a PLATFORM where YOU can sell products and compete with Amazon and other vendors. - Grocery store BUYS your product(s) and resells it. When it comes into the store, it's (often, essentially) paid for already. Grocery store owns product and it's up to store to figure out how to get you to buy said product.
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, they do. That's why I said they "are not arranging those products in relation to a particular request." We are all in the same store, and that store must arrange itself in a way that will serve all customers. Amazon's business model is premised on the idea that they provide a better service than that.
> That's why I said they "are not arranging those products in relation to a particular request." But they are, which is what you're missing. Again, these stores spend millions and millions of dollars collecting these requests and arranging their store in response. They collect feedback and rearrange the shelves nearly every day based on requests (which can be actual verbal/written requests on their website or to stor…
I'm with you as far as generic categories go. Going to the cheese and dairy section in a supermarket is very similar to going to the Amazon cheese and dairy (and eggs) section[1].
Stores maximizing the revenue they receive from their average customer, which they do quite aggressively as you note, feels very different from what Amazon is doing.
>the store has arranged their aisle in such a way that influences which chips you buy, just as Amazon arranges their search results page.
To make a somewhat silly comparison that illustrates how this is is not "just" like Amazon - I have never been in a grocery store that places their brand of chips on both ends of the chips aisle. I might find my chips before I see their brand. Amazon, on the other hand, can rearrange their shelves for every customer, and so their ability to manipulate the consumer experience is much greater.
Ultimately the arranging of physical displays, no matter the amount of zeal or data involved, seems categorically different to me than stores which can arranged differently not only for every customer, but every customer request. I think you're saying they're basically the same thing - in which case we'll just have to agree to disagree.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=lp_16310101_nr_n_6?fst=as%3Aoff...
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#175Amazon delenda est (Amazon must be destroyed) Amazon ALWAYS acts illegally.
i just take advantage at this point. returning tons of stuff to whole foods that they don't even want back, then i eat it all :)
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
> some industries clearly needs economies of scale in order to provide the consumer with cheaper and better products This isn't an economy of scale. The component that has scale is distribution. A third-party seller selling through Amazon gets those advantages the same as Amazon. What's different is the sourcing and manufacturing of the product. Amazon has an edge. But it's not one of economies of scale.
They have a data advantage- Amazon basics are just white labeled goods from some Chinese factory, warehoused and dispatched from an Amazon warehouse just like everything else on Amazon Market. The only difference is Amazon but the stock (and bet on it selling). Amazon has much better visibility on sales, margins, user behaviour than their market sellers. Where risk is high they allow sellers to take the risk, where i…
> It's a great business model, like a hedge fund running an exchange with no separation of information. It would be illegal the financial sector.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but wasn't Glass–Steagall repealed?
A lot of people don't realize, but hedge funds are the small fry. I mean sure a few hundred million or even a billion or two dollars sounds like a lot of money, but once you realize how much the Fed is pumping through the primary dealers it's literally pocket change. It's outfits like Goldman or BlackRock that are playing heads I win tails you lose.
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#177Anyone in this thread that is saying there is nothing wrong with this practice likely has an agenda.
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
>This is different from the service offered by traditional grocery stores which offer many different products, but are not arranging those products in relation to a particular request. Grocery stores (and all other brick-and-mortars) spend tons and tons of money and effort specifically arranging their stores to influence which products you will buy. It's done on the scale of which aisle certain products are on, all t…
>Grocery stores (and all other brick-and-mortars) spend tons and tons of money and effort specifically arranging their stores And if I don't like Tesco I can go to Asda. If Tesco won't sell my product I can try and sell it to Sainsbury's or Waitrose. The equivalent with Amazon is "If I don't like Walmart, there is some guy with a market stall selling fish, another with apples, a store 5 miles away that has carrots...…
Financial market is regulated and hence you dont that conflict of interest. They are also there to prevent anything catastrophic from happening. Selling Commodities in Retail isn't the same.
Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#179Anyone in this thread that is saying there is nothing wrong with this practice likely has an agenda.
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Re: Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
>This is different from the service offered by traditional grocery stores which offer many different products, but are not arranging those products in relation to a particular request. Grocery stores (and all other brick-and-mortars) spend tons and tons of money and effort specifically arranging their stores to influence which products you will buy. It's done on the scale of which aisle certain products are on, all t…
>Grocery stores (and all other brick-and-mortars) spend tons and tons of money and effort specifically arranging their stores And if I don't like Tesco I can go to Asda. If Tesco won't sell my product I can try and sell it to Sainsbury's or Waitrose. The equivalent with Amazon is "If I don't like Walmart, there is some guy with a market stall selling fish, another with apples, a store 5 miles away that has carrots...…
Where do you draw the line between "marketplace" and "retail store?" For the NYSE it seems fairly clear, but in retail it seems less so. Nearly every widespread retail store I know of either sells primary a multitude of other company's products but also has some store brand options, or primarily sells their own branded items but also sells other company's products in areas where they don't have a first-party offering.