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Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

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Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#141

Stating the obvious I guess. All retailers do this and create their own white-label brands to squeeze profit from well-performing categories. Target, for instance, is very upfront about it and they have like a gazillion white-label brands that compete in hundreds of categories, which makes it very gray for the customer. Does anyone really think that any retailer launches a competing product in a category without look…

Similarly, Netflix's sometimes odd choices for their deals or for original content production is certainly driven by the performance or certain metrics of previously acquired content.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#142
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same situation that happens on most platform plays. You can see this in how Salesforce and Shopify are leveraging their platforms to learn what is popular and produce/buy their own products to sell to their customers to capture 100% of the value, rather than 30% of the value of the solution to the customer.

I think the biggest issue isn't the "copy product by leveraging data", but more like, their products play by a different set of rules. They could copy products and launch them abiding by the same guidelines, policies and everything else. That's not the case, and that's where the unfairness comes to play: Amazon plays on their market place by a different set of rules. It's not only Amazon. Google, Apple, and so on. Th…

if they want such massive platforms and play on such marketplaces, they must obey their own guidelines, else they are either stripped from the playground or someone else should own the play ground.

So here's a question: Is a store really a marketplace? It seems to me that Amazon, Target, Macys, etc, do a lot of curation and editorial work with regards to standards of production and marketing for items in their stores. Isn't that more akin to publishing?

I think the grey area and critical zone is this: Should a company be allowed to advertise their ecosystem/playground as akin to a "marketplace" when what's really happening, is that they are tightly controlling the product and harvesting the information for themselves? Seems like a bait and switch to me! ("Your margins are our opportunities," is the most fundamentally aggressive business statement I can possibly imagine, and Jeff Bezos said it!)

Apple, Amazon, and YouTube all seem to fall into this general pattern: A "marketplace" or "ecosystem" which is less bazaar and more their tightly planned cathedral. "Partners" who are put upon, data-analyzed, and sometimes cannibalized. This pattern seems to be very widespread, and it only stands to reason, given the tremendous increase in the ability of companies to leverage technology to harvest such data in their own playgrounds.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#144

The solution isn't hoping the free market would solve this with a competing platform. The solution is to create regulations & laws that prevent this behavior. You're either a platform/retailer or you're a manufacturer. You don't get to be both because we see the perverse incentive that happens when it's allowed.

What really is the issue? That Amazon is leveraging its success to be successful? It's unfair that Amazon is able to see that a product category is doing well so it invests its own money into manufacturing a product to sell through its site? Do you really think that if Amazon couldn't use the data from its own site that it wouldn't procure it elsewhere? Before any product is developed there is extensive market resear…

> What really is the issue?

This issue us that Amazon also dictates what you are allowed to sell your product for elsewhere. It would be one thing if they just used your own data and created a competing product, but the fact you cannot sell your product cheaper elsewhere is the issue.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#146

Stating the obvious I guess. All retailers do this and create their own white-label brands to squeeze profit from well-performing categories. Target, for instance, is very upfront about it and they have like a gazillion white-label brands that compete in hundreds of categories, which makes it very gray for the customer. Does anyone really think that any retailer launches a competing product in a category without look…

Does anyone really think that any retailer launches a competing product in a category without looking at all their supplier data? So, if cars are inevitably becoming computers with wheels, what's going to happen to insurance companies? The major weapon of underwriting is data, and a company like Tesla is going to have a huge advantage in data over external insurance companies. Is it really a societal good for big com…

Insurance companies are already offering discounts for using their apps while in car.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#147
This is not something unique to Amazon. Everyone does it. Costco, Target and even smaller ones do it. However the problem and scale is magnified because Amazon has a monopoly on online shopping so given their volume they can always undercut everyone else.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#148

Stating the obvious I guess. All retailers do this and create their own white-label brands to squeeze profit from well-performing categories. Target, for instance, is very upfront about it and they have like a gazillion white-label brands that compete in hundreds of categories, which makes it very gray for the customer. Does anyone really think that any retailer launches a competing product in a category without look…

Everyone is arguing as if Amazon is the only retailer here. Yes, they are a platform, but they are one of many. In fact, many people here contradict their own argument by saying that they are forced to go to other websites or direct to the supplier. Stating as much is tantamount to admitting that the market is functioning correctly. Amazon is great for some things and bad for other things. If it doesn’t meet your nee…

Except Amazon disallows and punishes you for selling your product cheaper on a different platform.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#149

The solution isn't hoping the free market would solve this with a competing platform. The solution is to create regulations & laws that prevent this behavior. You're either a platform/retailer or you're a manufacturer. You don't get to be both because we see the perverse incentive that happens when it's allowed.

If the aim is to curb monopoly powers of Amazon etc this would be disastrously counterproductive

When Joe's Custom Bike shop isn't allowed to be a manufacturer and a retailer of someone else's bike equipment, the customer is going to go to Amazon or Wal Mart to buy it. And retail giants, buoyed by the government killing half their competitors, will still find a way of squeezing their suppliers and funnelling sales data to preferred suppliers or related entities.

Re: Amazon scooped up data from its own sellers to launch competing products

#150
post #85

Stating the obvious I guess. All retailers do this and create their own white-label brands to squeeze profit from well-performing categories. Target, for instance, is very upfront about it and they have like a gazillion white-label brands that compete in hundreds of categories, which makes it very gray for the customer. Does anyone really think that any retailer launches a competing product in a category without look…

This is the same situation that happens on most platform plays. You can see this in how Salesforce and Shopify are leveraging their platforms to learn what is popular and produce/buy their own products to sell to their customers to capture 100% of the value, rather than 30% of the value of the solution to the customer.

Shopify? What's a product that Shopify sells other than its ecommerce platform?
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