EP136 - Amazon News, SCOTUS Tax ruling, Listener Questions

Amazon News

• Amazon Prime Day this year has leaked and will be July 16-17 
• Amazon today announced the acquisition of Pillpack for $1b
• Amazon recruits small businesses, to deliver packages
• Amazon was fourth-largest advertiser in the US ahead of Walmart, GM and Ford.
• Amazon is merging 1P and 3P and the robots are winning vs merchants - "hands off the wheel"

Industry News

Supreme court rules in favor of South Dakota in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., et al.  The ruling effectively overturns the previous Quill Corp. v. North Dakota precedent and opens the door for all states to require e-commerce sites to collect and remit sales taxes to states.

• Amazon stands to be the biggest winner in the ruling.  Amazon already collects sales tax on all 1P sales.  Amazon will now be able to charge 3P merchants 2.9% to collect tax for them.  Amazon 1P will be more competitive with 3P and other e-commerce sites (eBay, NewEgg, etc..).
• Small E-Commerce sites and marketplace sellers are the biggest losers, as they will now need to collect sales tax (and likely pay a 3rd party to do it on their behalf), and navigate a multitude of complex out of state sales tax laws that are likely to emerge.
• All eyes turn now turn to Congress, to see if they will pass a law to clarify/simplify the sales tax collection issue on behalf of small businesses.

Listener Questions

Alex Volakis asks: Should others try the Warby Parker school bus store concept. Who do you think would benefit most from it?

Amit Agarwal asks: Do customers like bundled products or do they like to create their own bundles? What are different merchandising tactics used to sell a collection of products?

Jill Dvorak asks: Any leadership or managing through change tactics. at the corporate level to infuse more nimbleness in established brands?

• "The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change)" by Clayton M. Christensen
• "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries

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Episode 136 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, June 28th 2018.

http://jasonandscot.com

Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.