EP107 - Listener Questions and Amazon News

EP107- Listener Questions

 

Listener Questions

Q1: Brands selling direct on their own site

Shawn Cheng What do u think about a brand to run their own brand store, not through market place such as eBay, Amazon or Alibaba?

Jamie Dooley Hi Scot & Jason: Have you heard of any brands seeing true success building a D2C E-Comm business through their own websites? (On a path to do 10-20% of sales and/or 8-9 figures in annual sales?). D2C seems like D2C was a big trend a year ago but I am not hearing about success stories where sales justified significant spend.

Scott Silverman Do you think a new brand without an e-commerce site or digital presence could be built by selling on Amazon? Secondarily, should manufacturers selling on their own e-comm sites, shut them down and just sell via retailers?

Q2 Mobile Conversion Gap

Ari Nahmani Mobile conversion rate... retailers are getting more and more of their web traffic from mobile, but those users are half or a third as likely to convert. They don’t seem to be coming back on desktop. So what’s happening? We see across the board where YoY traffic is flat, revenue is down due to the device mix over-indexing on mobile YoY. How do we explain this behavior? Where are those users purchasing if ecommerce growth is up?  I’m seeing his trend on several client sites and I recall one of your shows that this trend was discussed.

Q3: Omni-Channel Fulfillment

Alexandro Volakis order sourcing in an omnichannel network. how do you decide where its best to ship from?

Q4: Singles Day in the US

Julia Ptock How do you think about Singles Day (11.11.)? Are there some retailers who take part at this event in the USA? Amazon is focusing on Cyber Week (Cyber Monday & Black Friday) but doesn't show interest in Single Day. Do you have an idea why?

Q5: Toys R Us impact on Holiday Promotions

Melissa Burdick How will the bankruptcy of Toys R Us impact Amazon this Holiday? Is it going to be a bloodbath in pricing this Holiday with TRU stores cutting prices and Amazon price matching (and then closing stores shortly after holiday)? https://www.usatoday.com/.../toys-r-us-store.../683762001/

Amazon News

• Amazon opening permanent device shops inside of some Chicago WholeFoods stores.  Jason visited one under construction.
• Amazon lowers prices on marketplace sellers products.  It looks like primarily 3000 beauty SKU's at the moment.
• More Amazon Private Label:
  • Furniture: 
    • Rivet - “stylish and versatile mid-century modern furniture and décor".  Mid-century modern aesthetic, focus on small space solutions, 1 year warranty, prime exclusive
    • Stone & Beam - Higher end price points.  modern farmhouse aesthetic, 3 year warranty.
  • Athlesure
    • Rebel Canyon - Low price point, Men's and Woman's lounge clothing.
    • Peak Velocity - Higher price point active wear (Under Armor competitor), prime exclusive
    • GoodSport - Men's and Woman's moisture wicking apparel
  • Baby
    • Mama-Bear - Relaunched diapers

Amazon Private Label articles:

• Bloomberg piece on Amazon sportswear w/ L2
• Glossy covers Amazon Gift Guide (which focuses on exclusive Amazon products)

http://jasonandscot.com

Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, 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.

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Episode 107 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday November 9, 2017.