Secret Amazon Brands Are Quietly Taking Over Amazon.com (qz.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Arabella. Lark & Roe. Mae. NuPro. Small Parts. You might not know it from their names, but these brands all belong to Amazon. Amazon's private label business is booming, on pace to generate $7.5 billion this year and $25 billion by 2022, according to estimates from investment firm SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. To accelerate that growth, the company is inviting manufacturers to create products exclusively for its collection of private brands. The "Amazon Accelerator Program" is hiring a senior product manager for private brands, CNBC reported. The job listing invites applicants to "invent and Think Big to take an idea from concept to reality for Amazon customers." Duties include managing and planning inventory, identifying business opportunities, and working across a wide swath of Amazon divisions, including consumables, Prime Pantry, Prime Fresh, Prime Now, and Amazon Go. Another job listing spotted by CNBC, for a private brands program leader, notes that the "Private Brands team is rapidly expanding and is looking for an exceptional product leader to grow the business." Brands created through the accelerator will be exclusive to Amazon, but not owned by it, the company said. Further reading: Amazon is Stuffing Its Search Results Pages With Ads.

Comments

This is what anti-trust laws are for

[turp182]

They have knowledge of what sells from other parties, what's popular.

They then manufacture those products and directly compete on their sales platform, with full knowledge of sales and pricing of their competitors.

What's that smell? Federal intervention.

Re:This is what anti-trust laws are for

[Anonymous Coward]

They have knowledge of what sells from other parties, what's popular.

They then manufacture those products and directly compete on their sales platform, with full knowledge of sales and pricing of their competitors.

What's that smell? Federal intervention.

There is absolutely nothing about this that will trigger any anti-trust law.

How is this any different than any other house brand?

Many other big retailers carry in-house products that they do not advertise as being house brands or any association with the retailer itself. This is common practice.

Care to guess how many of the tool brands inside Home Depot are sold exclusively at Home Depot?

Re:This is what anti-trust laws are for

[ksw_92]

Everything old is new again. Remember Craftsman, Kenmore and Hotpoint? All well regarded brands and one point and all made by the same companies that competed with those brands. House brands are just the next step in the life-cycle of a retail organization.

Re:This is what anti-trust laws are for

[DontBeAMoran]

I think companies should not be allowed to sell their house brands under a different name than the company name. For example, "AmazonBasics" is fine. You clearly understand it's an Amazon brand.

An alternative would be a clear and governments-standardized branding/label/warning to make it clear that it's made by Amazon, Canadian Tire, Costco, Home Depot, etc.

Re:This is what anti-trust laws are for

[commodore64_love]

You would also have to Prosecute my former employer JCPenney (also Sears, Macys, etc). My ex-emploer JCPenney has MANY private label brands, which try to copy the style of more popular brands: Honestly I sold more of JCPenney's brands than any other.

- Arizona Jeans (and shirts)

- Stafford suits, dresswear and shoes

- Towncraft suits, dresswear and shoes

- J.Ferrar casualwear

- St. Johns Bay casualwear

- Cabin Creek for women

- Worthington dresswear for women.

And on and on and on. This practice has never been illegal by retail stores, and it is not illegal when amazon does it.

Re:Isn't this a common practice?

[jythie]

Having a store brand or products produced for a store by wholly owned subsidiaries is indeed pretty common. It will be worth keeping an eye on though as Amazon continues to grow and integrates more into its ecosystem.

Private label goods

[sjbe]

They have knowledge of what sells from other parties, what's popular. They then manufacture those products and directly compete on their sales platform, with full knowledge of sales and pricing of their competitors.

So do grocery stores, retail stores, etc and they all sell private label goods too. I don't really see this as a problem. Kroger sells Kroger branded milk right next the other dairy brands and usually for less money. Walmart sells all sorts of private label goods at discounted prices. Amazon is doing nothing different here at all.

What's that smell? Federal intervention.

Not unless you can prove that Amazon is a monopoly first and then that they are abusing that monopoly. Good luck with that. The branded product makers are welcome to drop their prices to compete if they like. If they aren't providing enough value to justify their brand then why should I as a customer care?

Re:Who wants to get fucked by Bezos whims?

[cayenne8]

This is all part of their gran plan to eliminate ALL the competition in retail in the western world.

I don't really see that....this is a common thing for many retailers. You see it in every day grocery stores, hell, you REALLY see this in places like Costco, and even Sam's Club.

Hell, I often buy the Costco (Kirkland brand) stuff, and it is as good, or even slightly superior to the major brands. I too believe Costo gets major labels to make them special stuff, I could swear the Costco Kirkland brand vodka is made by Grey Goose....etc.

Re:No, I'm a Lemming you insenstivive clod!

[DontBeAMoran]

I won't bother listing the prices because from what I've heard not everyone will see the same prices anyway.

Yes, some kits come with different accessories, but look at the pot and pan. Apart from colour, they're all exactly the same. The first one, "AmazonBasics", is clearly Amazon's brand, nothing deceptive there. But when you look at most of the other brands, you start questioning wether they're real companies or not.

AmazonBasics Outdoor Camping Cookware Set

MalloMe Camping Cookware Mess Kit

Gold Armour 17Pcs Camping Cookware Mess Kit

Terra Hiker Camping Cookware

gear4U Camping Cookware

HONEST OUTFITTERS Portable camping cookware mess kit

Bisgear 12 Pcs Camping Cookware

EcoCamp OUTDOOR GEAR Mess Kit (14 Pcs)

Born to Venture Camping Cookware Mess Kit

Re:Who wants to get fucked by Bezos whims?

[ShanghaiBill]

"House brands" are common, but some companies such as Walmart and Amazon use them in anti-competitive ways.

If a product is tweaked and rebranded, it makes it harder to comparison shop.

A store can have a low price guarantee, and offer to match any advertised offer by a competitor or even an additional 10% off. But that is meaningless because they can insist that it is a different product due to the rebranding. Even for products sold under the original brand, Walmart often has unique model numbers that are sold no where else.

Re:No, I'm a Lemming you insenstivive clod!

[lgw]

That's the entire point of Amazon Basics IMO: cheap Chinese stuff that you at least know are sold by a real company that accepts returns, and that has some sort of quality bar above fraud. I'm a big fan of Amazon Basics A/V cables: they're cheap, but never too cheap.