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Most Amazon Brands Are Duds, Not Disrupters, Study Finds (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The explosion of Amazon's private-label products -- batteries, baby wipes, jeans, tortilla chips, sofas -- has prompted concern that the world's biggest online retailer could use its clout to promote these house brands at the expense of merchants selling similar products on the web store. The issue even surfaced in Senator Elizabeth Warren's recent proposal to break up big technology companies. Turns out most Amazon-branded goods are flops that don't threaten other businesses at all, according to Marketplace Pulse. In a study, the New York e-commerce research firm examined 23,000 products and found that shoppers aren't more inclined to buy Amazon brands even when the company elevates them in search results. The study suggests popular political and media narratives about Amazon's market power are overblown, despite the company capturing 52.4 percent of all online spending in the U.S. this year, according to EMarketer.
The study used sales rankings and the number of customer reviews as indicators of sales volume for different products, including Amazon's own brands and brands sold exclusively on the site. Amazon's success has been limited to basic products like batteries where shoppers are inclined to seek generic alternatives to save money, the study found. But when competing against such categories as apparel, where household names have an entrenched position, such Amazon brands as "A for Awesome" children's wear don't stand out, the study found.
The study used sales rankings and the number of customer reviews as indicators of sales volume for different products, including Amazon's own brands and brands sold exclusively on the site. Amazon's success has been limited to basic products like batteries where shoppers are inclined to seek generic alternatives to save money, the study found. But when competing against such categories as apparel, where household names have an entrenched position, such Amazon brands as "A for Awesome" children's wear don't stand out, the study found.
That's pretty much what I was going to say. It seems these days unless you know the backer of the study it is difficult to really interpret what the numbers mean.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Amazon's market power are overblown, despite the company capturing 52.4 percent of all online spending in the U.S. this year
Now say it again without laughing.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
A quick glance didn't turn up any information about a particular company or entity commissioning this study, but the group that did it does have a clients page that list some of the companies that they work with, which might give you an idea of who might have commissioned it. Alternatively, they might have done it themselves just so that they can market themselves and their services to those companies as a way of showing off what kind of information they can provide. It still could well be Amazon as you point out, if for no other reason than to have something to point to when the politicians hound them.
If that's the best you've got then you've proven the opposing position.
I'm not sure you've even stepped foot in a Walmart. Although you don't even need to go that far since they have a website for their pickup service.
Store brands that you want to inspire mindless hysteria over have been common probably since before you were even born.
Walmart in particular is all about what sells and they have the IT chops to best understand what does sell.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Nearly every store have their generic store brands versions of common supplies.
They sometimes market them so they look more classy, or just keep the packaging bland, to let you know you are getting the cheap version.
Someone who buys an AmazonBasics Mice, Keyboard, Cables... Are not interested in getting the High End Fast Responce Mouse, The mechanical keyboard with clicky blue switches (or less clicky brown). Cables that are not coated in Gold because they think you will get a better result from it, or at least need to less worry about it corroding.
The reason why we will often go to a Name Brand, isn't because the Brand is better, but more to the point there is less of a chance it will suck, for the known brand names, the companies work rather hard to keep their quality consistent. Vs that one generic keyboard that worked like a champ for decades, while the next on you bought (same model) had keys popping out from too fast typing.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
From TFA:
”Kaziukenas (note: founder and owner of Marketplace Pulse) is scheduled to present his findings Monday at the Prosper Show, an annual meeting of 1,500 Amazon vendors, merchants and consultants in Las Vegas.”
Hmm... I’d like to know more regarding who suggested and/or paid for this study. There’s quite a “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” vibe to it.
#DeleteChrome
Amazon is one of the most powerful Companies in the market. They will use those billions of dollars to crush and fake any information they need to. This will allow them to continue to get their Huge tax incentives and be able to fool people dumb enough to trust every single study out there to keep their business in the multi million to billion dollar range. Simply don't trust every study released until you see at least multiple studies about the same thing from multiple groups and some groups that are non profit or have a neutral aspect. where they pinpoint both the good and the bad equally.
90% of everything is crap, even when it's pushed by Amazon. The difference is that they have enough resources to keep trying until they get that 1-in-10 success and then smash a market with it.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Another thing I like about Amazon Basics is the minimalist packaging.
I prefer to pay for the product, not lots of cardboard and blister-packs that will go to the landfill.
Those who think Amazon Basics are garbage should just buy Monster cables for everything.
Does Monster make AAA batteries that cost $10 apiece too?
And I think that's the key for when Amazon Basics actually do well: markets where people routinely pay large amounts just to avoid bottom-tier crap. Cables are of course a great example: people buying a $20 Monster cable just to avoid the problem with $0.20 cables created a great opportunity to market a solid $2 cable.
I doubt they'll do well in anything fashion-related, where there tend to already be "basics" brands that serve this need.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.