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Category: EnterpriseeCommerce

EnterpriseeCommerce

  • EU Investigating if Amazon is Using Data to Unfairly Compete With Third-Party Sellers

    EU Investigating if Amazon is Using Data to Unfairly Compete With Third-Party Sellers

    The European Union is on the prowl again in a likely attempt to win cash and concessions from Amazon. This is another investigation in a long string of investigations into American companies designed to extract big cash payments.

    European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, indicates that the issue is the possible use of third-party seller data by Amazon to determine which products it might decide to produce and sell itself, thus competing and presumably putting out of business the other sellers of that product. Vestager admits that there have been no formal complaints from resellers but they “have people” coming to them and asking questions about this issue.

    European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager discussed their investigation on CNBC’s Closing Bell:

    EU Suspects Amazon Is Using Data to Compete With Third-Party Sellers

    It’s too early to have a concern but we like to understand how this is working because Amazon has this dual role, they host a lot of little guys and enabling them to do e-commerce which is a great thing, at the same time they’re a big guy in the same market. How do they treat the data that they get from the little guy? Does that give them an advantage that cannot be matched or how to understand this?

    We have concerns from the marketplace and we have seen this also in a sector-wide inquiry so so we’re very interested to learn also in deep detail how this works.

    There Are No Formal Complaints Filed From Third-Party Sellers

    One thing is to enable the little guy to do business. It’s another thing that once you have enabled it and you see how it works in the marketplace basically you take it and because you’re a big guy you do large scale so you can sort of occupy that marketplace yourself. We have people coming to us with concerns but no formal complaints have been filed from third-party sellers.

    The EU Already Settled an eBook Case with Amazon

    We have already had one Amazon case on eBooks, on German and English spoken eBooks. We saw that Amazon was saying if you as one of our suppliers do something innovative, if you lower your prices or something like that, you always have to give us the same benefit and that, of course, made it very difficult for the eBooks market to innovate.

    If you always have to give Amazon whatever you have then of course that puts a lid to innovation. That we solved in a settlement actually covering ebooks in almost all segments.

    Not Opposed to Amazon but We Have Questions

    It’s important that the price point is right because for many people on a low budget, of course, low prices is of the essence and enabling choice is a great thing. We also want to see that innovation is thriving because being a customer in an innovative marketplace is, of course, better than being a customer in a non-innovative marketplace.

    This is what we’re trying to understand how does this work and of course, it may turn out that we have no further questions to be asked but that remains to be seen.

    EU Commision Meeting With US FTC

    We’ve had a very good meeting today with Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons and others from the FTC, and we didn’t discuss in any detail these questions. What we discussed is our cooperation which is actually very good because we exchange views, but we don’t try to walk in each other’s shoes.

    Status of the Google EU Investigation

    Of course, we expect a change of behavior because the decision is a cease-and-desist decision, you have to stop this and you cannot put anything in its place that has an equivalent effect. This is about enabling choice for the ones who produces our phone so that that maybe you can have a phone that carries other apps when you have the out-of-the-box experience.

    That is important for us to see this change in the marketplace to show that those who actually have the skills maybe to do another operating system from the Android open source code that they may be able to do that. The fine will have to be paid and then of course it is for Google to decide if they will appeal the case or not.

  • How to Use Data to Become Incredibly Customer Centric

    How to Use Data to Become Incredibly Customer Centric

    Steve Stone, former CIO of L Brands and Lowes, recently discussed how retailers can use data to serve their customers better and become incredibly customer-centric:

    Retail Grew Up Differently

    When you think about retail, retail grew up differently. We started with stores and then we eventually added e-commerce. We were also very much notorious best-of-breed in the way we build our applications. Over time, you’ve got this technical debt where information about the customer and information about the product is stored in many different places.

    When you’re trying to build an integrated seamless frictionless customer experience it’s very hard to do that if your information is disjointed. One of my favorite sayings is if the plumbing isn’t right it doesn’t matter how nice the experience is it just isn’t going to work. This is a huge challenge for retailers and it’s where technology really has to play a role, not only to combine the information but to find ways to add speed and agility to the entire process.

    Data Key to Meaningful Customer Experiences

    I’ve always said data governance isn’t exactly sexy but it’s it’s what really drives the ability to deliver those types of meaningful customer experiences. With the focus now today on the customer experience with the Internet of Things and with all these new technologies coming at us and especially with the advent of AI and machine learning, we now see that data has to be right, the hygiene has to be great. Suddenly, master data has become a vogue term in retail and in consumer products.

    I think the biggest problem a lot of companies find is they’ve got to find a place to start. You’ve got to get that starting point. Picking an experience, an experience that you want for the customer, and then flowing back through, where are all the interaction points of data, where does it originate, and where is it getting corrupt? Cleansing that and building that one experience we’ll start you on your journey.

    Be Customer Centric, Not Product Centric

    After that, it’s really getting into the plumbing and understanding your data and understanding the customer. It’s always amazing when we build these great customer experiences, but they’re built more for us and not for the customer. At L Brands we always put the customer first. Be customer centric, not product-centric. How do we integrate, how do we become customer first in everything that we do?

    We’re really at the point now where the technology exists to do this right. The integration platforms such as MuleSoft are really strong now that allows you to stitch together your applications plus build an extensible layer where applications can change quickly. That experience becomes one where if I’m a customer and I walk into a store and you don’t have the product I want there’s no problem. The product will still be at my doorstep the next day or hopefully that day.

    Knowing Your Customer

    I’m online and I want this product and I don’t want to have to wait for it to come from your distribution center in Detroit or Wisconsin. I want it and I’m in California and I get it in a couple of hours because the retailers are able to use the inventory in those local stores.

    As a customer, you know me regardless of the channel, whether I came to you via the call center or whether I came to you in a store or online. You know me and that’s to me where retailers have to be. I don’t think that’s differentiating as much anymore, instead, I think that’s becoming the table stakes.

    You can’t compete against the past, you’ve got to compete against what the future is going to be. I see retail changing so much from inventory, from the customer, and even the whole level of personalization that we’re trying to offer to the customer now. The customer is going to be asking for things that we would never have dreamed possible and yet in a few years we’re going to be delivering it.

    The Best Retailers Cater to Their Customers

    Retailers that I really admire are Costco, Lilly Pulitzer, Ulta Beauty, Tractor Supply, they have a really great connection with their customer. They cater to that customer and they’re building out technology capabilities that really allow that customer to operate on their terms, not on the retailer’s terms, and I just think that’s so powerful.

  • What is Uniquely Different About the New Amazon 4-Star Store?

    What is Uniquely Different About the New Amazon 4-Star Store?

    Amazon 4-Star is Amazon’s first retail store focused on selling Amazon’s products. The first of presumably many stores just opened in the Soho area of New York City and of course has made a big splash in the media. But what’s special about this store and what makes it a unique shopping experience?

    Amazon Physical Stores VP Cameron Janes answers that question in a Bloomberg interview:

    Amazon 4-Star is Built Around What Our Customers Our Loving

    What is uniquely different is that we really built this store around our customers. It’s a direct reflection of our customers, not just what they’re buying, but really what they’re loving.

    Everything in the store is rated 4 star or above by our customers, is a top seller or is the newest trending on Amazon.com. Our goal is that customers can walk into this store and pick up anything and know that it is going to be a great product because customers online have already said so.

    The average rating of products in this store is 4.4 stars and collectively we have about 1,800 products in the store and they earned 1.8 million 5 star reviews. These are really high-quality products that our customers love. The product with the most customer reviews in Amazon 4-Star is actually the Fire TV Stick with Alexa voice remote with over 197,000 customer reviews and it’s rated 4.4 stars.

    Curation is What 4-Star is About

    Whenever your working offline you can’t have the endless aisle that you have online. When you are working offline you really have to curate and that’s actually what Amazon 4 star is all about. We have a highly curated selection from some of the top categories, the most popular categories on Amazon.com. We’ve got devices, electronics, kitchen, toys, home, and all of these hit that 4-star selection bar that we think is so important.

    Here at 4-Star what we are trying to do is create an experience where customers can come in, browse, have fun shopping find products they love. With all of these experiences, we are trying to find more ways to connect with our customers. Of course, customers love to shop online, but a lot of customers love to shop offline as well. What we can do with these experiences is create a new type of shopping experiences and help them discover new products.

    Our Focus is Connecting With Customers

    Another thing you can do in offline that you can’t do online is that customers can come in and touch the products themselves. Certainly, with our device category, customers can come in the store, play with the Fire TV, they can read on the Kindle, they can interact with the Amazon Echo and Alexa products and see how those products work in first person and make a more confident buying decision.

    Our focus here is on connecting with customers and if customers come in here and discover products that they love, we know they will come back and over time that can be something big. That’s really what we are focused on today.

  • Pandora Co-Founder: Apple, Amazon, Google is Going to Rue the Day They Let Pandora Get Away

    Pandora Co-Founder: Apple, Amazon, Google is Going to Rue the Day They Let Pandora Get Away

    Tim Westergren, Co-founder, and former Pandora CEO commented on CNBC’s Fortt Knox show:

    Part of what makes Pandora so valuable as an entity is the amount of data that it collects. There’s no service as engaging as Pandora that elicits so much feedback from listeners and the information you are gleaning right now is being leveraged to build an efficient advertising business.

    I think that Apple, Amazon, Google is going to rue the day they let Pandora get away from them. I think that this company can be the cornerstone of a global play in music unlike any other. Pandora grew to almost 100 million registered listeners in the US also with barely a dime of marketing. It was an utterly viral phenomenon. I witnessed first hand the passion of that connection with Pandora and it’s listeners. I used to do town halls across the country meeting people in person and I saw what was going on with listeners and Pandora.

    I think anybody who witnessed that would understand how vast the potential is. I hope that this combination (SiriusXM Acquisition) can realize it, but this company could do an awful lot in the hands of a global partner the likes of Apple, Google, etc…

  • How SnackNation’s Predictive Analytic Engine Fuels Their Success

    How SnackNation’s Predictive Analytic Engine Fuels Their Success

    Recently, SnackNation secured $12 million in Series B funding and is on a roll with their digitally integrated healthy snack delivery business. SnackNation may be focusing on snack delivery now but it’s really building a consumer insights and consumer products delivery platform that can plug in anything.

    Will SnackNation become the next big online thing in online retail? After all, Amazon started with books and look at them now.

    SnackNation CEO and Co-founder Sean Kelly recently talked about how SnackNation is using consumer data as a cornerstone of its business model:

    We are the authority when it comes to discovering emerging and innovative snack food brands. More specifically, we are a tech-enabled snack delivery service that delivers curations to thousands of companies and homes across the country. We go out and find the best emerging and innovative brands that are also better for you and clean and delicious and bring them direct to people.

    In today’s world, it’s so important to be able to innovate and iterate, especially if you are a big CPG company. What we do is go direct to the consumer and have a direct relationship with them at their most engaged moments. We collect consumer insights and data that we feed back to the brands so they can better understand their customer and therefore improve their products.

    We also use all of that data to determine what emerging brands are going to win tomorrow. We have a predictive analytics engine that gives us a leg up. We sell that data back to brands and there are also ways to work with industry leaders and big CPGs to deliver some of that information to them.

    Although we started out focusing on enterprise sales, we don’t look at B2B and B2C as being different. It’s all about where the consumer is. For us, why did we start at the office, it’s because it’s where the younger generation spends the most time.

    Being able to collect these insights and having a forward-looking view in terms of what’s going to work and what’s not is very important.

    We are actually setting this up as a platform where we can deliver any consumer products through this. Even though our focus is on snacks we are already starting to plug health and beauty items through our consumer insights funnel.

  • Oracle’s Autonomous Database Cloud is a Huge Technological Advantage

    Oracle’s Autonomous Database Cloud is a Huge Technological Advantage

    The release by Oracle of its AI-powered Autonomous Database Cloud earlier this year and just adding Transactional Processing to its abilities last week is huge for Oracle and its customers who need this cutting edge technology. Oracle considers the Autonomous Cloud a generational release because it literally is the first database in the world that can build itself and update itself without human help.

    Oracle CEO Mark Hurd recently spoke to CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” about it:

    Oracle Autonomous Database Is a Generational Release

    Probably our most important generational database release is the Autonomous Database. This is where the database is integrated with AI and machine learning that really just self-patches and self-tunes. It actually creates a position where your security issues go down, you get higher uptime, and you pay less money. We really never in our history had a database release that had as many positive business outcomes as opposed to just technology.

    This is a place where you get better performance, more uptime and you will eliminate tons of labor. Most of our customers, for example, I know this has become a bigger issue with C-Suites now where the amount of time it actually takes to patch software can be months for most of our customers.

    This release of the Autonomous Database literally eliminates that need to patch. This is a generational release for us as we bring it to market.

    Oracle BYOL Explained

    Let me explain BYOL (Bring Your Own License). That is simply where you can buy a license and you can use it on-premise or in the cloud, so it’s basically a currency that you can move across platforms. We’re one of the very few companies that allow you to do that, so we believe it’s an advantage for our customers and what they want and that’s why we utilize that strategy.

    Second,  I think you need to divide up what’s happening in the applications market versus what’s happening in the infrastructure and platform market. In the applications market, there’s an opportunity now for most companies to modernize all of their systems.

    ERP is Moving to the Cloud

    Let’s start with the back office systems, the biggest category of back-office applications is called ERP. ERP is basically companies financial supply chain manufacturing systems, etc.

    All of those are really going to get replaced over the next several years as companies move to the cloud where there are much more innovation and much more work done by somebody else as opposed to by the customer. We’re in the very early innings of that market.

    Oracles Technology is a Competitor Differentiator 

    We have a significant lead technology wise in ERP and we went through a ton of customer wins in the quarter. That market is going to over the next several years be very exciting. The technology infrastructure market, that’s as you move further up the stack, meaning from compute and storage to database to other tools and systems, Oracle gets more differentiated from competition the further you move up the stack.

    Just replacing somebody’s computer with somebody’s infrastructure, while that’s interesting, the more technology you have and the more IP differentiates Oracle. Oracle has always been differentiated by doing the hardest jobs the best, by investing in R&D and investing in innovation.

    Oracle Autonomous Database for Transactional Processing Announced

    Larry Ellison, Oracle Co-Founder, CTO, and Executive Chairman, made the announcement:

    We’re announcing the immediate availability of the Oracle Autonomous Database transactional processing. Now the machine learning based technology not only can optimize itself for queries for database warehouses and Data Marts, but it also optimizes itself for transactions.

    It can run batch programs, reporting, Internet of Things, simple transactions, complex transactions, and mixed workloads. Between these two systems, the system that is optimized for data warehousing and the system that’s optimized for transaction processing, the Oracle Autonomous Database now handles all of your workloads. All of them.

    Larry Ellison also recently gave his take on the Autonomous Database Cloud:

    The cool thing about the Autonomous Database Cloud is because it is autonomous the database is fully automated.  Human Beings don’t create the database, the database creates itself. Human Beings don’t tune the database, the database tunes itself.

  • Inside the Mind of Jeff Bezos as He Reveals the Secret Sauce of Amazon

    Inside the Mind of Jeff Bezos as He Reveals the Secret Sauce of Amazon

    Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos recently talked about why Amazon is so successful, what he looks for when buying companies and how the business miracle of AWS came about.

    Here are some key excerpts from his Q&A at The Economic Club Of Washington:

    The secret sauce of Amazon, the number one thing that has made us successful by far is our obsessive-compulsive focus on the customer, as opposed to obsession over the competitor. I talk so often to other CEOs and also founders and entrepreneurs, and I can tell that even though they’re talking about customers they’re really focusing on competitors. It is huge for any company to stay focused on your customer instead of your competitors.

    On Buying Companies: Is the Founder a Missionary or a Mercenary?

    Amazon buys a lot of companies, usually, there much smaller than Whole Foods, but we buy a bunch of companies every year. When I meet with the entrepreneur who founded the company,  I’m always trying to figure out one thing first and foremost, is that person a missionary or a mercenary? The mercenaries are trying to flip their stock. The missionaries love their product or their service and love their customer and are trying to build a great service.

    The great paradox here is that it’s usually the missionaries who make more money!

    You can tell really quickly just by talking to people whether they are a missionary. When I met John Mackay who’s the founder of Whole Foods, it’s a missionary company and he’s a missionary guy.  What we’re able to do is take some of our resources, some of our technological know-how and expand the Whole Foods mission.

    They have a great mission which is to bring organic nourishing food to everybody, but we have a lot to bring to the table in terms of resources, but also in terms of operational excellence and technology know-how.

    How AWS Reinvented the Way Companies buy Computation

    We started AWS (Amazon Web Services) about 15 years ago and worked on it behind the scenes for a long time before we finally launched it. Since then, it has become a very large company that has completely reinvented the way companies buy computation.

    Traditionally,  if you’re a company and you needed computation, you would build a data center. You’d fill that data center with servers, you’d have to upgrade the operating systems of those servers,  keep everything running and so on. None of that added any value to what the business was doing. It was kind of the price of admission. It was undifferentiated heavy lifting.

    What we saw at Amazon while we were building data centers for ourselves is that there was a tremendous waste of effort between our applications engineers and our networking engineers, the ones who run the data centers. They were having to have lots of meetings and planning fleet sizes and all these non-value-added tasks.

    We said what we can do is develop a set of hardened API’s  that allow these two groups, the applications engineers and the networking engineers, to have roadmap meetings instead of these fine-grained meetings, and then we’ll expose those API’s to the applications engineers and they can just take as much compute resources as they want. As soon as we hatched that plan it became immediately obvious to us that every company in the world was gonna want this.

    Then A Business Miracle Happened

    Then a business miracle happened. This never happens. This is like the greatest piece of business luck in the history of business.  We faced no like-minded competition for seven years. It’s unbelievable.

    When I launched Amazon.com in 1995, Barnes & Noble launched Barnesandnoble.com in 1997, in just two years. That’s very typical if you invent something new. When we launched Kindle, Barnes and Noble launched Nook two years later. After we launched Ecco, Google launched Google Home two years later.

    When you’re a pioneer if you’re lucky you get a two-year head start. Nobody gets a seven-year head start! That was incredible.

    I think it was because of a whole confluence of things. The big established enterprise software companies did not see Amazon as a credible enterprise software company and so we had this long runway to build this incredible little feature-rich service. It’s just so far ahead of all the other products and services available to do this work today and the team doesn’t let up.

  • Holler.com: Supply Chain Excellence is Our #1 Focus

    Holler.com: Supply Chain Excellence is Our #1 Focus

    Jonathan Um, Cofounder, and COO of Holler.com, the world’s first online dollar store, recently spoke at Retail (R)Evolution 2018 about how important the supply chain and automation is to his young start-up.

    We are on the extreme end of the online spectrum. For us, carrying about 10,000 SKU’s, providing the ultimate digital hunt to our 6 million users, the number one thing we focus on, first, second and third, is supply chain excellence. We take a holistic view of the supply chain, from the way we buy, what we buy, how we source, how we bring it in, how we pay, to the way we fulfill and ship. It was inevitable for a bunch of scrappy guys trying to squeeze every ounce of fat from that supply chain to turn to automation. Not just your run of the mill automation, but robotics.

    Speed Isn’t Everything

    I think with Amazon out there in the market there is a misconception that speed is everything. You have to deliver next-day, same day, and that’s simply not true. In fact, what rings the most true is free is king. And customers will do amazing things to try to get to free shipping. It is the end all, be all for the extreme value segment. For us, we are very focused on how to deliver free shipping and make our unit economics work. That’s number one. Number two is transparency. Customers want to know what’s going on with their order?

    If it’s getting picked, packed–there are actually features in our WMS with HighJump Software where you get a Facebook notification if the order is being picked at that very instant. For the customer, it’s really about not worrying that you have our attention on your order because you receive regular updates. That whole stat about 8 contacts per package is a real cost and that is a reality that we’re living through. Every time we update and add transparency is a win for our business.

    Same Day: The Exception for Delivery but Not for Notification

    In terms of click to ship, it is same day, that is the expectation. When you place an order on Holler.com, the expectation is that you get a shipping notification the same day. The constraint is that we have a 5-day work schedule, we don’t have a 7-day work schedule, so we need to catch up on Monday and Tuesday very quickly. But that same day ship notification, that is the standard.

    Small Start-Ups Must Outsource Automation to be Successful

    We are a well-funded company, but we don’t have the capital to deploy traditional automation. You ask us to spend $2 million, $5 million we are just going to say no out of the gate. It’s a non-starter for us. There is no scenario that would payback for us, ever. I don’t know what my order volume is in Q4 five years from now. I can barely tell you five quarters from now. So I cannot put up $5 million, $10 million or $15 million.

    We are working with a solution called Invia Robotics. It’s basically a little robot, costs no more than a couple thousand dollars to build, and it’s a pay as you go service. So in the day of Uber and Lyft and Airbnb, why would you pay for your own capX as a small company like us? We pay by the pick, the replenishment tasks, and the inventory tasks. This is a great solution for where we are as a business, doing about 3,000 orders a day and 30,000 lines.

    If we were to scale up to 100,000 lines in a couple of years, I’d be totally open to insourcing.

  • How Mattel Optimizes Marketing on Walmart.com

    How Mattel Optimizes Marketing on Walmart.com

    Mattel is one of the largest distributors and brands sold on Walmart.com. Meredith Wollman manages the customer experience and all of the digital marketing for Mattel products that are sold through the Walmart.com channel. Wollman was interviewed at the eTail Conference by Tammy Everts, Senior Director of Research at SOASTA, now part of Akamai.

    How do you deliver the high conversion rates that Walmart and Mattel expect?

    If you don’t have the fundamentals down no campaign is going to be successful. Before we consider an ad campaign we go back to the cradle and look at setting up the items. We make sure that each item has the correct title, correct brand attribution, the right content in terms of A+ asset, beautiful imagery,  lifestyle imagery, package, out of package, the right videos, whether we have short TV commercials, and any user-generated content.

    Whatever the case may be, making sure that those items are set up and that they are optimized properly is very important to do before we even look at a campaign. No campaign will be successful if the item isn’t set up properly and they aren’t engaging for the consumers and there aren’t reviews already on the product.

    How do you plan a campaign for Mattel on Walmart.com?

    We are looking at what are our big bets? Where do we have the biggest investment in terms of the products that we want to put in front of the consumer? Every campaign looks at our on-hand inventory and where we are hoping on having the consumer lean in big. What we do is set up the campaign around that. We determine that if we can only have 5 or 6 hero images, what are those going to be? What are the products that we are going to use as the enticement for the consumer to come in and look at more?

    Then, which brands are we going to focus on? We also look at all of the analytics in terms of geo-targeting. In this particular zip code, are consumers leaning in towards our latin Barbie? Are they leaning in towards our African American Barbie? We want to really personalize what shows up on the screen for the consumers so they are seeing what they want to see and what they didn’t even know that they wanted to see.

    It’s Definitely a Data-Driven Process…

    I think the days of gut testing everything have gone the way of the Dodo Bird. Everything has to be data-driven now. That doesn’t mean that you can’t test something new, we do that all of the time. We really look at the data first to determine which products, where, who, when and how. All of those key factors are looked at when determining what we are going to put forward. It has to be data-driven.

    Most Mattel Shoppers Start on Mobile in the Store

    About 75 percent of our consumers start their journey on mobile. They are either in the store looking at a product and then they go on their phone and look for reviews or they are in the store and looking at products to see how quickly it could be shipped. A lot of people start their journey online which is why it’s so important to be mobile optimized.

    They don’t all necessarily buy online but that’s where they start their journey. Some will buy online but then go pick up in the store, which is actually considered a store purchase.

    How are conversions for Mattel on Walmart.com?

    They are slightly higher than the norm of 4-6 percent. If you are hitting the consumer when they want to see the product and with the product, they want to see you will, of course, have a greater conversion rate. It comes down to being scientific and artful at the same time about not necessarily telling the consumer what we want them to know, but giving the consumer the information that they want.

    Those two don’t always mesh as easily as we’d like because we have things we want to share at certain times, but that’s not always what works best for the consumer. The better we understand the consumer and what they want and when they want it the more successful the campaign. It’s always the case when we are communicating something that we want them to know in the time frame that we want them to know that it’s not nearly as successful.

    Akamai Study Shows Load Time Impacts Revenue Significantly

    A study by Akamai shows that every 1 second of load time improvement on Walmart.com equaled a 2% conversion rate increase.


    Also, for every 100ms of improvement, incremental revenue grew by 1%. All ecommerce sites can benefit from increasing both the speed and efficiency of the consumer experience.

  • Brands Are Waking Up to the Inevitable of Selling on Amazon

    Brands Are Waking Up to the Inevitable of Selling on Amazon

    “Ecommerce is essentially digital disruption,” says David Spitz, ChannelAdvisor CEO, at the recent Retail (R)evolution 2018 conference. “If you are a brand or retailer and you are in that supply chain, or flow of commerce, digital disruption for ecommerce is like what Netflix did to Blockbuster. There’s a lot of retail disruption. The alternative of being able to click and get products very quickly, where you can now get deliveries in as little as an hour, makes the value proposition of getting in your car and going to the store very diminished.” Spitz says this leaves retailers looking for what they can do to remain relevant.

    He says that if you are a brand, manufacturer or CPG type company the path to the consumer is changing very rapidly. “In the US, ecommerce is still only 10 percent of total retail spend,” notes Spitz. “Most companies are still driving 90 percent of their revenue through the traditional retail channels, but the growth is in that (ecommerce) 10 percent. The path to the consumer is changing and it’s creating a new world order with the landscape shifting very rapidly.”

    Spitz is focused on the challenges of retailers. “I’ve spent a lot of time talking to a variety of brands such as paint manufacturers, tire manufacturers, apparel companies, etc. They are in this interesting crossroads because the bulk of their revenue still comes from the traditional retail channel and those are partnerships that are important to them and they don’t want to upset those partnerships. On the other hand, if you look at the rate of growth of Amazon, they are approaching half of US ecommerce. It continues to grow at roughly twice the rate of the industry so it’s not hard to imagine waking up in a world where Amazon accounts for 60-75 percent of US ecommerce.”

    If you are a brand, how do you reach those consumers? “Consumers are saying this is how I like to shop, it’s an easy app, I click and know I’m going to get the product quickly,” says Spitz. “Last summer, Nike decided to start selling on Amazon, and Nike had resisted selling on Amazon for the last 10 years. I think there was some dawning realization at some point that this is how customers want to shop. So a lot of these brands see it as inevitable, that’s how consumers like to shop and why make life hard for your customers?”

    “I think that channel mix conflict is very much real for brands but at the end of the day, the customer is what matters the most. If the customer says this is how I want to purchase your product if you are a brand you have to listen to that.”

    New world order indeed…

  • Why Walmart’s Employee Package Delivery Plan Failed

    Why Walmart’s Employee Package Delivery Plan Failed

    In June of 2017, Walmart announced that it wanted to tap its massive workforce of over 2 million people to bring online orders directly to the front doors of its customers. The retail giant planned to have employees make the deliveries on their way home after ending their usual work shifts. According to Marc Lore, head of Walmart’s eCommerce operations, the strategy would make the company’s deliveries more efficient, a move that would help it fend off rival Amazon. But before launching the employee “last-mile” delivery service nationwide, it was first tested in New Jersey and Arkansas. Walmart reeled employees into the program by offering additional compensation to cover labor and fuel expenses, but the experiment flopped. As it turned out, the last-mile program had more drawbacks than benefits for its workers.

    In January of this year, Walmart quietly shut down the pilot program and is now testing employee deliveries on a smaller scale.

    But exactly why did its last-mile delivery fail? Employees who participated in the program spoke to Reuters about their experience and explained some of the issues they had with it.

    Read the full story at the Reuters website.

    [Featured image via Walmart newsroom]

  • Walmart Joins Forces With Microsoft to Fend Off Amazon

    Walmart Joins Forces With Microsoft to Fend Off Amazon

    In its bid to overtake its largest rival, Walmart announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft on Tuesday. According to the biggest US retailer, the company inked a five-year deal with the tech giant to speed up its digital transformation for a faster shopping experience online. Walmart will be utilizing an array of Microsoft’s cloud solutions as its preferred provider.

    It’s no secret that Walmart and Microsoft are two of Amazon’s closest rivals in retail and cloud computing, respectively. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the battle against Amazon was “absolutely core” to his company’s teamup with Walmart. He further stated, “How do we get more leverage as two organizations that have depth and breadth and investment to be able to outrun our respective competition?”

    Under the deal, Walmart will use Microsoft’s machine learning and AI technologies to optimize the retailer’s entire supply chain and improve its delivery system. With the Internet of Things platform on Microsoft’s Azure, the retailer can better manage which products should go on the shelves from the ones that go into the refrigeration units. This is one way to reduce costs in operating its physical stores.

    Utilizing technology to assess operations seems to be one of Amazon’s strong suits, one that Walmart appears to lack. Over the past few years, the online retailer has developed its cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, to become the leading cloud service provider. Microsoft, however, remains second in terms of market share with Azure, but still a worthy alternative for other companies.   

    Although Walmart has developed its own cloud computing operation, it wasn’t as extensive as Amazon’s or Microsoft’s. The retailer only began using Azure recently when it acquired Jet.com, whose operations ran entirely on Microsoft’s cloud platform.  

    Walmart has been more open to the idea of working with tech firms to enhance its systems and improve shopping experience. Last year, it teamed up with Google by adding some of its Walmart.com products on Google Express to allow for voice-ordered purchases, directly competing with Amazon’s Alexa. And for its back-to-school offering, Walmart has also launched its app for faster location of items in-store.   

    Microsoft, on the other hand, has been teaming up with other brick-and-mortar retailers, such as Macy’s and Marks & Spencer, for better retail experience using artificial intelligence.

    Despite the strategic alliance, Walmart won’t be using the tech giant’s services for its planned cashierless stores – another area where Amazon has taken an early lead with its Amazon Go store in Seattle. Microsoft, however, is still keen on developing hardware and software solutions for automated grocery stores, even if it’s not for Walmart.

    [Featured image via Walmart.com]

  • Walmart May Bring Customer Service Drones to Its Stores Soon, Retailer Files Patents

    Walmart May Bring Customer Service Drones to Its Stores Soon, Retailer Files Patents

    Walmart has always been known to push boundaries. The company is continuing this innovative culture with its recent filing of patents for keeping track of inventory, a store drone and other technologies aimed at changing how customers shops.

    Walmart is no stranger to filing patents. The company has reportedly filed 1,400 patents since 2009, all of which focused on technology that enhances their customers’ in-store experience. One of the newly filed patents pertains to a sensing device designed to make smart shopping carts that can communicate with a mobile device. This can make searching for grocery items go more smoothly.

    Meanwhile, several of the patents that were filed are geared towards sensing and managing inventory levels and one that can track customers via wearables.

    Walmart has also filed two patents for autonomous technology. One is for tech that can detect items or products in containers while the other can gather vehicle information, like size, temperature, pre- and post-delivery weight, using an intricate system of sensors, an interface, and a processor.

    One patent that could drastically change how things are done at Walmart is for a drone that could assist customers as they shop in the store. According to the patent outline, a customer can call the drone through a mobile device that’s either the customer’s own or one that’s been provided by the store. The drone can be used to navigate around the store or to verify product price.

    The patent detailed how the device can control the aerial drone to guide the user to the location of the item in the store. The drone could also give a visual projection to show the shopper what direction they should take or provide audio instructions.

    There’s also the possibility of Walmart utilizing a variety of drones to perform different tasks. Each drone will reportedly have its own distinct features based on its assigned job.

    While the patents appear promising, there’s no guarantee that they will be realized. Most of the time, the patents companies file are never realized.

    However, Walmart’s recent patent filing underlines just how serious the company is in its bid to compete against Amazon and other established retailers. It has already increased the prices of products bought online and has started producing and selling its very own meal kits. Walmart has also signed an exclusive deal with Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce company, to sell Kobo e-readers.

    Featured image via Pixabay

  • Walmart’s eCommerce is Booming, Sales Grow 33% in First Quarter

    Walmart’s eCommerce is Booming, Sales Grow 33% in First Quarter

    Walmart delivered on the online sales growth it hinted at after its less than stellar performance during the last holiday season. With its eCommerce sales seemingly ready to bounce back, the retail giant’s stocks traded higher on Thursday. Business analysts also believe that Walmart is in a position to take advantage of a cyclical boom that will hit discount retail in the next few years.

    Walmart recently reported its first quarter earnings and the numbers are positive. Earnings have reached $1.14 per share and on revenue of $122.69 billion. The numbers have exceeded estimates of $1.12 in EPS and $120.51 in profits. What’s more, profits are up 4.4 percent compared to last years. Same-store sales received a 2.1 percent boost, a bit ahead of Wall Street’s projection of 2 percent while WMT stock grew by almost 2 percent in pre-market trading on May 17.

    More importantly, online sales growth have increased to 33 percent this first quarter. It’s a massive improvement after falling 50 percent and 23 percent in the third and fourth quarter respectively. The numbers have undoubtedly caused investors to breathe a sigh of relief.

    Walmart’s Sam’s Club performed admirably in the first quarter, with the company reporting same-store sales boost of 3.8 percent and a commensurate 5.6 percent increase in traffic.

    International sales were also robust, rising up to 11.7 percent to $30.3 billion. It’s not so surprising though, as the company has been aggressively trying to stake claims on high-growth regions like China and India through acquisitions and partnerships. Just this month, Walmart revealed that it’s taking majority ownership of Flipkart, a leading eCommerce company in India.

    In a statement, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that the company has shown a solid start to the fiscal year and that they’re encouraged by the momentum Walmart has.

    “ We are changing from within to be faster and more digital, while shaping our portfolio of businesses for the future,” McMillon added.

    That’s clear from the improvements Walmart has been making. The company has recently revamped its website, acquired online brands like Bonobos and added known brands like Lord & Taylor. Walmart has also equipped more of its branches to handle grocery pickup for online orders and made changes to its app. The company is also using more sophisticated software to better manage their inventory. This has allowed Walmart to prevent stock shortages while also avoiding having a glut of merchandise in stores that could lead to a slow down of new stocks.

  • Square Acquires Weebly for $365 Million, Aims to Be a One-Stop Solution for eCommerce Businesses

    Square Acquires Weebly for $365 Million, Aims to Be a One-Stop Solution for eCommerce Businesses

    Digital payments company Square has announced plans to acquire Weebly for approximately $365 million in cash and stock. The purchase was in line with Square’s objective to provide a cohesive solution to entrepreneurs in running their businesses across all channels.

    Known for its payment software and hardware, Square has diversified its portfolio to include money transfer, business financing, and customer relationship management software. The company offers flexibility in selecting and integrating third-party solutions that include point of sale, accounting software, and other back-office applications. Weebly, on the other hand, provides an easy to use platform for building and hosting websites. Over the years, it has focused on catering to small businesses and online companies.  

    With the merger, a start-up company doesn’t have to shop around separately for applications, hardware, and platforms compatible with each other to have a presence online and offline. It is one of the challenges in setting up an eCommerce site, especially for those without the know-how to do so. In a statement, Square CEO Jack Dorsey pointed out that the strategic move aims “to bridge these channels, and we can go even further and faster together.”

    Square emphasizes the importance of an omnichannel experience in commerce. It simply means that sellers can reach out to potential customers through both digital and physical storefronts. From brand discovery and purchase to returns and exchanges, the seller can interact with the buyer in-store, online, or even in-app.

    “From managing orders, appointments, and payments to building a website, running a business is complex, and entrepreneurs around the world want powerful and intuitive tools,” Alyssa Henry of Square said. “Whether they’re an artist, a winemaker, or a hairdresser, with Square and Weebly sellers will have one cohesive solution to build their business.”

    David Rusenko, CEO of Weebly, agreed that entrepreneurs would benefit the most from the merger. He wrote, “Together, we will support you to build professional websites and powerful commerce experiences — whether online or in real life. This move reinforces our original mission: to help the world’s entrepreneurs succeed. As Square + Weebly, we’ll be able to help you in more powerful ways than ever before.”

    He also assured Weebly clients that no major changes are expected to happen. The transaction, however, will boost Square’s customer base and provide a steady revenue stream. With 40 percent of Weebly’s 625,000 paid subscribers based outside the US, the deal is set to expand Square’s global presence.  

    Until the deal is finalized in the second quarter of 2018 and cleared of regulatory hurdles, Weebly and Square will continue to operate separately.

    [Featured image via Weebly Twitter]

  • How EMVs Made Credit Card Processing More Secure

    How EMVs Made Credit Card Processing More Secure

    Due to rising incidents of fraud and data theft, credit card issuers and merchants switched to using EMV technology to authenticate transactions. Taking its name from Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, EMV was developed as far back as the mid-1990s, but the technology was only widely adopted in the US with the advent of the liability shift in October 2015. This shift meant that the least EMV-compliant party in a payment process would be the one held liable for fraudulent transactions. 

    The use of cards with magnetic strips slowly gave way to the use of the newer more secure EMV cards.

    EMV uses small chips or microprocessor to store information, perform processing, and generate dynamic data for every transaction. This makes it nearly impossible to replicate transaction code and create counterfeit cards. Meanwhile, mag stripe cards store unchanging data on sensitive cardholder information that are easy to duplicate.

    Because of its security features, EMV-enabled cards significantly reduced fraud-related incidents. According to Visa, merchants accepting ‘chip cards’ reported a drop in counterfeit fraud losses by 58 percent in December 2016 when compared to December of the previous year. Similarly, Mastercard fraud data also saw a 54 percent decline in counterfeit fraud from April 2015 to April 2016.

    The migration to chip technology may be slow but looks encouraging. During the recent Secure Technology Alliance Payments Summit, keynote speaker Stephanie Ericksen of Visa revealed that 96 percent of the company’s payment volume at point-of-sale (POS) use EMV cards. In addition, 59 percent of POS terminals in the US accept chip cards—an impressive growth since the liability shift.

    Fraud reduction is the biggest benefit for merchants upon shifting to EMV technology. Compliance with the standard also limits the financial liability of business owners if they process a fraudulent transaction. Customers also seem to prefer using EMV-enabled terminals that offer more security. In fact, a 2016 survey by NerdWallet revealed that 43 percent of respondents prefer using chip cards for in-store purchases.

    Chip technology helped combat fraud in face-to-face settings, like grocery stores checkout lanes, that use counterfeit cards. But it did not completely eliminate data theft and other types of fraud. Fraudsters have shifted their focus to card-not-present (CNP) fraud on transactions done via phone or online. The threat becomes even more significant as the eCommerce in the US grows at an exponential pace.    

    According to Brett McDowell of the FIDO Alliance, 50 percent of reported fraudulent transactions are attributed to CNP fraud. The majority of data breaches in 2016 were due to weak or stolen passwords. This indicates the need for stronger authentication and identity verification processes to better secure the overall payments system, including the EMV ecosystem.  

    Despite the achievements and progress in EMV migration of the payments industry, business leaders acknowledge that there is more work to be done. They are also upbeat on the next step in the chip card transition—contactless payments.

    Dual-interface EMV cards can also have contactless card reading or near field communication (NFC) features. Consumers only have to tap their card on the terminal scanner for faster checkout. However, there are several hurdles to this technology, such as lack of acceptance, confusion among users, and few companies issuing NFC-capable cards.

    There is more to the future of payments, including embedding biometric readers on cards to verify a cardholder’s identity. Industry leaders are also looking at cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, and blockchain as other forms of payment technologies. 

    [Featured image via creditcards.com YouTube]

  • Walmart Competes Against Amazon for Flipkart Buy-In, $12 Billion Offered for Controlling Stake

    Walmart Competes Against Amazon for Flipkart Buy-In, $12 Billion Offered for Controlling Stake

    US companies Walmart and Amazon are competing to acquire a controlling stake in Flipkart, India’s leading eCommerce company. Walmart has completed an in-depth due diligence on its proposed majority ownership in the Indian firm. However, rival Amazon also wants to put in a bid and offers a ‘breakup fee’ of $1 billion to $2 billion, a penalty to be paid in case the deal fails to proceed.

    Unnamed sources revealed that Walmart is willing to pay $10 billion to $12 billion for a controlling stake of 51 percent or more, valuing Flipkart at roughly $20 billion. But the deal isn’t sealed yet because Amazon is reportedly interested as well.

    Insiders privy to the matter disclosed that Flipkart’s board recently discussed the competing proposals. They seem to agree that Walmart’s offer is better since the US retailer will face fewer regulatory hurdles. On the other hand, Amazon is considered as Flipkart’s primary competitor. It will face tighter scrutiny for possible monopoly since both companies control the majority of India’s online retail market.

    Founded by two former Amazon employees, Flipkart is taking on the eCommerce giant to have a piece of India’s expanding online retail market. According to Morgan Stanley estimates, eCommerce in the country is predicted to grow annually by 30 percent and will be worth $200 billion by 2026.

    Because of its vast potential, Amazon is investing heavily in the emerging market. The eCommerce giant has spent $5 billion for its India operations but is losing to homegrown startups like Flipkart that know the market well.

    Flipkart announced recent plans to construct a 4.5 million sq. ft. logistics facility in Southern India. This is significantly bigger than Amazon’s largest warehouse measuring 400,000-sq. ft. in the country. But the US online retailer also has 62 fulfillment centers and delivery stations located all over India.

    Walmart’s entry will give the startup its much-needed funds to compete head-on with Amazon. Flipkart will also benefit from the retailer’s unparalleled experience in logistics and supply chain management.

    The largest US retailer’s stake in Flipkart will depend on which of its shareholders are willing to sell. SoftBank, Tiger Global, and Naspers are just some of its largest investors. Insiders said that SoftBank prefers a deal with Amazon because of its success in online commerce. Tiger and Naspers will likely sell their holdings to Walmart for the right price, according to sources.

    As of writing, Walmart, Amazon, and Flipkart have declined to comment on the matter.

    [Featured image via Flipkart website]

  • 5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Benefits eCommerce Businesses

    5 Ways Artificial Intelligence Benefits eCommerce Businesses

    Over the past few years, more people have turned to online shopping instead of brick-and-mortar stores because of convenience. In 2017, eCommerce businesses accounted for 9.1 percent of US retail sales during the fourth quarter, higher than the 8.2 percent share of the previous year.

    Amidst online sales growth and positive prospects of eCommerce, nearly half of the industry’s revenue comes from Amazon. This prompted other online retailers to tap into artificial intelligence, or AI, in gaining an edge over the eCommerce giant through personalized shopping experience. In utilizing AI for their businesses, retailers gain critical analytical data on consumers, allowing them to improve customer experience.

    From effective marketing strategies to efficient sales process, here’s a look at how using AI will benefit online retailers.

    1. Easier Product Searching

    Most sales online begin with a search, and if the results displayed are not relevant, this can prompt customers to look somewhere else. Keyword-based search is the usual method for websites to return a list of items based on entered words and description. However, this might not be the most accurate way to generate relevant results.

    To address this, a visual search engine powered by AI allows customers to send an image instead and discover similar products on your website. High-end retailer Neiman Marcus first announced said feature on its mobile app in 2015, recognizing the customer’s need to find related results based on photos.  

    Related image

    Image via Neiman Marcus website

    2. Better Customer Understanding

    Feedback, whether posted on social media or review sites, allows businesses to quickly gain valuable insights about their products. Although 40 percent of sales and marketing leaders acknowledge that word of mouth is crucial to a brand’s success on social media, less than half of these companies use this information for their customer analytics.

    By using AI and natural language processing (NLP), retailers can sift through every online feedback, be it positive, negative, or neutral, to learn more about customer expectations and respond accordingly.   

    3. Personalized Marketing Strategy

    AI-powered recommendation engines filter relevant information from numerous data about a buyer’s interest, preference, and behaviors on the site. Based on timely insights gathered, an online merchant suggests items uniquely patterned after your recent activity and past purchases on the site.

    This shopping experience mimicking the personal feel of brick-and-mortar stores translates to customer satisfaction and spending. In fact, retailers with personalized strategies have observed sales growth of 6-10 percent, two to three times faster than others that don’t, according to Boston Consulting Group study.

    4. Immediate Customer Service

    Chatbots and virtual shopping assistants, powered by AI, provide direct and quick customer engagement. For eCommerce businesses, chatbots can be used to automate customer service messages, send order-related information, resolve issues, and interact with clients in real-time. By using NLP to understand meaning and context of your customers’ messages, these virtual assistants can take on your brand’s personality and voice in creating human-like interaction.

    Image result for chatbot customer service

    Image via livingactor.com

    In a survey done by Oracle on 800 sales and marketing leaders, about 80% want to use chatbots in their businesses by 2020 as a way to automate some processes and improve customer experience.

    5. Systematic Sales Process

    Prior to social media, sales strategies include cold-calling and ad placements in the hopes of targeting the right market. These days, AI is used to gather patterns and numbers to help businesses convert queries to actual sales through data-driven feedback.

    Nowadays, people turn to social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram for shopping inspiration—a trove of data for AI companies like Yotpo to utilize in developing digital marketing tools. With proper use of user-generated content, customers discover products in a subtler, more natural way.  

    “Artificial intelligence programs can scan through millions of events to find patterns and correlations that we just would not notice on a day to day basis. So it might notice a correlation between sending a specific pitch deck to prospective clients before calling them results in better conversions,” Uzi Shmilovici, chief executive officer of Base CRM, explained.

    Digitally native retailers have recognized the importance of creating personalized shopping experience through the use of AI as a way to give them an edge over others offering the same products. By leveraging AI-driven innovations, smaller eCommerce businesses, as well as bigger retailers like Amazon, get the leg up in attracting and retaining their customers. 

  • Walmart’s Got Robots Running Loose In Its Stores

    Walmart’s Got Robots Running Loose In Its Stores

    In a bid to improve its services, Walmart is currently testing automation in several of its stores across the country. The robots are designed to manage repetitive tasks and give the staff more time to focus on helping customers.

    The retail giant has deployed around 50 robots that scan shelves to check for mislabeled items, products with incorrect prices and out-of-stock goods. The collected data is then relayed to a cloud database. Workers can then check to see what products are running low and have to be restocked.

    The robots are developed and produced by Bossa Nova Robotics. Officials from the San Francisco-based company said it took them almost six years to develop the automated units’ shelf-scanning technology.

    According to Walmart’s management, the robots will free employees from repetitive and predictable tasks and give them more time to concentrate on giving their customers better service. Walmart says the project is still in its initial stages and the company is still gathering feedback from customers and colleagues on the robots’ performance and whether they get in the consumers’ way.

    The units are like self-driving vehicles and are typically used early in the morning. But the company is amenable to testing the robots at other times—like the midday and at night – when there are more customers in the store.

    The shelf-scanning robots are just the first in a series of changes Walmart appears to be considering. The company has already filed several patents on technology that they plan on using, including a wearable device that will track shoppers’ movements.

    Walmart isn’t the only company checking out what Bossa Nova Robotics’ machines can do. Three other major retailers have contracted the company to test its automation technology.

    The use of automation in retail has already been the topic of debates. Some consumers have raised questions on what the role of robots would be while others have concerns about how this will affect jobs. But there are also those who believe automation can make shopping trips easier.

    [Featured image via Walmart Canada]

  • Alibaba Invests Additional $2 Billion in Lazada, Seeks to Dominate SE Asia eCommerce Market

    Alibaba Invests Additional $2 Billion in Lazada, Seeks to Dominate SE Asia eCommerce Market

    Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba announced Monday that it would be investing an extra $2 billion in Lazada as part of the company’s continued expansion in Southeast Asia.

    Alibaba gained control of the Singapore-based company way back in 2016 with an initial investment of $1 billion. Jack Ma’s company further strengthened its hold on the online retailer last year when it poured in another billion dollars of investment. With it, Alibaba’s stakes in Lazada increased from 51 percent to 83 percent.

    Taking into account the recent announcement, Alibaba has already invested a total of $4 billion on Lazada. The online retailer conducts operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

    Along with the investment came news of some major changes in Lazada’s organization. Lucy Peng, Lazada’s current chairwoman and Alibaba co-founder, will be taking over as CEO from current chief Maximilian Bittner. Meanwhile, Bittner will be taking on a senior advisory post to help in the transition. He will also be assisting in developing strategies for the company’s future international growth.

    Alibaba’s move is not surprising, as Southeast Asia is fast becoming a very profitable market for eCommerce businesses now that millions of Internet users have discovered the joys of online shopping.

    Peng knows this too well, saying in a statement that due to the “young population, high mobile penetration and just 3 percent of the region’s retail sales currently conducted online,” Alibaba is extremely confident in its decision to double down on the region.

    “Lazada is well-positioned for the next phase of development of Internet-enabled commerce in this region, and we are excited about the incredible opportunities for supercharged growth,” Peng added.

    The region’s online economy is expected to grow by as much as $200 billion by 2025, with this growth largely driven by eCommerce.

    Other companies are also trying to get a piece of the eCommerce pie. Last year, Amazon launched Prime Now in Singapore and introduced its same-day express delivery system to the country.

    [Featured image via Alibaba]

  • Win the Amazon Buy Box and Watch Your Sales Soar in 2018

    Win the Amazon Buy Box and Watch Your Sales Soar in 2018

    Amazon is now one of the ten largest retailers in the world. A study by One Click Retail also determined that the online giant accounted for about 44 percent of all eCommerce sales in 2017. These two reasons alone should be enough to convince you about the importance of integrating Amazon into your sales strategy.

    However, simply creating an account and selling on Amazon is not enough. After all, there are millions of third-party sellers on the site, and a lot of them even offer the same merchandise as you. If you want more shoppers to see your product and boost your sales, you need to appear in Amazon’s vaunted Buy Box.

    What’s a Buy Box?

    The Amazon Buy Box is the golden ticket for e-retailers because winning it means high visibility and amazing sales numbers. This is the white box found on the right of the product detail page, where shoppers can add the items they plan on purchasing.

    When customers search for a product on Amazon, photos and details of the product appear, along with an “Add to Basket” or “Add to Cart” button. Once the customer clicks on the yellow button, the lucky seller who has the Buy Box at that particular moment will get the sale.

    Image result for amazon buy box

    Image via websitemagazine.com

    There’s another box underneath the Buy Box for the other sellers. However, 82 percent of shoppers tend to just click on the yellow button while 18 percent of customers really take the time to scroll through other sellers and compare prices, delivery methods, and seller feedback. So it’s easy to see why the Buy Box is a prime commodity among third-party sellers.

    Advantages of Winning the Buy Box

    Retailers who win the Buy Box have a huge advantage over their rivals, especially now that the majority of consumers are doing their shopping online and more often than not, they make their purchases on Amazon.

    Winning the box is also essential now that mobile shopping is growing rapidly. As a matter of fact, shopping on Amazon’s mobile app increased by 56 percent globally and is expected to continue growing. Unfortunately, while the “Add to Cart” button can still be seen under the product image and details in the app, shoppers can’t view other sellers easily. So if you want to secure more sales, it’s vital that you win the Buy Box.

    How to Win Amazon’s Buy Box

    In order to win the coveted Buy Box, you have to have the following key requirements.

    • Have a Professional Seller account: Retailers with a Professional Amazon Sellers account are the only ones who have a shot at winning the Buy Box. The company’s algorithm does not include Basic Seller or Individual accounts. So if you want that box, make sure to upgrade to a Professional account.
    • Be Buy Box Eligible: You should be Buy Box Eligible for a specific product if you’re planning to compete for Buy Box sales. This means you have to have been trading for a minimum of two to six months. You should also have a history of successful sales. Closing a large number of sales proves your consistency and trustworthiness. Good customer metrics and great customer service are also needed to be eligible. You can also improve your chances by fast-tracking your eligibility via the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).
    • Products Should be New: Only new products can win a place in the Buy Box as the company wants to ensure that only products of high-quality and in good condition are being promoted. If you’re selling pre-loved items, you can be eligible for the Used Buy Box, which is distinct from the main box.
    • Have Enough Items: Having available stocks will certainly boost your chances here. After all, you can’t sell something if you don’t have it on-hand. Amazon also wants to minimize incidents of customers being disappointed when they reach checkout only to discover the item is sold out. So it’s crucial that you have enough stock and that your inventory is updated. Otherwise, your seller metrics will go down and your chances of getting the Buy Box will dwindle.

    Winning Amazon’s Buy Box will undoubtedly help boost your sales and enhance your reputation as a successful seller. But you have to be ready for some strict competition if you’re planning to go for the box. Remember that there’s no solid way to beat your rivals and ensure you win the Buy Box. All you can do is monitor your metrics and focus on key factors like having Prime products, becoming an FBA seller, having excellent customer service and getting positive feedback from happy shoppers.