Photo credit: JeepersMedia via Visualhunt / CC BY
Walmart Continues to Grow, and Amazon Responds
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/wal-mart-pushing-back-against-amazon-with-online-sales-surge/
Walmart has made no secret about its efforts to catch up to Amazon in the e-commerce space, and its recent financial reports suggest that these moves are paying off.
Coming off the heels of two consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, Walmart’s online sales grew 29% in Q4 last year. And after its recent announcement of free two-day shipping on most orders of at least $35, the company is hoping they’ll make even more headway in 2017.
In case you didn’t think Amazon was paying attention, they’re now matching Walmaart by offering free shipping on orders of at least $35. This is a step lower than their old minimum of $49, but free two-day shipping will still only be available for Prime members..
Consumers are the obvious beneficiaries of this competition, but will third-party sellers start getting any perks? It’ll be interesting to see if Walmart will start making an effort to attract more sellers (although a bigger market share is a nice start!).
Amazon Growing to Historic Levels
Photo credit: Daniel E Lee via Visualhunt / CC BY-ND
It’s nice to see a competitor making waves and keeping Amazon honest, but Amazon is still the undisputed king of retail.
To put into perspective how big they are, a recent Credit Suisse report pointed out that Amazon’s $390 billion market capitalization is significantly greater than the top 8 largest American retailers (including Walmart) combined — a dramatic turnaround from 2006 when Amazon was worth less than 5% of these same retailers.
Whatever other concerns you may have about selling on Amazon, there’s some comfort to be had knowing that they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.
Adapting Your Listing to Fit Online Buying Behaviors
http://oneclickretail.com/ecommerce-margins-pack-sizes-consumer-preferences/
Though most of the resources we link tend to educate private label sellers more than bigger brand manufacturers, this article from One Click Retail provides some solid tips for both groups.
The article includes an interesting discussion on how and why online buying behaviors differ from offline buying behaviors and explores strategies for finding the optimal pack sizes to maximize sales.
10 Traps to Look Out For When Building Your Private Label Business
http://www.prospershow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Top10Landmines_FINAL_rev01.pdf
Anyone who’s navigated the tricky process of sourcing products to sell on Amazon is likely to be very familiar (though hopefully not too familiar!) with the many ways it can go wrong.
In this infographic, the team at Prosper Show details what they view as the ten common pitfalls that are most important to pay attention to when building your private label business. It’s a short and timely read that’s worth a look regardless of what stage of your business you’re in.
