In this episode… Marshall Taplits, the founder of East Coast 3PL Ship It Done, joins us again on the podcast, this time to share his e-commerce expertise and catch us up on 6 major trends affecting online retailers in late 2021. This is useful information, especially if Amazon is a key platform for you, as he focuses on what they're doing now and likely to be doing in the near future. It's not all good, either, as you won't be impressed by the costs or some of the ways that Amazon might compete … [Read more...]
Does The Safety & Quality Of Products Sold On Amazon Pose Risks?
A few weeks ago, a journalist asked me whether products sold on Amazon present higher safety risks and whether their quality is inferior (relative to other distribution channels). My guess is that yes (I have no solid data to back that up. It would be quite difficult to come up with such data), for a similar product positioning (price & quality), those sold on Amazon present higher risks for consumers. Here's why. … [Read more...]
Chinese Factories Designing, Branding, and Selling on Amazon: Q&A
I wrote before about the challenges of Chinese factories to sell on Amazon. And yet, it seems to be an emerging trend. I asked Fredrik Gronkvist (from China Importal), who has also been observing the latest trends, for his opinion on this. Q: Ten years ago, Chinese factories ‘made to order’, and seeing one of them ‘make to stock’ was a rare occurrence. Have you seen more and more manufacturers 'make to stock’? What do they do with it? First, Chinese manufacturers still ‘make to order’ and I … [Read more...]