Take-off Thursday —21 September 2017
Welcome to Take-off Thursdays, your one-stop shop for the latest news and updates about all things ecommerce and Amazon.
Join me each Thursday in pondering the present and the future of commerce in 2017 and beyond!
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Happy Thursday and welcome to this week's take-off update. This time around I have some updates about some of the case studies and weekly AMA sessions I am running, as well as some of the top news stories that caught my eye this week.
Meanwhile, I am still living in Vancouver, but with the autumn temperatures rolling in, myself and Elizabeth are starting to think about flights to a sunnier climate. Being a nomad, you can choose to live in the type of weather that suits you best, and for us that’s sunshine (beaches are an added bonus) 🏖️
The $5bn bidding war goes on
A fascinating bidding war on which state gets the brand new, second Amazon HQ is still bubbling away in the background.
The latest rumors that Boston is ahead of the race has been denied by the ecommerce giant. According to them, every city and state has a level playing field. But there is much controversy about this decision and whether it will end up being close to their huge HQ in Seattle.
Although this is very interesting to watch it unfold, I am mostly interested in the fact that Amazon is building a second HQ, creating tens of thousands of jobs and continuing their growth trajectory.
→ Read more — Business Insider
Whole Foods is Booming
Since the great Amazon Whole Foods takeover of 2017 happened, Amazon began slashing prices on certain items, and stocking a range of Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value brand items on the Amazon website.
This has resulted in a huge boost in sales and a reported 25% bump in shoppers.
Anyone familiar with the Whole Foods brand will know that it’s one of the more pricey supermarkets, that focusses on high-end produce. So could Amazon’s ownership change that? Is this all a part of their grand plan to capsize the groceries market?
Here’s an fascinating snippet from the article:
If Amazon was willing to break even at Whole Foods — taking margins on the chain’s high-end products to zero — it could reduce prices across the board by as much as 15 percent, according to an estimate by Mikey Vu, a grocery expert at Bain & Co.
It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, and if Amazon really do have big plans for the industry.
→ Read more — Bloomberg
Amazon Transparency
Could this be a new way to prevent counterfeits for third party sellers?
The word on the street is that Amazon have rolled out it’s Transparency program, that may soon allow third party sellers to get in on the action.
The program was launched in March as a test for Amazon’s own products and labels, but is now open to all sellers, and may even become mandatory.
It works by storing details about each product under a unique code that can be used to check up on the origins of a product using an app — which can be useful for sellers and consumers.
According to the article by Digiday, this is free to use right now, but there is speculation that Amazon will soon charge a nominal fee for these codes to enter products into the Transparency program, and guarantee authenticity.
It sounds like Amazon are using it to leverage authenticity, and lure in coveted bigger brands to their selling platform. But it’s definitely something to keep a look out for if you’re a third party seller of any type of brand.
→ Read more — Digiday
VAT & Selling in Europe: A Ultimate Guide
Have you thought about selling in Europe? Or expanding a US Amazon business into Europe?
The bad news is, you can’t really sell in Europe at all until you understand and comply with VAT (value added tax) laws. Especially for sellers based in the US or outside of Europe, this seems like a super foreign concept. Even for some European sellers, it can be difficult to understand.
But here’s the good news, we recently covered the VAT requirements for Amazon sellers in a very insightful session of our Million Dollar Case Study: Europe.
The guest speaker we had on, Christoph Prokes, from FBA Hero, did such a great job of explaining VAT in a way that anyone can follow along with.
So if you are thinking of selling in Europe, I strongly advise you give this session some of your time.
You can also catch up on all of the sessions from the case study here. People tell us it’s the best learning resource out there for Amazon sellers and it’s completely free.
There is also an ongoing workbook that my co-host Kym is putting together— it’s full of useful templates and resources. Get the latest download of that here.
→ Read more — Jungle Scout
Quote of the Week
“Let others see their own greatness when looking in your eyes.”
― Mollie Marti
Book of the Week
Been combing through the “The San Francisco Fallacy”, by Jonathan Siegel this week it takes a look into the 10 biggest fallacies that run through startup culture.
See you at the same place, same time next week! 🚴🏼
