Amazon Storefronts: Good or Bad News For Small Businesses?
Lately, Amazon is really trying to make up for being the world’s third most valuable company. The massive online retailer accused of slowly killing American small businesses has recently launched Amazon Storefronts to combat its less-than-perfect public image.
Storefronts are a subsite of Amazon that only feature products offered by US small and medium-sized businesses. Apart from that, everything remains the same, including shopping experience, payment options, and delivery.
According to the ecommerce giant, “customers can shop a curated collection of over one million products, and deals from nearly 20,000 U.S. small and medium-sized businesses, and learn more about profiled businesses through featured videos and stories.”
What We Know So Far
Despite the rocky relationship between Amazon and small businesses in general, the retail giant’s recently published Small Business Impact Report claims that half of everything they sell already comes from small and medium-sized businesses.
Storefronts’ main aim is to put some of these products directly in front of the customer, thus making them more accessible.
To help spread the word, Amazon launches a TV ad as well that showcases some of Storefronts’ sellers, including The Little Flower Soap Company, a small business from Michigan. According to Holly Rutt, co-founder of the company, “this is a ton of exposure for us.”
Every week, Storefronts will run a Storefront of the Week feature, that highlights a small business selling its products through the online retailer.
In addition, customers will get the chance to peek behind the curtain through Meet the Business Owner, a feature that introduces various small business owners on a rotating basis.
The Questions
While that all sounds great, there are several questions Amazon seems to ignore.
- Who decides which small businesses are featured on Storefronts, and based on what criteria? Why are certain businesses showcased while others are left drowning in the ocean of competing products Amazon’s main site has to offer?
How can a small business get its products into Storefronts?
2. Who curates the collection of items sold on Storefronts? Similarly, who makes the decision about featured product categories? Currently, there are twelve categories including Back to School, Halloween, Toys & Games, and Pet Supplies.
3. What is Amazon’s definition of small business? While the above mentioned Little Flower Soap Company and its handmade soaps definitely have a place in Storefronts, what are Kindle ebooks doing there?
Also, high-tech products like eero’s mesh wifi router or ChefSteps Joule sous-vide cooker don’t really correspond to the image of products created by family businesses.
Conclusion
While we don’t want to dispute Amazon’s good intentions, the above questions raise a few issues that may be problematic about the operation of Storefronts.
The selection criteria and decision-making process are especially troublesome. If Storefronts become a hit with customers, Amazon will have a say in which US small businesses thrive and which will continue to struggle, or even worse, close up shop altogether.
Doesn’t Amazon already have a big enough say in our economy?
