Amazon has published new product attribute data for pretty much all of their US categories in the form of new Item Classification Guides (ICG) as well as Browse Tree Guides (BCG), essentially which category and subcategory you need to insert your products into to maximize your sales (after all a mis-categorized product not only will [...]

Continuing its tradition of sharing select category successes, Amazon announced this morning that its Jewelry category has grown over 100% during the holiday season (compared to Q4 2006).
“We’re very excited about the growth in our Jewelry store,” said Peter Lai, Director, Amazon.com Jewelry & Watches store. “Not only are our customers choosing to purchase shoes, [...]

Retail-Week reports that Amazon UK will be expanding into Gourmet Foods and Digital Downloads in 2008. Manging Director Brian McBride also shared that we may see a specialty shoe site in the UK similar to Endless.com and another Fulfillment By Amazon warehouse in Swansea, UK in April. Great to see that team build out the [...]

By far the best part of my job as a product manager is speaking with online retailers about the Amazon opportunity (if they’re considering broadening their multi-channel footprint), optimization (get more sales) and various Amazon challenges. Earlier this week I spoke to a frustrated merchant with the following, not-so-uncommon problem:
Dear Amazonman,
I have been selling in [...]

Amazon has launched a Fulfillment By Amazon starter kit for media sellers which really is more a simplified consignment model for the books, movies and CDs you’ve had too long in your attic.

Amazon’s blow-out quarter is partially a result of more merchants then ever selling on the fastest-growing marketplace West of the Mississippi. That is at best mixed news if you are already on Amazon.com as competition for the coveted Buy Box (the Amazon.com main Product Detail page) is growing. In fact, chances are high that most [...]

Launched in the late 90’s in the wake of eBay’s rapid growth, Amazon’s auction site never took off. Its listing and buyer volume is practically non-existent (there are 84 listings in the Portable Audio > MP3 Players category heading into Q4 with eBay offering over 25,000 items in a comparable category).
I am not alone wondering [...]

Amazon prohibits third-party sellers from marketing to buyers but the opportunity to reach out to a price-insensitive convenience buyer is very tempting for many sellers. Well, if you’re practicing buyer poaching be warned: Amazon reminded sellers yesterday that this may get you suspended from garden of high margins:

I think it’s fair to say that consumer product reviews directly and significantly drive conversions with mere mortals (and not the retailer) sharing their 2 cents on features, quality and value of your product-to-be. Amazon pioneered this feature years ago and personally I don’t buy a product that has poor reviews from anyone (or it’s [...]

Amazon is the global marketplace-of-choice for convenience buyers with 30+% annual growth and as such a very attractive channel for most online retailers looking to diversify and grow (and take advantage of risk-free selling).
With over 40 categories today, not every product may be sold by a third-party merchant, however. In the interest of providing the [...]