In February, Target launched a marketplace called Target+, or Target Plus. The invite-only marketplace started with 30 merchants, and six months later has grown to just 55 merchants and 115,000 products. However, the last few quarters have shown how well it has been able to integrate stores into the online experience, rendering the marketplace no longer critical.
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In March, Amazon launched Belei, a skincare brand consisting of cleansing wipes, moisturizers, masks, and serums. Six months later, the brand has failed to impress consumers. Belei products are rated 3.8 out of 5 stars, and none had become best-sellers.
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Amazon is testing a new "Top Brand" badge for products from established brands. If and how this badge gets rolled out could have a substantial impact on how shoppers decide which products to buy as well as how established brands defend against price-aggressive private label products.
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This week Walmart has expanded the next-day delivery service to Massachusetts, Missouri, Virginia, and West Virginia, growing the number of states with next-day delivery to 33.
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In an interview with an antitrust expert Sally Hubbard, we discussed what makes Amazon a monopoly, how that affects consumers, businesses relying on Amazon, and competitors, as well as what actions and regulations antitrust investigations might bring in the future.
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The new Google Shopping homepage, now hosting 2,000 stores, attempts to unify the company's shopping efforts into one. Google has merged the marketplace-turned Google Express into Google Shopping, a service which used to focus on price comparison.
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eBay introduced Managed Delivery, a fulfillment service not unlike Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), enabling sellers to store, pack and ship their products through logistics partners managed by eBay. Replicating what drove sellers to use FBA is the hardest challenge eBay will have to solve.
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On Prime Day 2019, the biggest winners were known brands and Amazon devices, as Amazon-owned private label brands took a back seat, according to Marketplace Pulse research. Over a million products were available with a Prime Day deal, but as competing retailers like Walmart and Target launched their shopping events, Amazon shifted focus to exclusive products and new product launches.
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The number of AmazonBasics best-sellers has grown by fifty percent in a year - from just over 700 in July 2018 to surpassing 1,000 this July. Amazon continues to launch new products, validate demand for them, and stop selling those which fail to attract customers.
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Less than 24% of the top Amazon third-party sellers are large resellers, each representing hundreds of brands on Amazon. Their share of the top sellers has been decreasing by two percentage points a year - down from 26% in 2018, 29% in 2017, and 31% in 2016 - indicating the challenges of growing a reseller type business on Amazon.
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