[Crew Review] Amazon launches new “Shopify killer” feature

Expansion

Amazon just announced Buy with Prime, a new feature that extends Prime benefits to shoppers beyond Amazon.com. Some are calling it the “Shopify killer,” while others predict it to go the way of “Amazon Stores” and become obsolete after sellers invest loads of time and money on it.

Here’s how it works.

Amazon Top Terms

Here are the Amazon Top terms that saw a drastic increase in search history from April 10th to April 26th. So strap in and let’s discover what happened on Amazon this past week!

The top 10 keywords causing a stir on Amazon this week include Mother’s Day-related products as well as summer products to really take advantage of the sun!

Occupying the #9 spot is “grandma mothers day gift.” It’s the time of the year to spoil your moms and grandmothers. Some of these products have reached sales of up to 134 units per day in the last few days.

Shopify to Acquire Deliverr

Shopify is looking to acquire Deliverr in a potential $2 billion deal, sources told Bloomberg.

Deliverr is a tech startup that offers ecommerce sellers speedy delivery. It’s one of the go-to options for merchant-fulfilled sellers on Amazon. According to the company, it leverages cutting-edge machine learning and optimization technology to build a smart fulfillment network.

With Shopify having Deliverr’s software and over 80 partner-operated warehouses at its disposal, the Canadian ecommerce company looks to offer a better version of Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN), whose two-day delivery service also mirrors Amazon and Walmart’s respective fulfillment services.

White House Reconsiders China Tariffs

The Biden administration might be considering lowering tariffs currently imposed on China to combat US inflation, which has hit 40-year highs this year. The rising prices of staple consumer goods have factored into the current President’s poor approval ratings.

Back in 2018, then-President Trump imposed additional tariffs on $16 billion worth of products coming from China, with more products brought under the tariffs the following year. This directly affected many ecommerce sellers, most of whom import goods from China.

While it’s not clear as of writing whether deliberations will lead to actual tariff reductions, White House press secretary Jen Psaki made clear that higher inflation was a factor in the deliberations.

Unknown Company Hijacks “Generic” Listings

A previously unknown company by the name of Dabliz Group Internation Trading managed to register the trademark “Generic,” thus, any product listed on Amazon marked with the name “Generic” will instead have the company name showing up on the listing.

This spells big trouble for Amazon sellers who sell unbranded products—if you tick the “This product does not have a brand name” box when crafting your listing, it is automatically displayed as “Generic.” Much of the concern is over whether or not said company will be able to take control of the affected listings.

How the said company exactly got this brand to apply to all product categories is unclear, and the problem has not been completely addressed as of writing. This bizarre case demonstrates one of the advantages of building a private label brand and knowing how to protect your brand accordingly.

95% of Walmart Sellers Are Reporting Profits

The first edition of Jungle Scout’s State of the Walmart Seller revealed key insights into the brick-and-mortar giant’s growing foothold in the ecommerce space.

Among other things, the report says:

• 95% of Walmart sellers have a profitable business, with over 70% reporting profit margins of more than 20%
• Walmart’s in-store dominance translates to loyal online customers; and
• Walmart sellers generally adopt an omnichannel strategy

To be clear, Amazon is still the leading ecommerce marketplace in the US by a huge margin, but the moves companies like Walmart and Etsy have made recently hint to a general direction to compete with the Everything Store.

No Penalties for Amazon Over Warehouse Collapse

Back in December, an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, was ravaged by a tornado, killing six warehouse workers. This prompted a probe by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is under Labor Department oversight.

This week, news came that the body will not be levying fines or penalties on Amazon after the warehouse collapse. Rather, the Labor Department sent a letter to Amazon ordering it to review its severe weather policies after the probe revealed safety risks. “We’re making recommendations because under our standards, there’s not a specific citation we can issue in light of the actions at Amazon,” said OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor.