[Crew Review] Amazon updates Buyer Requested Cancellation policy

Initiative

Amazon just rolled out changes for buyer requested cancellations, and sellers now have to check more places to make sure they don’t miss a notification. As with most Amazon announcements, this one has left a lot of sellers scratching their heads.

We break down the announcement here.

Amazon Top Terms

We’re bringing you the latest terms that have surged up in popularity from May 8th to 21st. Let’s dive into why these keywords trended, and how much sales they’re garnering on Amazon.

TikTok trends have yet again captured shoppers. Surging in popularity on Amazon this week and taking our #1 slot is "wireless hair curler". We’ve seen this product earn a drastic increase of 208 units per day in the last few days. Same goes with "voloom hair volumizing iron", whose popularity on TikTok caused an increase in its sales on Amazon, going from selling 58 units to 835 units.

TikTok is an effective platform to promote on and has a major role to play as influencer marketing is getting bigger every day.

Walmart Expands, Amazon Shrinks

Brick-and-mortar giant Walmart is stepping up its warehousing and logistics game, eying to automate all of its 42 regional distribution centers across the country through its expanded partnership with Symbotic.

Symbotic is an AI-powered supply chain technology company whose services could translate to faster responsiveness to store orders, increased inventory accuracy, and higher shipping capacity for Walmart. This expanded commercial agreement could put the retail giant at the forefront of automated supply chain technology, which, as of writing, was largely driven by Amazon.

Source: Symbotic

Speaking of Amazon, its overcapacity woes continue, as The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week on the company’s plans to sublet its excess warehouse space to reduce excess capacity—Amazon doubled its logistics network throughout the pandemic, but now it has too much space on its hands due to the slowing demand for online retail.

Barely a month ago, leaked documents revealed Amazon’s plan to scale back its delivery network expansion and divert focus towards the quality of its logistics services. Subletting and terminating some of its warehouse space could be only initial steps for Amazon towards this end.

Amazon Tests Deliveries From Local Malls

Did we mention Amazon had overcapacity issues?

According to Bloomberg, Amazon has rolled out a pilot program that would allow its Flex drivers to fetch packages from mall-based retailers to customers for same-day deliveries.

The company’s Flex program, which was launched back in 2015, is a network of gig drivers who use their own vehicles to fulfill Amazon orders from mall retailers. Under this initiative, these gig drivers would pick up orders from shopping malls and partner retail centers instead of Amazon delivery stations.

Source: Amazon

At face value, the arrangement seems to be favorable to both parties, as the drivers could potentially work shorter and more convenient routes, while Amazon won’t have to build expensive urban depots as it continues to scale back its oversaturated fulfillment network.

According to the report, drivers have identified malls with participating retailers in Arizona, Nevada, and Virginia.

Sellers to Increase Their Ad Spend in 2022

Our friends over at Jungle Scout have come out with their Amazon Advertising Report for 2022, which examines advertising campaign data to see how marketplace sellers are advertising on Amazon.

Some key insights include Amazon’s skyrocketing ad sales, as revealed by its recent quarterly earnings report, and that over 30% of third-party sellers are still planning to increase their advertising budgets this year despite the observed drop in average return on ad spend.

Here’s the full report, and you'll definitely want to check out our Ultimate Guide on Amazon Advertising to keep your ad spend at manageable levels.

Warehouse Worker vs Shareholders

Amazon warehouse picker Daniel Olayiwola has become the company’s first ever warehouse worker to present his own resolution in an annual shareholders meeting, a story from Wired reveals.

Earlier this year, Olayiwola purchased Amazon stock to be entitled to a right to bring his resolution, which he crafted with a worker advocacy group called United for Respect. Among other concerns, Olayiwola is calling out Amazon’s controversial “Time Off Task” (TOT) policy, lack of worker benefits, as well as injuries within and outside Amazon warehouses, where EcomCrew’s own Dave Bryant had worked for a week.