[Crew Review] Amazon now lets you email repeat, recent, and high-end customers

Amazon Accelerate, the company’s biggest seller conference, kicked off yesterday, with the introduction of new tools and services aimed at helping sellers succeed on the platform. Among them, a long-awaited free email service that lets you reach customers beyond just your brand followers.

Here are all the highlights.

Amazon Top Terms

We have taken some Amazon keyword data from August 28th to September 10th to unveil which terms are making waves on Amazon. Some of these terms will surely pique your interest, so let’s hop in!

The keyword “zox” is among this week’s top 10, taking our sixth slot. Zox is a brand that makes wristbands featuring artists’ pattern work, charms, and messages on the insides. A popular movie star shared a picture on Instagram, promoting a bracelet design that includes the brand’s logo.

Thanks to this, the brand has managed to double the sale of this product in just a few days, going from selling only 28 units per day to 103 units per day this past week.

Here’s a must-read piece about finding Instagram influencers within your niche.

California Sues Amazon

The State of California, through Attorney General Rob Bonta, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the ecommerce giant is inflating prices for consumers and stifling competition on its online marketplace by forcing third-party sellers into anti-competitive agreements.

According to the lawsuit, Amazon violated California law by forcing merchants to enter agreements that “severely penalize” them for offering products at lower prices on other online retail sites. The AG argues that Amazon’s contracts with sellers “thwart the ability of other online retailers to compete.”

Earlier this year, the FTC ordered Amazon to shut down its “Sold By Amazon” program after a price-fixing investigation, and the SEC probed its unfair use of third-party seller data to give itself a leg up over independent sellers.

Sellers Score a Win Over Sales Tax

A Pennsylvania Court has ruled in favor of Amazon sellers, holding that they are not liable to pay sales tax in the state just because they use Amazon FBA.

The suit was brought by Online Merchants Guild, an association of independent online sellers tailored to protecting small businesses against anti-competitive practices and market manipulation. Their argument, which the court adopted, is that Amazon sellers who sell from outside of Pennsylvania, but nevertheless have their inventory stored in Amazon warehouses within the state by using FBA should not be obliged to pay state sales tax.

The court held that selling merchandise through the FBA program is not sufficient presence within the state to subject sellers to sales tax. While this view may not be the same for other jurisdictions, this first state ruling is a significant win for third-party Amazon sellers, who’ve wrestled with state sales taxes for decades.

Amazon Sellers Are in for A “Scary” Holiday Season

Bloomberg reports that US online sales will grow by only single digits (9.4%) for the first time ever, possibly putting Amazon sellers in a precarious position heading into Q4.

According to ecommerce advisers, sellers are having to offer heavy discounts and market aggressively (which does not come cheap) to entice customers, who don’t seem to be spending much outside of basic necessities. Market analysts say that the recent shift in customer behavior makes charging premium prices during the historically profitable holiday season no longer viable.

Making things worse for sellers is Amazon’s fee hike throughout the holidays, which it says is a direct result of soaring ecommerce inflation.

Amazon Beefs Up Selling Partner Appstore

In a recent post, Amazon is reminding sellers to review the over 2,500 approved third-party apps on its Selling Partner Appstore, previously known as the Amazon Seller Central Partner Network. This ecosystem houses apps designed to help sellers grow their Amazon business, including solutions to optimize listings, pricing, and shipping.

More than 75% of Amazon sellers use third-party apps, but Amazon has been developing its own seller tools as well—early in 2022, it rolled out Search Analytics, which rivals staple SEO tools like Jungle Scout and Helium 10.