Quartz reports on a new study from Marketplace Pulse suggesting that while “Amazon had more than 130 proprietary or private label brands, plus 422 brands sold exclusively on amazon.com," the evidence is that “most Amazon-owned brands aren’t resonating with shoppers yet.
Marketplace Pulse looked at 23,000 products from Amazon-owned or exclusive brands<‘ the story says, “and concluded that a handful of brands, like AmazonBasics and Pinzon, made up the bulk of sales.” Sales for the thousands of other brands are said to be, in a word, negligible.
To this point, the story points out, Amazon has said that private label accounts for about one percent of its total retail sales. But it has seemed to be pushing for higher penetration, being aggressive about promoting lower-cost own-label brands when people are looking at national brand items on its site, which it says is just a way of letting customers know about cheaper alternatives.
In its assessment of the study, Bloomberg writes that “the study suggests popular political and media narratives about Amazon’s market power are overblown, despite the company capturing 52.4 percent of all online spending in the U.S. this year.
Marketplace Pulse looked at 23,000 products from Amazon-owned or exclusive brands<‘ the story says, “and concluded that a handful of brands, like AmazonBasics and Pinzon, made up the bulk of sales.” Sales for the thousands of other brands are said to be, in a word, negligible.
To this point, the story points out, Amazon has said that private label accounts for about one percent of its total retail sales. But it has seemed to be pushing for higher penetration, being aggressive about promoting lower-cost own-label brands when people are looking at national brand items on its site, which it says is just a way of letting customers know about cheaper alternatives.
In its assessment of the study, Bloomberg writes that “the study suggests popular political and media narratives about Amazon’s market power are overblown, despite the company capturing 52.4 percent of all online spending in the U.S. this year.
- KC's View:
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I don’t know that I find this wildly surprising. I always sort of assumed that Amazon Basics - by dint of its name and penetration - was the best performing of its private labels.
As it happens, this could end up being one of Amazon’s best arguments against the Sen. Elizabeth Warren proposal that it (as well as other tech companies) should be broken up. Her position is that Amazon is able to take advantage of its position of being both a platform and a seller, and undercut brands in a way that, in the long run, could inhibit honest competition. This study suggests that brands are doing a pretty good job on their own being competitive.
