[GrammarNazi]

Amazon poaching customers by using it's position is not news, everyone knew this was their business plan - they attract new innovative businesses to bring traffic to their site and they slowly wean those customers to alternatives wherever they can i.e. either own brands or to those that gave them higher commissions.

It's the same with Grocery aggregators. They're sorting their distribution by studying our consumption patterns & throttling their own products.

Most consumers are super ignorant to apps mining their data. How many of us handed down our phones to our parents with a factory reset ? Almost none. I'm sure those apps promising ₹50 discount in the first order has downloaded the call history, messages etc to analyse our profile.

This is why I see different prices for the same product at the same time at the same address, on different phones when I check Flipkart Groceries.

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Amazon copied products and rigged search results to promote its own brands, documents showhttps://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...w-7578561.html

I don't find any thing wrong in a huge organization powering it's way to becoming bigger. This is what happens in any retail store. It's big fish eat small fish or may be dog eat dog, whatever...All the names mentioned have become so big that they can hardly be controlled by a bunch of 60 or 70 year old's on a senate committee who don't know ABC of tech, let alone governance..

[neeraj0272]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

Amazon poaching customers by using it's position is not news, everyone knew this was their business plan - they attract new innovative businesses to bring traffic to their site and they slowly wean those customers to alternatives wherever they can i.e. either own brands or to those that gave them higher commissions.

It's the same with Grocery aggregators. They're sorting their distribution by studying our consumption patterns & throttling their own products.

Most consumers are super ignorant to apps mining their data. How many of us handed down our phones to our parents with a factory reset ? Almost none. I'm sure those apps promising ₹50 discount in the first order has downloaded the call history, messages etc to analyse our profile.
phones when I check Flipkart Groceries.

In a different thread I posted about companies asking customers for their feedback and I commented that customers should be getting incentives for giving feedback because this feedback is just a tool for a company to stay ahead in the competition. As a paying customer it's not my obligation to give feedback but rather it's upon the company to extract feedback without inconveniencing the customer a bit.
Amazon is ahead in the game because of customer reviews and feedback on their portal besides their customer-friendly service.

[GrammarNazi]

Originally Posted by neeraj0272

... I commented that customers should be getting incentives for giving feedback because this feedback is just a tool for a company to stay ahead in the competition.

My limited point is to protect our data, not monetise it.

...Amazon is ahead in the game because of customer reviews and feedback on their portal besides their customer-friendly service.

Amazon allows random people to review products. Flipkart had once (out of 100 times perhaps) refused to publish my review. Any which way, I don't fully trust Flipkart / Amazon reviews. Frankly even Google reviews are only barely indicative. There exist good/normal people, barely any of whom review stuff diligently, and there exist quirky people who just cannot be satisfied & diligently flow their bile in the review sections.

[neeraj0272]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

My limited point is to protect our data, not monetise it.

Thats why I prefer not to give feedback because ultimately Your data is safe only with you and not with some other entity especially a faceless corporation.
My suggestion of monetising it is actually my way of saying no to giving data to these corporations!

[hrman]

We are seeing this online for the past few years. This has been going on in brick and mortar retail shops for long. I always see More hypermarket promoting their own in-house product alongside branded products, so does Big bazaar, Spar etc. I dont find anything amiss as long as we get quality products at reasonable costs. Just to put in perspective how I am benefiting from Amazon's in-house brand.
I am a regular purchaser of their Presto Dishwash liquid. During the sale, it costs around 180 Rs. for 2 litres. Compare this with Pril which costs 330 Rs. The difference is stark. In a year we save huge bucks for opting for the in-house brand. The quality is at par. Their floor cleaner is priced at 340 Rs. for 5 litres as against Lizol for 650 Rs. Same with their presto bathroom cleaner against Harpic. I also go for their kitchen towels, tissue, and other daily use products. Have not found anything lacking in quality.
However, will I go for their high end electronics/ appliances which are Chinese knock-offs? Probably not!
It is a known fact that the retailers will have larger margins to make in in house brands and will promote these. When you have the technical expertise of Amazon, you can do this even at the cost of suppressing branded products from coming up in your search. Ethical? Probably not! Beneficial for me as a consumer? Surely yes!

Many years back in Hongkong, I came across a line of products called "No Frills". This was literally no frills. I.e. No advertisement or branding, but available at lower price compared to brands and of same quality. I think this is somewhat similar to Generic v/s Branded medicine.

And oh yes, those who think Amazon ratings cannot be rigged, well. It is possible! In a virtual avatar it is always a risk. Best option I see is buy and check. If its not ok, return or replace.

[comfortablynumb]

On a lighter note:

Take that, says Amazon to those who accuse it of promoting it's own brands and indulging in restrictive trade practices!

https://www.amazon.in/TDS%C2%AE-Flip...rq_ed_h33367an

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Amazon copied products and rigged search results to promote its own brands, documents show

Not sure what, if anything, will come out of this.

As per the WSJ's report it seems that Amazon is dialing back their private label plans.

Amazon Has Been Slashing Private-Label Selection Amid Weak Sales.
Executives also have discussed exiting the business entirely to address regulatory pressure

Amazon.com has been reassessing its private-label brand business and has discussed exiting that business completely as sales sag.

The company has drastically reduced the number of items it sells under its own brands, according to the Wall Street Journal. As of 2020, Amazon's private-label business offered 45 house brands accounting for 243,000 products.

The business has been a source of controversy because it competes with other sellers on its platform. The company has been criticized in recent years by lawmakers and others accusing Amazon of favoring its products at the expense of products sold by other vendors on its site.

The private-label team reportedly was told to slash the list of items and not to reorder many of them, according to people familiar.

P.S: The WSJ report is behind a paywall. This MSN link is accessible without subscription.

[shankar.balan]

Why such a storm in a tea cup about Private Label?

Every retailer in the physical world does this and has been doing so for aeons. Private label provides higher margins because the products can be sourced at lower cost. If you consider the whole business of physical retail and look at the absolutely usurious rentals that the retailers are forced to pay, by their greedy landlords on high streets and malls, coupled with the overall uncertainty in their businesses, obviously they have to have recourse to some way of making money.

I honestly see no issue at all with Private Label products, from reputed marketplaces and retailers, both online and physical, which are for the most part, every bit as good as the branded products.

So why should the online world desist from Private label? It just doesnt make any sense and I also believe that all these storms in teacups and controversies are being whipped up just because Amazon or Flipkart or indeed Walmart or Target or More or Croma or Myntra or Big Basket or anyone else, are proving themselves to be successful businesses.

I absolutely do not endorse fake ratings and fake feedback which is definitely more prevalent online than at physical retail. But then, on the other hand, we, as consumers also have excellent recourse to multiple avenues of redressal - the no questions asked return, replace, refund policies of all these online marketplaces and retailers have actually taught the physical retailers a thing or two about good customer service. And of course if for some reason we consumers are still dissatisfied, we always have recourse to the great Out of Court Settlement in the Sky - by way of screaming on Social Media and getting the required attention/ result!

Lets also remember and accept that most consumers worldwide, and probably to a greater extent, us Indians and the Chinese, are inherently ‘deal seekers’ and have no qualms at all in shopping around a lot before finally making our purchases.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Why such a storm in a tea cup about Private Label?

My understanding of the issue is that Amazon has misused their position to copy and create (some of) the products.

Ultimately people vote with their wallets and Amazon's private labels are at 1% of their sales vs. the 10% target set by their boss. The number is ~20% for Costco.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by kiku007

The number is ~20% for Costco.

Private label across the world is a very good way to bolster margins and cash flows. And most of the big retailers use the captive factories to produce these goods at the same level of input material and quality standards as the branded ones. But a normal person looking for a normal functional product, can choose the private label one at a cheaper price for the same functionality, just as I did even yesterday. There’s nothing wrong, I may add, with the product I received. It is perfectly functional and it also has a vinyl zipper storage and carry case same as the branded one. But it was around 200 bucks cheaper. And instant delivery. Here are two pics for illustration.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Private label across the world is a very good way to bolster margins and cash flows. And most of the big retailers use the captive factories to produce these goods at the same level of input material and quality standards as the branded ones.

I would agree with this about a lot of things, but I cannot stop myself from commenting when I see a Milton water bottle. I swear by Milton, when it comes to the chill retention of Milton vs other lookalike bottles. You have to test two bottles by keeping the water for a few hours to see the difference.

I cannot specifically comment on Solimo, but if you have the means, please test it.

Only others that come close to Milton are iconic brands like Stanley, Contigo.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

I cannot specifically comment on Solimo, but if you have the means, please test it.

Only others that come close to Milton are iconic brands like Stanley, Contigo.

I will test.
I do have a bunch of such water bottles - Borosil and Milton and Eagle and all.
But all those are 500ml.
This one I bought because it is 1 litre.

Thanks!

[Samurai]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/t...tc-amazon.html

U.S. Accuses Amazon of Illegally Protecting Monopoly in Online Retail
The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states sued Amazon, saying its conduct in its online store and services to merchants illegally stifled competition.

The 172-page suit, the federal government’s most significant challenge to the power of the online store, accused Amazon of protecting a monopoly over swaths of online retail by squeezing merchants and favoring its own services.

For consumers, that meant “artificially higher prices” as merchants were blocked from selling their products for less on other sites, and a worse shopping experience as Amazon boosted its own products and peppered its search results with ads, the lawsuit said. The retailer’s tactics made it impossible for its rivals to compete, the agency and states said.

“A single company, Amazon, has seized control over much of the online retail economy,” said the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. “It exploits its monopolies in ways that enrich Amazon but harm its customers: both the tens of millions of American households who regularly shop on Amazon’s online superstore and the hundreds of thousands of businesses who rely on Amazon to reach them.”

So it begins...

I remember following a similar lawsuit 25 years ago against Microsoft.