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Amazon is taking steps to expand our merchant relationships in the United States. On January 31, 2023, we will make the Buy with Prime service available to US merchants. The move is significant as it is an effort to work with other online stores. Giving Amazon a broader role across the market.
Amazon is competing with Walmart+ and Shopify, giving it a competitive edge over its competitors.
Another new feature is the ability for third-party vendors to view product ratings and reviews. This is very important as it highlights the benefits of featured products from third party vendors. In some cases, when there are multiple vendors for the same product, “Amazon’s Choice” highlights the best products.
Additionally, e-commerce provider Big Commerce this week announced an app that customers can use to easily integrate Buy with Prime into their online store. Shopify said in October that it was also in talks with Amazon about how to implement “Buy with Prime.” No progress on these discussions yet.
At the same time as these growth initiatives are underway, staff reductions are also occurring. To cut staff, CEO Andy Jassy took action, cutting 18,000 positions. Most of the layoffs have been in the company’s stores and HR departments, but surprisingly he also affected Amazon’s India division. According to a study I published about two years ago, Amazon holds over 60% of his share of the Indian e-market, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that number has increased since then.
Amazon executives have told some company employees in India that their roles have been eliminated. It seems that According to The Information, a technology-focused media company, Amazon had already made some cuts in its devices division in November when he laid off 2,000 employees. That division works on products like the Alexa voice assistant and the Kindle e-reader.
Jassy wrote to employees last week,” Amazon has navigated uncertain and difficult economies in the past and will continue to do so. These changes will help us pursue long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure. However, I am optimistic that we will be creative, resourceful, and crafty during this time when we have not recruited or eliminated some roles. I call on all Amazon employees to be innovative and creative even during a potentially disruptive restructuring.
postscript: Clearly, Amazon is poised to remain competitive in an expected market shift. Preparing for a recession. More people will be able to shop on Prime, and the company’s small group of employees will struggle to survive. This indicates that the company anticipates low demand for products and specialty fields.
