Latest Blog Posts

For many mid to large sized branded goods companies today, “third party” eCommerce marketplaces are a headache. They are messy, unpredictable, disruptive, and complicated. After focusing the last few years on learning their inner-workings, however, we’ve come to believe that marketplaces have a much bigger role to play for both big and small brands alike – especially as Amazon.com continues to limit participation in its Vendor program.

It’s happened to all of us—you’re online searching for a product when you see five listings in search results for the exact same item. Sure, the pictures and titles look a bit different, but all five seem to be the exact same 64 oz. Mama Adele Spaghetti Sauce. But if they’re all the same, why do they all have different prices? Which one is the right one to buy?

With over half the US consumer eCommerce market, Amazon knows how to engage shoppers online as well as any other retailer. In 2015, they launched "Amazon Business" with the intent of translating that success into a major B2B win. The retailer now claims over $10 billion in global B2B sales annually and that 55 of the US Fortune 100 shop there. But is Amazon Business right for YOUR business? Let's have a look...

Do Billionaires read their own press? If Marc Lore does, he must love what he's been seeing. Article after article acknowledge the impact his leadership has had on Walmart's eCommerce business and Walmart is now seen as the biggest threat to Amazon's US dominance. Accelerating sales results back that up - Walmart was already growing 30-40% under Lore's leadership and, helped by COVID, is up >70% so far in 2020. A dramatic change from the pre-Lore period...

If you're working at a "big CPG" company today, you're likely losing market share to smaller upstarts online. Conditions that used to favor bigger brands have changed and the smartest small sellers have figured out how to make this work for them. Here are some BIG lessons from those upstart sellers that you can use today.