EPISODE PREVIEW: Product offered as “Prime” on Amazon have a 250 percent higher conversion rate than those not listed as Prime. If a higher point of conversion exists in any capacity in any channel, I haven’t found it yet.

I open with that statistic because it’s abundantly clear to see why sellers flock to Amazon. We already know that 55 percent of all online product searches start on Amazon. From my guests on this episode, we learn that across all of its platforms, the retailer has over 550 million items for sale. Three thousand five hundred (3500!!) anonymous resellers join Amazon every day. Globally, Amazon is blowing up! In India, ALL of the sellers on Amazon are third party. 

And guess what? If you’re a global brand, you may be able to establish MAP policies. But it’s standard practice that you can’t always assert control if a seller in one country chooses to sell online (ahem….on Amazon) in a different country.

These points are why I’ve partnered with Snews for a two-part, four-interview series on anonymous 3P sellers. (Part one is here.) It is an incredibly complex problem and it’s only growing in scope. Expecting someone else to solve it or burying our heads in the sand just allows it bloom bigger. This is an industry-wide (cross-industry, actually) challenge.