Following the recent news of Nike pulling their products off the Amazon platform due to counterfeit goods…
It has been reported by Which? magazine that Amazon have some serious problems with fake reviews too. Calling into question whether you should trust the Amazon brand to deliver the original product you thought you’d ordered.
The lastest Which? article discusses the rise in Amazon sellers from the hardware capital of China, Shenzhen. It seems Amazon have been very active in Shenzhen making it easier for Chinese suppliers to ship products around the world.
As a result (the article says) the number of Chinese sellers on Amazon has increased by 87% since September 2016 & Shenzhen, is estimated to be the city with the largest number of Amazon sellers anywhere in the world.
It seems this increase has created massive competition in the region, which has led to a culture of doing whatever it takes to reach the top of Amazon’s search page listings. Including posting fake reviews.
Amazon has developed its own programs to support China’s growing resellers. Even launching the Lending Referral Program to offer short-term loans to help Chinese sellers purchase an inventory & expand their business.
Amazon even host an annual store seller summit. With keynotes from Amazon marketplace global heads, sessions on logistics and details of how to win over a European market.
But the article suggests there is a darker side…
Due to a competitive marketplace jam packed with sellers & products that are often outdated by the time they hit the shelves. Sellers are left with sometimes 1,000’s of the same products. And the only way to shift them is being ranked highly in Amazon search results.
Leading sellers to engage in ‘black hat’ tactics such as fake reviews, as detailed by Davide Nicolucci (founder of Growth Hack) in the Which? article. Nicolucci is critical of sellers using dishonest means to manipulate the rankings & fake reviews are an ongoing problem for Amazon’s customers.
According to Nicolucci the article says. ‘A wide variety of businesses offer resellers training on the ways to manipulate Amazon’s ranking system to promote products, protect accounts from disciplinary action & crush their competitors’. It seems it’s a global problem & not just in China.
The article details how a US Congressman & congresswoman have written to Jeff Bezos raising concerns about fraudulent & deceptive product ratings and reviews on Amazon’s online marketplace. The problem of fake reviews looks like it’s going to be a persistent one.
Where does leave Amazon customers?
We’ve recently seen Nike announces it’s no longer selling products on Amazon & counterfeit concerns keep many known brands away. Like Rolex & The North Face. With Amazon acknowledging the sale of counterfeit products is becoming an issue on its sites.
Throw fake reviews into the mix. With resellers seemingly prepared to do anything in the race to be top of Amazon’s search rankings & you’ve got a situation where Amazon’s customers could be losing certainty with the brand. Questioning whether some products are what they say they are.
Thankfully not all brands & sellers operate in this way. Like Nike & these other top brands. You can be sure we don’t sell on Amazon either.
So, you can trust our print technology solutions are of the highest quality with no poor-quality counterfeits or misleading reviews in sight. You can be sure too, all our customer case studies & testimonials the real deal. Hell, you can even see our customers in the showcase video’s we create together.
