Warren Buffet famously said “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”
Well Amazon have just taken things to another level. They plan to make money from your dreams…
And have launched their own private label mattress products (as detailed by TJI Research) & prices are substantially lower than comparable products from other brands. Amazon’s entry into the market will no doubt add pressure to both manufacturers & retailers globally.
Amazon has been selling foam mattresses from a number of brands. And we suppose it was only a matter of time that (armed with information from its own market-place re-sellers) Amazon would do it themselves.
Amazon’s strategy seems to be becoming clear…
Over the last couple of years they have released over 100 private label products. From sports supplements to microwaves and now mattresses. No doubt from analysing the results of their market-place re-sellers & picking the products where they believe they can offer a financial competitive advantage & make still make more profit too.
It smacks to me what the super supermarkets started a number of years ago. Remember when ASDA used to have independent shops inside their store? Offering photo processing, eye testing & even key cutting? Then within a few years they served notice on them and did it themselves. No doubt learning from them. I knew the people who had the photo processing business in the Rawtenstall ASDA. And they told me what happened.
You can also see it through the own label food products that all the supermarkets bring out. Learn what sells from the major brands, find someone to make them and launch them for less money but more profit.
So back to Amazon’s long term strategy…
A couple of months ago we wrote an article asking if your product was Amazon repellent (which you can read here) citing CEO Jeff Bezos intentions for Amazon to become the key structural element in commerce itself. And the acceleration in the launch of their own branded products seems to support this intention & suggest their strategy.
And if this is the case. Every inventor, product development specialist, retailer & manufacturer may need to be worried. Those already within Amazon’s market place maybe even more so.
As it seems. Amazon are constantly assessing what successful products (not just their own market-place) to replicate under their own brand to sell for more profit. And as they have massive scale manufacturing for Amazon is always going to be much cheaper than for you or I.
Even our own government financial support Amazon too…
Yes it’s true. Just yesterday the Daily Mirror reporting that Philip Hammond has been branded a hypocrite for vowing to crack down on large company tax avoiders such as Amazon (in his keynote conservative party conference speech). But then giving them a £30 million ‘bung’ to mentor small firms.
Philip Hammond said he wants Amazon to share their ‘knowledge’ with small firms to aid productivity. Personally I think this may work in the opposite direction. Where Amazon gleam all our knowledge & go do it themselves.
It just seems really strange to me, does it not you? We’ve seen massive disruption & destruction to our high streets. In my opinion mainly due to the digital revolution & super supermarkets being built in town centres. Although we can’t blame Amazon solely for this.
But if we are not careful the same thing that has happened to our high streets will happen in the digital world too. I can foresee many independent digital re-sellers around the world going to the wall. Because Amazon are and will encroach on their turf, learn about their products, manufacturer them for less & simply undercut them.
And I ask you all. Should we also be paying them for the privilege like Philip Hammond is doing?
For me, there’s only 3 ways to fight Amazon global domination…
- Develop products that are really hard for them to replicate
- Don’t give them sales & product information by selling on their market-place
- Try not to feed them & buy stuff from independents even if it’s a little more expensive
We’ve made a conscious effort to move our business into providing service based products to business (like photocopiers, monthly printing schemes, small organisation print solutions & broadband telephones). Which really need personal relationships and feet on the street to support.
Yes, we still do some traditional office products like printer cartridges, stationery & office furniture where I’ve no doubt we will come under attack from Amazon. But even here, we will provide our customers with a very personal experience & they won’t just be a number in a massive global business like Amazon.
From this day forward ‘I for one’ will not knowingly buy another product from Amazon. And I do this to support every single independent inventor, product development specialist, retailer & manufacturer in the world.
