Bloomberg article today on "the River" moving to drop small suppliers

[batboy.inc]

Just gave a quick read to an article in today's Bloomberg which discusses what appears to be moves by the River to drop small suppliers (those who provide their products for distribution).  As I read the article, those sellers will have to function as independent sellers (those who handle their own process)--a model the article compares to "Ebay Inc or a consignment shop."  Evidently this shift by River Inc has been foreshadowed, so not necessarily a surprise to some.  With recent changes here on eBay, I can't help but wonder if our hosts' strategy is to pursue those suppliers, unfortunately, at the expense of the independent sellers here.  Now I should note that I just read the article after waking up from a short nap, so please be gentle--but it does strike me as interesting, at the very least, that recent changes here are occurring so close to an industry-anticipated major shift at a major competitor: one seems to be embracing independent sellers and moving a bit away from types of suppliers, while the other seems to be building a system better suited for suppliers at the expense of independent sellers.  

[membersinceaug2001]

I read some of that.  To them "small" is less than $10 million annually!

It looks like like they want the small suppliers to pay more fees and do the fulfillment swindle.

[popeye3165]

Big changes happening in eCommerce today the MEGA corporations are taking control just like what happened to Main Street America during the 80s-90s when the corporations took control of it, Sadly most folks are completely clueless. Studies clearly show how MANY American towns were completely devastated by Big Box Stores coming in and running the mom-and-pop shops out of business the same thing is happening on the internet today IMO.

[robot-hands]

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@batboy.inc wrote:

 With recent changes here on eBay, I can't help but wonder if our hosts' strategy is to pursue those suppliers, unfortunately, at the expense of the independent sellers here. 

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Ebays one size fits all strategy of search manipulation does not lead me to believe they have any coherent strategy at all let alone the ability or desire to try and snap up suppliers of anything.

[toooldtorock]

"Studies clearly show how MANY American towns were completely devastated by Big Box Stores

coming in and running the mom-and-pop shops out of business the same thing is happening on

the internet today IMO."

The money you save by buying on the internet or big box  can be spent on increased taxes that

make up for the shortfall in locally generated revenue.

Basic economics: There is no such thing as a free lunch.

The original poster should have said retailer or manufacturer or distributor.  Sellers here are

retailers, the last step in the distribution chain. Manufacturers make the product, distributors

(wholesalers) get product from the manufacturer who then supply the end product to retailers.

The internet can cut out the last 2 groups from the supply chain.

[fuzzface50]

Didn't see the Bloomberg article but I heard about it about 6 weeks ago that amazon were going to get rid of the individual sellers and deal with the big boys/ manufacturers only.  I took it as gossip only because it was being discussed in the breakroom at Walmart right before I left.  Sounds like there was some possible truth in it. 

[fuzzface50]

Just think about the ones that jumped the ship here for them. Grass is not always greener when you get there or someplace else.  They each have their good and bad points, you just need to find out which one is less evil. ok, enough politics from me.    🙂

[tunicaslot]

Tagging - although these vendors can then open up store and hope to sell the items themselves - they may very well already have stores on Ebay or will open stores on Ebay - which will lead to more competition on both sites for 3rd party sellers.

I'm wondering is the switch to GTC in someway was influenced by a leak of this knowledge months ago in anticipation of making things easy for vendors who decide to sell their own products.

Question as I'm not familiar with all that surrounds this operation but if Amazon already had contracts with the big manufacturers like Sony - why would you have to also have contracts with smaller suppliers - or had Amazon not negotiated contracts with the annual manufacturers?  That would seem foolish.

[batboy.inc]

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I'm wondering is the switch to GTC in someway was influenced by a leak of this knowledge months ago in anticipation of making things easy for vendors who decide to sell their own products.

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Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking with the original post--that switch does seem geared toward larger sellers (as many have suggested in the forums here the past couple of months).  Reading the Bloomberg article, the timing of everything from the two companies just struck me as a bit more than coincidence.  

[luckythewinner]

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@batboy.inc wrote:

 one seems to be embracing independent sellers and moving a bit away from types of suppliers, while the other seems to be building a system better suited for suppliers at the expense of independent sellers.  

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I read the Bloomberg article and came to exactly the opposite conclusion.

The article says that Amazon will stop buying inventory directly from small suppliers, and instead those small suppliers will increase the number of third party suppliers who are selling on Amazon.

Those suppliers already have their item in the Amazon catalog, leaving an existing market for their items right on the Amazon site ... except that there will no longer be any competition from Amazon itself.

Your suggestion is that these supplies are going to abandon a ready-made market on Amazon in order to sell on eBay is certainly not shared by Bloomberg.

Don't get me wrong - eBay would love to add these suppliers to eBay, just as eBay has been courting suppliers for DECADES now.

[this*old*attic]

I’m dating myself here, but I sooooooo miss little independently owned grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores....

[batboy.inc]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@batboy.inc wrote:

 one seems to be embracing independent sellers and moving a bit away from types of suppliers, while the other seems to be building a system better suited for suppliers at the expense of independent sellers.  

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I read the Bloomberg article and came to exactly the opposite conclusion.

The article says that Amazon will stop buying inventory directly from small suppliers, and instead those small suppliers will increase the number of third party suppliers who are selling on Amazon.

That's assuming those sellers aren't tempted by a selling model better suited for their businesses.  I don't sell on Amazon, so I can't speak to their process, but it seems like being shifted from supplier status to independent seller  will cause some to look for more accommodating models (e.g. eBay?).

Those suppliers already have their item in the Amazon catalog, leaving an existing market for their items right on the Amazon site ... except that there will no longer be any competition from Amazon itself.

Sorry, not quite getting your point here...

Your suggestion is that these supplies are going to abandon a ready-made market on Amazon in order to sell on eBay is certainly not shared by Bloomberg.

Actually, my suggestions was that with some recent changes in policy, eBay may be trying to entice those small suppliers to abandon Amazon.  

Don't get me wrong - eBay would love to add these suppliers to eBay, just as eBay has been courting suppliers for DECADES now.

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Still, you may be right: I did add a disclaimer that I read the article after waking up from a nap--always a bit foggy right after a good snooze.  

[batboy.inc]

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@this*old*attic wrote:

I’m dating myself here, but I sooooooo miss little independently owned grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores....

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I was just telling my son about the joys of old small grocery stores and corner markets.  I recently discovered a remarkable little butcher shop/meat market--the prices are great, the meat is wonderful, and the nostalgia of it all makes the out-of-the-way drive worth it!!!

[jason_incognito]

Amazon loses money offering the free prime shipping. 

They want to throw that loss back at the seller of the items. You handle your own logistics. 

eBay is heading much the same way. Instead of 100 million sellers, have 45,000 that handle a larger number of the transactions.

Joe in Des Moines just aint gonna act like a corporation and ship out the next day for free..... Joe knows that isn't how you make money.

[batboy.inc]

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@batboy.inc wrote:

 one seems to be embracing independent sellers and moving a bit away from types of suppliers, while the other seems to be building a system better suited for suppliers at the expense of independent sellers.  

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I read the Bloomberg article and came to exactly the opposite conclusion.

The article says that Amazon will stop buying inventory directly from small suppliers, and instead those small suppliers will increase the number of third party suppliers who are selling on Amazon.

I would assume that being moved from supplier to independent seller will motivate some of those affected to look for a sales platform that better suits their needs.

Those suppliers already have their item in the Amazon catalog, leaving an existing market for their items right on the Amazon site ... except that there will no longer be any competition from Amazon itself.

Your suggestion is that these supplies are going to abandon a ready-made market on Amazon in order to sell on eBay is certainly not shared by Bloomberg.

Actually, my suggestion is that eBay, with recent policy changes, may be trying to entice those small supplier sellers to change selling venues.  Granted, I read the article quickly (and in a post-nap fog), but I don't remember it addressing those affected suppliers moving to eBay.

Don't get me wrong - eBay would love to add these suppliers to eBay, just as eBay has been courting suppliers for DECADES now.

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Not sure why my first response to your post was removed--definitely nothing confrontational in it???