The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last | If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is::If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is.
The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last | If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is::If shopping on the site feels different now, that’s because it is.
I don’t get it
I worked in retail on and off for 7 years and every store charged markup. Some products were marked up 70-80%. One place I worked was Best Buy. I regularly sold USB cables where the store cost was $2 for $32.
Amazon fees are essentially their markup. It’s impossible to run a store without it
The difference is who pays the markup. Amazon charges that to the seller, and passes that “discount” to the buyer effectively locking in buyers because nobody else can afford to compete
This is why the mall or bazaar analogy make more sense. Kind of.
When you buy things from Amazon which Amazon purchased from a wholesaler, this is the same as going to a retail store. (In recent years, Amazon has become their own wholesaler / manufacturer.)
But what has become more common is the “retail stores” are buying from wholesalers and then listing items on Amazon.
So, if you’re selling pet goods and you pay $2 for a bone wholesale that you’d typically resell for $5, Amazon is cutting into your profit and making it more difficult for you to market your product among competitors.
Although, there’s been a couple times where I’ve gone to a seller’s website and found the same product they had on Amazon for less money. So I wonder if sellers aren’t marking up products that are less competitive to account for Amazon’s cut.