The Big, Secretive Business Of Amazon’s 100+ Private-Label Brands
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ต.ค. 2022
- Amazon has 118+ private label brands, some that carry the Amazon name and others cleverly disguised without it. And it’s been accused of using its data prowess to make nearly identical versions of bestselling brand-name items, like Peak Design’s Everyday Sling Bag.
Amazon says it’s continuing to invest in its popular brands, despite rumors its scaling back on private label to appease regulators. Amazon may be pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable in private labeling, there's nothing illegal about copying brand-name products. It's a business practice that, in some capacity, is widely used by most major retailers.
Here’s how private labels work, and why experts say the high margin products like AmazonBasics batteries are going nowhere.
Chapters:
1:37 How private labels work
4:17 Why it’s good business
6:56 Accused of copying bestsellers
10:28 The problem with self-preferencing
12:46 Is AmazonBasics here to stay?
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The Big, Secretive Business Of Amazon’s 100+ Private-Label Brands
I tried selling items on Amazon. For most things, it's a race to the bottom price-wise. When you finally get an item that sells well, Amazon comes in and sells the item themselves. Their economies of scale allow them to price everyone else out, and if that still doesn't shut you down, they simply force your item onto page two where no one looks. The house ALWAYS wins.
@@randomrandomness8743 Why would they care who the seller is if its reselling items it didn't even design? To a customer, you selling a generic item for higher than another seller is seen as attempted theft.
No one looks at page two? 🤡
@@wealthiness if you do, you're in the minority. It's just like the joke:
Where's the best place to hide a body? Page 2 of Google.
"page two where no one looks" That's false and if you as a seller don't understand your customer's behavior then I'm afraid Amazon wasn't the reason you failed.
@@randomrandomness8743 then why blame Amazon if the ppl want to buy the cheap one, Amazon it's giving to the ppl what they want cheap stuff.
As a 40 year old, I remember most store brands being the worst of the worst as as a kid. They seem to have upped their game over the last 30+ years. Now it’s often not even a compromise to go with the store brand.
So true
I think store brands should still be available. Slicing store brands are anti consumers
@@jamesmalik3355 I agree. I think Amazon copying a small business’s product is messed up and shouldn’t happen but not the reality of most store brand products. I don’t think we need to feel guilty about buying Kroger Oreos when Nabisco might be making both.
Unless you buy Food Lion brand. Some stores have very good generic brand items.
I agree. Like I actually prefer Wal-Marts Great Value brand all dressed chips compared to the Ruffles version because they actually have less vinegar than the Ruffles version making them more tolerable for me.. The Ruffles version has too much of a "kick" because they used way more vinegar, witch I don't personally like. Also, I can get the Great Value brand for like $1.70 a bag compared to Ruffles that cost a bit more.
it's scary how amazon used retailers to build their brand and now is slowly trying to out-compete them on their own businesses..
But every retailer does that?
Worse, in physical retail, retailers make manufacturers bid on shelf placement (being lower on the shelf is cheaper), but they put their own generic products anywhere.
@@MessyPointedBlobbut that's not fair and must be battle by law
When a market maker targets the market it is not negligence. Amazon told the US court system No unions too. Its insane. Jails must be Empty waiting for the CEOs.
If a retailer owned over 40% of the online market it would be a monopoly and broken up like the banks got broken up. Amazon just paid enough people off it looks like.@@MessyPointedBlob
Don't hate on competition.
"design patent" is the most important piece of information from this entire video. It had a lot of great info, but that's the take away message so they don't screw you over too.
it won't help, like cmon, they would make the bag slightly differently and call it a day. This was simply the easiest method for that particular product as it would take less money. But if they had one, the bag would likely still have been copied but just not fall under the patent, thus making the bag 50 cents more expensive and voila, same problem
its a bag, like cmon. every single company that makes any sort of bag can say that another company is copying them.
its literally. just. a. bag.
@@TomandWesley Amazon put their label in the same uncommon place the smaller company did...They are clearly trying to confuse consumer. Amazon needs to come up with their own design. They can sell a cheap camera bag but sell it as one... not a knock of the best selling bag.
It’s a simple formula. Since Amazon owns the marketplace, they see everything. They know exactly what products will do well. Since the research and development costs have already been paid for by the other sellers, Amazon just needs to make a copycat product, sell it for less and choke out the competition. Amazon can even sell at a significant loss and win in the end. I remember reading how they did this with a diaper company.
Great job repeating what was said 1:00 in to the video. We appreciate it
And how tf is this allowed??? This is not fair competition.
Sure the same as what every other retailer does and has done for decades now, China's entire export business model is based on this concept and now you got a problem with it like 50 years later? Lol
@@TJ-vl1ff Lol you're so naive. Safeway and other retailers sells their own brand of soda on the same shelf as Pepsi. Sounds like fair competition to me. You think every brand should have their own retail platform? How many stores can you fit in a dying strip mall?
@@TJ-vl1ff BUSINESS is anything but fair.
Market Share means the more you gain,the more other losing.
Private labeling is an enormous part of the manufacturing of literally everything. It’s been around forever and will never go away.
A weak dollar can signal an economic downturn, making me to ponder on what are the best possible ways to hedge against inflation, and I've overheard people say inflation is a money-eater thus worried about my savings around $200k
@Antonio Alejandro AUTUMN really seem to know her stuff. I looked her up on the web using her full name and found her page , read through her resume, educational background, qualifications and it was really impressive.Left her a msg
Repent to Jesus Christ “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33 NIV
R
⬆️ haha, NO!
gold and silver is the only 100% safe store of your funds
Putting your money in interest paying USA Treasury bills, that pay you interest on your money protects against inflation
The last comment on the video was gold: Peak pays for design patents on everything to protect themselves from Amazon knockoffs.
(Expensive option the first time, but gives the best protection, and gets progressively easier as you do more of them.)
I'm Italian but I live in Greece and despite the great recovery of the Country (almost going default just few years ago), it looks like Greeks have learned how to save money at the grocery shop. There's a big chain here that offers two store brands' products: the "premium" one (which is about 25-30% cheaper than the brand name) and the "basic" one, which can often be 40-50% off the brand name. Here in Europe the companies are obliged to show in the package the factory where the specific product has been manufactured and you can actually understand which brand made it. You can't imagine how many great products are hidden within the store brands!
Wow do you have any examples
@Zaydan Naufal
Of course they haven't fully recovered and it seems they're stalling a bit recently, but it's not like he was saying/claiming they're doing overly well.
I understand him as saying it's not nearly as bad as back then anymore.
It's a struggle, but if you're almost going down the gutter ALL improvement is a big improvement.
@Zaydan Naufal it's a long way to go yet, but there's definitely a big improvement.
Actually 2km from my house Pfizer opened a giant research and development center with almost 200 million dollars investment, and many more set up their facilities here. Things are looking better now. Still work to do, but we're on the right path
@@GuineaPigWWE well from the same factory where dixan and neo mat (Henkel) detergents are made for the whole european market, they produce some store brands product that I use and they're great!
Issue is how Amazon uses sellers data to compete. This illustrates the value and power of your company's data. The world wants a cheaper brand as it serves a need or provides a solution. Different income groups have limited money. Also a product may be built to a higher standard then the consumers requirement. This was a great, informative video by CNBC, Thank You.
100% - they are letting private business take the risk to figure out what products are popular, then leveraging the company's sales data to muscle in on the market once it is established. I can't see how it could be considered anything other than anti-competitive.
Marketplace sellers should work together to demand the data sharing. They have more power than they think. Amazon would lose billions in one week if their sellers disappeared or removed their shops
They should stop all supermarkets then. Supermarkets use sales and loyalty program data all the time and have been for decades.
@@sheldonpopesp Distorted Perspective. Supermarkets only have data for their shoppers and the products they carry. Not shoppers at other Supermarkets or convenience stores. Amazon may have the ability to look at all sellers data who use Amazon to sell products. Amazon may have the ability to track all sales of any item, in any size, in any color, and track if sales are seasonal. Amazon may have the ability to track sales for different price points of same product. The value of this insightful data would allow a business to better manage and buy inventory that sells.
Why wouldn’t they????
When I worked for Krogers, they told us in training that Krogers' canned vegetables are canned at the same factory as Libby's canned products. All they do is just change the label.
That is usually true. On some products they alter the ingredients proportion a bit.
From a consumer standpoint, private label isn’t the biggest threat, it’s the rampant counterfeiting on Amazon. At least private label someone KNOWS they are getting a knockoff or generic product. But Amazon has virtually zero track record cracking down on counterfeit products. Many reviews alone would sound the alarm, and if Amazon cared, they could do something (like they aren’t monitoring that data) but in many cases it’s blatantly obvious a product is counterfeit while being sold as genuine simply from the abnormally low price.
yes
I disagree, working for yourself is the only path to middle upper middle income. When they destroy small businesses the take away options for people, and also keep less money in circulation
If the price is too low, you should know something isn’t right.
I'll buy what's cheap and works. I haven't had issues with Amazon basic items
Yup…. Sounds like the owner is salty
Amazon basics products are very good and sometimes better than the actual legit product it’s competing with
Yup, same here.
Exactly.
agreed i wear amazon basics underwear lol they are better than some of the other cheap major brands
Most eggs in the USA all come from the same farms. Distributors just put eggs in whoever’s packaging and ship them out. I always buy store brand because of this.
nuh uh not pasture-raised eggs
Pasture raised eggs are superior, in nutrition and ethically .
@@AJ-iu6nw that’s a very specific offering and a niche of the industry. I did not say ALL eggs, I said most.
But an egg is largely an egg.
The issue with products is that you're undercutting a competitor using their designs, R&D, cheaper materials and generally inferior quality. You're also using sales data they've generated to determine what products to launch.
Amazon is criminal and should be broken up like crazy.
@@TheAussiePencil Well if they have a design patent they can sue and make them stop. If not, anyone can imitate a product, if not Amazon then someone else will do it. That's how competition works.
Amazon also manipulates the search results. If you sort by lowest price first you lose half the results and usually get products that aren't the same as what you searched for.
Why Amazon basics has some much hate while Kirkland is everybody’s favorite 🧐
It's all about that "data" baby... Data is key. These big companies have So much power...
Aldi's goes to the original manufacturer and demands a certain low price with their private label on it but with the knowledge that a huge number of that product will be purchased over that year. e.g., Aldi contacted Welch's to create a private label brand of their grape jelly. They called up the purchasing department, told them how much they will pay per jar and how much they would order. The guy at Wech's said, "Um., we don't do business that way." and hung up on them. When the CEO of that division heard about it and that Aldi would be ordering millions of jars of product each year, he told the worker to call them back to take the deal. The guaranteed purchase is enough to stabilize their workload to keep the employees busy thought-out the year instead of the cycle of busy/downtime.
Aldi pays COD.
Amazon requires sellers to provide information such as providers invoices with the claim that they want to make sure the merchandise is not fake. This is how they get access to a seller's supplier and knows the cost the seller has negotiated with the supplier.
How is this legal?
Amazon also manipulates the search results. If you sort by lowest price first you lose half the results and usually get products that aren't the same as what you searched for.
@@BabyJesus66 I use Google shopping to look for items. I try not to accept Amazon’s search results. Recent example: I did a Google search for an item and found a good price on a known brand. Clicked on it and it did take me to Amazon with that price but when I did a separate search just on Amazon that price was nowhere to be seen. So I went back to Google shopping and clicked on that better price. Got what I wanted at and it cost much less.
The only thing amazon does with the extra info would be get you cheaper products. They would still be able to undercut competitors without this info, as they have a massive scale.
As an Amazon seller I only have to supply a letter from the brand owner stating that I had authorization to sell their brand on Amazon. For a few items I have sold I do not have direct permission from the brand owner, and I have to send Amazon a copy of the invoice showing that I have purchased the items directly from the brand owner or their distributor. They are perfectly okay with me blacking out what I paid the supplier as long as the rest of the information is on the invoice. At the end of the day they have no idea how much I paid for the products, only that it came from an official source.
This is nothing different than what other retailers have been doing for years - it's literally why and how private label brands exist!
But with brick and mortar, some of them pay the big guys to produce for them or find a cheaper alternative. Amazon has literally stolen the brand's IP and went ahead and built their own anyways.
So, is that okay?
@@sirromja Yes, it's okay.
Other retailers don't steal data of the 3rd party sellers, AMAZON DOES !
@@souravkumarskb7131 Of course they do! That's exactly Walmart knows what Great Value products to create...
What's interesting is that when a Chinese company does "private label" it's called a "knock off" but when American companies do it it's called "private label".
yea people support their own national economy. its not interesting?!?!?! in some omg they didn't way. its called self preservation.
Bro it is really literally modern knockoff Amazon does
the reason is because US private labels, or others still have to respect design patents.
A chinese knock-off is doing to match that peak design bag identically, sell a few hundred to a few thou, close the company, and then just create a new one when someone tries to get litigious with them.
A private label like amazon's was able to make the bag because peak design didn't get a design patent on it. Amazon's private labels still have to abide by US laws, and they will pay fines should they break them.
Counterfeits and knockoffs are two different things
I am in the transportation business, you would not believe the amount of name brand manufacturers also make the same generic items. The way I shop has drastically changed over the years.
Yep I live next to the Denver Purina/Nestle pet food plant. They were the first organic pet food production line in the country. So up through the late 2000's they made all or almost all of the organic pet food in the country in that one plant. Every brand name or generic pet food.
I've been surprised by some things I'd buy on eBay that are similar, and CBC Marketplace in Canada did an episode about how clothing brands will make their own lower quality versions for outlet stores. I've noticed that with a few companies, and wondered if any of the cheaper brands were related. I try to go with local products when I can, or buy it right from the designer if possible (such as with small brands, even though they often make things overseas). That being said, I also like to make my own clothes, and wish I knew more about where fabrics sold in stores come from, and why some big fashion brands will let you buy their fabric, but not others. I recently found Balenciaga fabric on sale, but I really would love to get my hands on some Fjallraven and Nike fabrics that I haven't found decent replacements for.
I am also a victim of this I had to give up all information to be able to sell products on Amazon THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SELLER PROTECTION.
@@juniorbitare3041 says somebody who does not create anything to be stolen
I used to drive a truck, and many manufacturing facilities in the United States double as Brand Name and store brand, just a different build pattern. (primarily Costco and Walmart)
Society teaches me that if it's not my problem, I can ignore it.
Another difference between Amazon's labels and a grocery store having private labels is that with Amazon's algorithms and complete control over the design of the site, it would be like if Walmart put their knockoff soda in the front of the shelf and the name-brand items were always in the back behind one or more of the generic versions.
But that's what normal retailers do? They will push their own private label brands and in many grocery stores a manufacturer has to pay for a premium stop. The only different I see with Amazon is with its mammoth size. Otherwise, all retailers have access to their sales and inventory data same as Amazon.
CVS, Walmart and physical retailers put their own private label right next to brand name ones (often times more prominently), with lower price clearly marking the difference.
Amazon let algorithms do the sorting based on search keywords but grocery stores actually do it intentionally with human manipulation.
That’s fine? If you own your shop, you should be able to sell your own products.
@@jeremyl862 Yes and no. WalMart for example puts their product next to the name brand on the same aisle. Amazon will bury the name brand product to the bottom or the next page after its own listing and after several other knock off or unverified warehouse listings (like food items being sold from shady sellers often out of date or damaged). Walmarts private labels, especially for food, has to meed the same safety and freshness requirements. But also, food private labels and durable goods are two different areas. For food, the consumer can buy the first, consume it, and choose differently next time. For durable goods, often it is a one time purchase.
Walmart does not stock stuff like soda, beer, snacks and other food products. It’s the vendors that do. In fact vendors will often hid Walmart’s Great Value brand products. Go to a Walmart in cookie or snack Isles, they will have Great Value products on the lower shelves. This because vendors want the space where shoppers can see their product. Amazon is an online shop so only Amazon can manipulate what their customers see. People don’t care who made what. If they see batteries, bags or other similar products for cheaper. It’s a numbers game. Many people will pick the cheaper product.
I wish I knew why these issues only apply to Amazon when most major retailers do the same. Every supermarket sells their own brands even though they get data on the other brands they sell and control the placement, price etc. of the brands. Same with Walmart and Target. Same with every department store, like JCPenny and Macy's. From small, to large online and offline stores they all do this to maximize profit. I would be much more accepting of government intervention on these issues if they were applied fairly, rather than looking like a way for politicians to score points going after evil Amazon.
Target and JCPenny and Macy's cannot see every single item I looked at and added to my cart or bought when I'm shopping in their stores; Amazon can see all of that and more.
@@x3xmikey333 they can with their online sites, which is their preferred shopping method.
@@verreal Neither does Amazon.
@@verreal They aren't forced. They are told if they don't have their lowest price (can be the same everywhere etc.) Amazon won't promote them. Why should Amazon promote ripping customers off? No one goes to Amazon to buy from a 3rd party vendor, they go to buy from Amazon. If a 3rd party wants to have a relationship with the customer then they should only sell on their own site.
because of Amazon's chokehold and algorithms. people invest boat loads of money developing quality products, then similar amounts promoting those new market items to consumers and building their brand. then amazon sees the product is going well, knocks it off with barely any investment, and ensures people looking for the original first see amazons cheaper knock off. it's one thing if corporations are going head to head in their own physical retail shops, placing knock offs next to the original, but these are largely small companies and hard working entrepreneurs who have everything invested, and everything to lose.
amazon has shady practices across the board. this is only a small droplet in a sea of ethical evasion.
There needs to be a separation between Amazon as a platform, and where Amazon private labels get their information (not from Amazon’s back-end). I think that is vastly anti-competitive. If they can (fairly) offer lower prices, I’ll be buying from them.
but its amazons website and amazon is just doing them a favor by letting them use their website to sell their products. why cant it be as well if they dont like it just not sell on amazon and build a store and sell there, or make ur own website ? im sure amazon isnt forcing them to stay right ?
@@sheik9956 If you invested a lot of money in Research and Development and then invented something unique that solves a problem and then list it a platform that presents itself as an enabling platform only to have them steal your intellectual property, how would you feel? It's not about Amazon providing them a platform, it's about breach of trust, abuse of market position and lack of ethics. This is broad day theft!
Why single out Amazon though when this is what retailers have been doing for as long as they have been retailing?
@@VeeSeven700 Because retail product isn't usually infringing in the realm of intellectual property. Stealing design is a major issue.
@@sheik9956 terrible for free market economy. Destroy small businesses secretly on the largest platform online. That's just a scummy move and does not promote innovation. Yes "Free Market says that anything goes" but terrible for innovation. Majority of people do not know Amazon's business practices. Once they destroy all the competitors, you think Amazon will "improve" quality? No, if you have no other option or don't know any better option, that leads to stagnation of innovation. good luck trying to build a competing platform when Amazon will go out of their way with trillions of dollars to either buy or straight up destroy your product by undercutting you if you ever become a threat. Good luck
Back in the 80's when I worked for K-Mart we watched a company internal video that explained the independent companies that made the private label products such as K-Gro and American Fare. Many products with formulas were reverse engineered. Surprisingly the manufacturing plants were in small American towns all over the country.
'Surprisingly the manufacturing plants were in small American towns all over the country.' That was the 80's. They have probably all seen their market vanish to overseas competition.
You need to cover Best Buy's Insignia brand
Best Buy owns Insignia?
@@AllenHanPR yeah its their private label
Peak Design is sold at my local camera store, and they were really smart with having the EOS R camera pre-orders come with a Peak Design wrist strap, as that's what hooked (quite literally) me on it. Some of that reminds me of the now infamous Canadian brand, No Name. They have honestly good products, I like their corn chips better than Fritos, but I have no idea where they come from. But I do trust locally owned companies more than Amazon which is known to be a bit sketchy in terms of how they use stuff and if they're secure or not.
Luxury goods companies (like Peak Design) trade on vanity and exclusivity. They court a certain type of customer that's consistent with the brand image they create. Maybe it's woke values (carbon-neutral, fair trade, blah, blah, blah). Maybe it's associate (celebrity, or a certain lifestyle). Yes, it's a slightly better product with an innovation or two. But the real reason PD is upset is that they don't want their bags (or anything that might be confused with their bags) carried by the average punter. In reality the guy that buys the Amazon bag was never going to get a PD bag anyway.
As a seller at Amazon for over 10 years where I went from $10K+/month to almost 0 overnite, this video is discerning and partly describe what Amazon is doing. That is why I would NEVER buy any Amazon Basics, or Amazon private brands, or "Renew" products on their site.
Not only are they copying the brand names as Private Labels. Many times what they do is for high selling items, they would stop the seller from selling. The seller would have to "apply to sell" by submit invoices of where they buy the products, cost, etc to Amazon. Amazon would then contact the suppliers and make a deal with them effectively shutting down the sellers of the products. Like Nintendo Wii consoles, Xbox consoles, iPads, etc. There should be a big class action lawsuit and a fine with Amazon for that.
Well done and thank you for this information.
I had no idea they had gone into the business of music instruments until one day I happened across an Amazon Basics branded Cajon that had temporarily been marked down from $80 to $20, which I decided to pick up so I could have one that I didn't have to worry if it got stolen or broken. I think of all the times in the world percussion community when I had said that I had gotten a particular item on Amazon, and how there'd be a slight bit of disappointment that I didn't support a local drum shop. Imagine how much less authentic it would appear to now have a drum with the Amazon logo on it?
top marks for the team that researched and made this presentation.
Yep I used to work for them in the UK. They take interest in whatever is trending sales-wise, then find the suppliers in china or wherever, buy out all the stock (lots of items are bought from china blank and have their own label added to it) and then buy them out so the sellers can barely get hold of more stock, meanwhile Amazon sell them at a fraction of the price as they have the stock levels and negotiation power with manufacturers to be able to do this, causing sellers to exit the market, and amazon continues profiting over the long term from the items. Sadly the only way this will ever stop is by regulation - which needs to be realistically enforceable in a way which genuinely disincentives amazon from doing this (they make a lot of money this way so the penalty would need to be relative), or if consumers vote with their wallets and choose actively to buy the same item for a more expensive price. Changing human behaviors is a hard sell also. Better living everybody
That's why I don't buy Amazon basics
Uh, your example is suggesting Amazon is squeezing middlemen resellers from China out. I view that as a good thing. Those scalpers aren't contributing anything anyways, they're just slapping a brand on a generic. I might as well get it cheaper from Amazon Basics.
Why is that a bad thing? It removes unnecessary markups. It's much better for the consumer.
price and value dictates to customers. nothing else matters. People have always spent money based on price or value or both.
Buy from China sell for higher simple as that
I came here to learn how to trade after listening to a guy on radio talk about the importance of investing and how he made $460,000 in 4 months from $160k. Somehow this video has helped shed light on some things, but I'm confused about the current market volatility, I'm a newbie and I'm open to ideas...
Investing in stocks is a good idea, a good trading system would puts you through many days of success...
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I was an Amazon Marketplace seller for about eight years. After the first couple of years I got a sense Amazon was using seller data to create a less competitive environment. Perhaps it’s not illegal. But it certainly seems unreasonable from an independent merchant’s perspective.
India has one of the biggest market for Amazon, The moment they introduced Amazon basics brand they blew up in sales, later many of them noticed, basically what they were doing is just copying the local goods which were their best selling on the app and later decreasing the availability of local products and promoting more of their products, they were having advantage because they know in which area which products were selling most through their enormous data base and AI which helped them in cutting the unnecessary shipping costs, and put some discounts and every time you search their product pops in top
They also entered electronics and destroying local business dealers
This is exactly the reason Indian government trying to imply new NATIONAL LOGISTICS POLICY , Hope it will be implied soon
Thirteen I suggest watch a 13 part series called _What on earth happened_ by Ewaranon to learn that the earth is not a globe. Link in my about tab.
I wanted to get some vans slip ons for casual use, but they were starting at $60!!
I just bought a pair of "off brand" shoes for $25.
I bought my Vans back in 2014 for $60. $60 today is actually pretty good...
I bought my Vans back in 2003 for $60. It's amazing how well the price has held.
@@robbnoble1509 the quality is declining tho. They are so trash right now
I've never heard someone say 60 dollars was too much for a name brand shoe. You wouldn't want to see the cost of a good work boot
@@StreetForged name brands are overrated. For stuff like shoes, the off brand is likely made in the same factory on the same assembly line. But hey, if u wanna waste ur money, that u could've otherwise saved, invested, or deployed elsewhere, noones stopping ya 😂
Extraction capitalism, when you are big, you can rip off the small. By the time you get your day in court, the consumers have moved on. You get boxed out of the market, because the oligarchs have so much power in the marketplace, and political power with the money they shower on the politicians. There is a difference on what Amazon does, and what private labels are in the Super Market.
I got an Amazon Basics brand of fat grips. It basically makes the free weight handles thicker, gives a better grip while lifting, and you feel it in the forearms more. Amazon Basics was $6 versus $18 from some other brand.
They can make it cheaper. Dame shame small businesses continue get screwed over
@@mkhanman12345 they're not getting screwed. They need to improve their products. If they can't, they should be out of business. Not everyone deserves to be an entrepreneur. Most were born to be slaves/employees. That's a fact.
@@knav5216 You're right! They should improve their products so that Amazon can come by and steal their ideas. What was I thinking,
@@mkhanman12345 hahaha. Go get better education. Looks like you just got your education from a state owned / gov't school. 😆
Again, not everyone deserves to be an entrepreneur. Looks like you're one of them. 🤭
you just know the same people who are upset that nothing is made in their country anymore are the same people who would rather a multinational win out over a local business
There’s a Costco type store in the Philippines called Landers. They carry Kirkland brand products.
Amazon has been doing this for some time. They allow other small businesses to list products on their platform, gather and analyze the sales data, spit out their own cheap crap and gobble up the competition.
1) they own 1% of sales. 2) They eat the business by making products cheaper, in other words they saved us BILLIONS.
Private label does not mean you own the design of the product. Many of these products are generic and are not patented or copyrighted. The branded products that establish themselves early are able to capitalize on these gains but in the end, anyone can copy their product unless they produce a patent to protect such rights. Amazon has not done anything wrong, I can also source many manufacturers to find someone else's design and sell the product but then that creates a copy and confused marketplace. You are better off finding another well suited design for the market than compared to just copying another. You want to be apart of the pie of the entire marketplace, not a slice of a product's pie of a specific design which in the end limits you. Although Amazon has better brand recognition, so there's really nothing wrong with them taking down a private label product that is capitalizing on a generic design. Do better, add something to it.
"Private label does not mean you own the design." Part of private labeling is either designing or improving upon the product. This doesn't necessarily mean you're reinventing the wheel of course. You usually involves looking over customer sentiment of a particular product. From there you have a good idea about what needs to change.
are you defending the big A ?
Private label just means you make it for someone else
I work at an Amazon distribution center for preparation of items from third party sellers. We regularly are taking in Kirkland Signature branded products.
Getting an amazon ad dunring playback is just a staple of the situation. So funny 😂
I was the top apple third party seller of apple airs.. as soon as Amazon found out, they froze my funds and sales of all my stuff, to find my supplier which was the top wholesaler for apple... they banned me and held me sales money entirely just for not telling them, even though customer loved my laptops.. this was 2012 or so.
Monopoly confirmed by me.
What happen then ? What
What happened at the end? were they allowed to steal your money like this?
As a consumer, i'm not mad at this. We should be getting fair prices. Instead of paying 3x for no good reason. I'm all for amazon basics.
What if you pay 3x the price and the product lasts 5x longer?
You pay more bc usually brands invest money on research and development while knock-offs just "stole" someone else idea.
Just look at the bag they are selling, is nothing but insulting to us as consumers and small business owners that are also the creators of a ton of goods Amazon is cheating on
The thing is you do realize there is only 1 reason Amazon can do private label. The way to get costs down is to buy volume. Amazon can buy WAY more product than a small business can, which drives the cost down. This is why it is unfair to the smaller businesses that need time to grow.
@@Hans-gb4mv Well if that's the case then yea i'd rather pay more, but I have yet to have that issue fortunately.
@@Hans-gb4mv I work in one of these companies and they sell the product 3x the production price right now the price of goods is not what its worth but how much you can swendel from customers without them not buying.....😣😣😣😣
Design patent is definitely a must. I've heard of some people that made products exclusively for Amazon, not the manufacturers but those people that developed a product. I mean if you got a guaranteed order from Amazon every week/2 weeks/month/etc. And they would be responsible to sell it then hey why not.
When large corporations copy the products of smaller companies, it's competition...
When small companies release a product with 1% resemblance to that of large corporations, it's a patent infringement...
Maybe change the patent system, so that it's based on common sense and fair competition, instead of "who's the wealthiest" and can afford a patent!
When it comes to private label, you do have to be careful though. Some companies use reputable, name-brand sources for their store branded items. Such as MicroCenter (A computer store) sold computer cases under the name PowerSpec, but were actually made by CoolerMaster, which is a known brand name in the computer/IT industry. Now I will say the PowerSpec cases were the lower-end models and generally cheaper (With fewer features, not as good metal construction -- but were made by a name-brand company). They certainly where as nice or expensive as CoolerMaster's own cases. However, the opposite can be true too, where they may use cheaper sources to save money (which is the case in many circumstances).
I have a friend that sells on Amazon. They forced them to provide information on ALL of their suppliers. Basically, so that if they want to copy the product it will be easier.
This is power of data , you invest time and money on making and marketing product , sometimes make a new market for your product
And then Amazon will rip off your bestsellers
@8:23 is that a Amazon Basic's MacBook Pro? Just asking because I notice it only has the model but not the make (Apple or Amazon missing from product)
It’s unfortunate that there is zero transparency of private labels. I learned about this when researching product materials for a sustainability class.
It's messed up if they go after new and small businesses but well established companies will be fine.
I have had to google something I am looking for to find it on amazon because amazon would not show me what i wanted to see. Its crazy.
What bothers me is that these experts don't know who makes these products.
Imagine slaving away in these production lines. And these "Experts" don't even know your company's name.
i recently bought a set of amazon basic battreries for the first time and did not know there is such a huge story behind this .
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But, there are 3rd party sellers who are doing the exact same thing; finding who they're competitors manufacturers are, reaching out to them and basically, with a few changes, copy the exact same product to sell, private label. Even though Amazon is huge compared to those much, much smaller businesses.
Whoever is making Amazon batteries is either not one of the mainstream battery companies or is making a separate line just for them. They didn't last anywhere near as long as the big brands or even the local grocery store brand.
If you go to walmart, target, they have private labels on their shelves. However, one cannot compare brick and mortar experiences with online and mobile shopping. They are two entirely different customer experiences.
I think for some things its totally fair, like completely overpriced necessities, the the batteries for example I remember buying something like a 40 pack of aa rechargeable batteries for $20 or something like that, whereas I go into a local Walmart or Canadian Tire and an 8 pack of those same rechargeables is the same price. If I need those batteries today then I just have to cough that up but it shouldn't cost so much for something as simple as batteries.
Plus amazon batteries are legit. I bought some cheap chinese ones off amazon but they must have been fakes because they did not last long at all.
@@stevelouie5928 some really cheap batteries like the ones that you get from the dollar store aren't alkaline there carbon zinc, don't last as long. Rechargeables are generally the same quality if they come from a reputable brand but one of energizer and duracells only sources of income is disposable batteries, so they charge extra for the provlidge, whereas Amazon isn't hung up if there batteries aren't selling, they have billions in sales funneling in from every category
It's only certain name brand things that I actually buy. Alot of people don't realize, alot of store brand products, is also name brand, just with store label on it.
Amazon Basics batteries and Duracell are NOT the same. Amazon batteries are much worse. But it has been confirmed that Costco's Kirkland brand batteries are manufactured by Duracell and they perform essentially exactly the same.
God forbid a company offer a cheaper product instead of the overpriced product other company's want to sell. What's next they going to go after kroger or Walmart for offering a cheaper product? If those company's want to compete guess what they should do? Make a cheaper product as well. There are some things it is worth paying extra for but there are a lot of things that are not. That is the way it works.
For me, if I'm purchasing an item on Amazon I always check to see other sellers of this item so I can select a third party seller that uses Prime over Amazon as the seller.
Amazon photo storage that I get weekly emails about using has me believing that once photos are uploaded Amazon own the rights to sell these photos. You have a nice photo of a sunset or mountains, I would believe Amazon can sell these photos and not compensate you at all.
I've had a friend get a pic stolen off of Facebook and used commercially in a different country and there was nothing that could be done as legally, they are (or at least were at the time) allowed to use things from Facebook as you no longer own them. I've seen tons of stolen art on Amazon too, from phone cases, to shirts, to water bottles.
My local grocer does this exact same thing, every product they sell has a corresponding copy product marked with the grocer's trademark and different packaging, taste and quality is almost identical to the other product but often at half the price. It's like they reverse engineer every product they plan on selling and lowkey compete with the copied product. Apparently something called Private Label Products / Brands
its hard to compete with aldi/trader joes, the value is insane
I typically don't like the amazon-basic products. I bought some shirts and they shrunk like mad... was really upset because I essentially just lost like $60 down the drain. I actually prefer google shopping more atm or just the main companies website since they tend to have better rewards/points back etc etc. And I feel like I'm supporting the company itself. Better and more pleasurable customer experience.
It's weird though because a lot of people do like the amazon-basic brand option. So idk it's weird I guess.
I'm sorry but I will never ever be mad at a company that's selling generic products for a quarter of the price of the branded ones. That's a win for the costumers.
Can't cry about innovation. They get to copy items and sell it for a fraction of the price. Soni guess it is a double edged sword
Unless you are one of the sellers.
That mentality is what drove manufacturing overseas, not politicians. Lazy, greedy and ignorant is the American way 👍
Thing is... They can drive other competitors out of business and once only Amazon is around then they can set the price to whatever they like.
Win in the short term, this proves disastrous in the long run.
The part about cheaper commodity store brands is hardly news, and legal. When Amazon infringes on unique design, there is a HUGE issue.
Wait, consumers are getting quality goods at competitive prices, conveniently delivered to their doorstep? This must be stopped!
I'm a supporter or Peak Design; love their bags. Glad to see that they came out on top with their fight.
Can't beat AmazonBasics bag. Peak has nothing on Amazon these days.
You can and I don’t give a crap, so I’ll buy Amazons if it’s even $1 cheaper. The fact is, nothing they are doing is innovative enough to patent. The example of side logo at 5:40 was probably the highest the level of work they put in. The manufacturing is done by others in China, the raw materials even poorer countries, the sales and logistics is done by Amazon. He’s lucky he gets to tack in a side logo and extract a good chunk of profit. He contributed a great combination of design choices that people like good on him, he didn’t create the concept of a bag, he didn’t create the concept of a logo, he’s heavily relying on things other people built. If everyone was as petty about their little or big contributions that he’s building on, he wouldn’t be able to do this. By the same token Amazon is relying on his little innovation and improving on it by making it cheaper.
So why didn't Amazon make the bag before that guy. Don't cry when you get the same crap every year. Innovation is dead
@@moazim1993 Amazon didn't 'improve anything" If you actually compare the two products, it's night and day difference. Every, single bag manufacture is building off of ideas and innovations in the industry. Amazon isn't building jack, they straight copy, then reduce quality.
Interesting take though...
I certainly have no issue with buying store brand/generic brand of items - especially at the grocery store. I do it all the time. Even with dented cans and boxes that might have a tear or something; I will buy them (if I use the product) and the store will have it 50% off and usually it is named brand items. Now certain items I will only buy named brand (e.g., Crystal Light) because nothing compares to that!
Sometimes amazon will try and ascertain if your are a dropshipper or a retailer who buys in stock and they request you send your wholesaler invoices.
Amazon cleverly hides the manufacturer and quality of their products. I purchased a pack of 72 AAA Amazon Basics alkaline batteries for my business. Less than 10 months later I noticed that some of the batteries started to corrode in my devices. I checked the one I have still new in their package and half of them were spilling their contents, I tried Amazon CS but their only answer was that the product was out of warranty or return window. After going back and forth I didn’t even want a refund. I just asked them for an option to recycle the batteries and nothing was provided, the person at CS even said that Amazon batteries do not have harmful components and it was safe to throw them away. In less than a month all rest of the batteries popped, I still have the batteries in plastic bags waiting for a safe way to dispose them. It doesn’t feel good to throw away +60 batteries that I’m pretty sure will cause some damage to the environment.
I tried to track the manufacturer, even to report the possibility of a bad batch to Amazon but they do not have anything program like that in place. Who knows how many more batteries have gone to the trash just like that. I’m a single customer, a 72 batteries were defective, I’m sure that Amazon sells those by the thousands.
Amazon has the capacity of using the cheapest labor, materials and manufacturers; that meet the minimum quality, then hide those facts behind their private labels.
What needs to be regulated is all the fake reviews on Amazon. Fake reviews will be Amazon's downfall. I shop walmart/bestbuy just to avoid all the fake reviews
At this point, Amazon Basics has become a brand I actively avoid because of the consistently low quality of its product across all product categories.
I wonder how the data at 6:37 would compare if we looked at volume of private label sales compared to percentage of products available at a given store being private labels.
For example, if a store is 75% private labels and 75% of their sales are private label, that would be different from another store that has 25% private label products, but 75% of sales are private lable
The same in Belgium where Leo and Ole (for Aldi) are manufactured in the same factory. Same with LU Chacha and Aldi Caramia
I would just like to point out, the reason we are getting upset is not that Amazon is doing the same as many others in retail, it's that they are doing it better than others.
Amazon are risking becoming too successful at it, and getting broken up.
Not condoning the blatant copying - Amazon should be forced to pay for that
@@jacquie212 do you get upset when someone copies a can of peas? Or the Oreo cookies? If the bag is that unique, they can get a design patent. If it’s not that unique they can get over it.
It’s just a bag. It doesn’t look particularly innovative. Amazon were able to make an inferior product for less money. People can chose between the two.
I mean Amazon is literally doing the same thing that Microsoft did years ago.
That’s how Bill Gates managed to be the richest man for 24 years, now Amazon is doing and ofc Government is trying to step in because, rich people apparently have too much power and are able to play the system.
@@timtjtim it depends. Staples, no, no issue. As I stated, they are simply doing what others do, and I buy a fair bit of Amazon basics. But outright copying, well that stifles innovation. That company put the time and effort to design that bag, and it is obviously not "just a bag" because Amazon copied it rather than just designing their own.
If a company doesn't feel that there is sufficient reward to invest in R&D to make a better X then they won't, and we will be poorer for it.
I have had this argument with mountain bike pedals, with Chinese knock offs. The knock offs don't have R&D costs, and so don't need to charge as much. Now the original company has less money to spend on designing new mountain bike parts, and certainly less incentive. Because these small incremental gains cost money to develop, but don't yield any value (as they can be copied) they won't happen.
This is exactly what is happening in formula 1. Some parts are designated so that the specs and process are public knowledge. As a result there is 0 investment by the teams into these areas because anything they improve costs them money, and everyone is allowed to copy it.
@@jacquie212 said " This is exactly what is happening in formula 1. Some parts are designated so that the specs and process are public knowledge. As a result there is 0 investment by the teams into these areas because anything they improve costs them money, and everyone is allowed to copy it. "
This might not be a bad thing for F1 if these parts are already at the top of their development and are now viewed as a commodity reducing costs. There is going to be an upper limit as to how far advanced an F1 car can become without requiring NASA level budgets and even then, future gains are going to be small.
The main issue is using the information gathered from trusting customers against the same customers in the marketplace with the goal of turning a profit from it.
it's not misusing it, lol. It's in the EULA terms and you agree with it. If you don't like it as a customer or as a seller then you're free to find a different market place. As far as I care, amazon is using this data to make stuff more convenient for me offering lower prices, better shipping and return policy for the EXACT same product if not better.
your telling you want amazon to sell you more expensive goods? and make more money to other big businesses?
Amazon makes higher profit margins on products sold by third party sellers using their store than selling their own products. There is nothing illegal with what Amazon are doing it has happened for years by literally every large scale retail store.
Pay attention to how Walmart brand charges more than the name brand by comparing 'ounces to pounds' etc (and GOUGES beyond inflation)
Bezos just playing the game politicians never wanted to fix. Good on him.
which is ?
@@thisismarkbro Monopoly
Bezos ain't CEO anymore, Anyway this is how capitalism works.
@@teniiyah3505 my favorite game to play with my family
I use Amazon Basic products. They have all worked great. I also love Kirkland Signature products.
Yes but it hurts the original seller
Amazon basics are good because they carry the amazon name. The problem lies when Amazon makes up a name cuts the price and uses us as Guinea pigs in case of failure change the name. Once the product is stable change the name to Amazon basic get excellent reviews . Once they control the market they can lower the quality and hope we dont notice.
@@davisnicholas9123that's even better
As a seller on Amazon and with our own custom backpacks that earn us about 67K a year, we can vouch Amazon does do this to many small vendors.
GS I suggest watch a 13 part series called _What on earth happened_ by Ewaranon to learn that the earth is not a globe. Link in my about tab.
The name brands should just charge a fair price rather than overcharging to the extreme.
'Zon is *SO* ridiculously corrupt, it's literally CRIMINAL. But... it doesn't matter. 😂🤣😂 All humans (except myself) purchase from them, and they all "back" it with their wallets.
I am an award-winning author and I will *NEVER* distribute my work via 'Zon. This is actually for many reasons, one of which is for the workers. I DO NOT CARE if you or anyone else "won't buy my books" because they're not there on 'Zon. I value *ethics* WAAAYYY more than I care about selling more books at the cost OF my ethics! 💪😎✌️
Amazon selling private label is no different than Walmart of Costco doing the same. I really doubt that the customer data involved is orders of magnitude different that the ones target could collect with its rewards program or from in-store video analysis
The issue is they are making a global monopoly... that is a huge issue. I also was employed at the same time i sold third party for apple and viewsonic on amazon, the top priced was me because I have more efficiency... they shut me down for not giving them my supplier which was official apple sellers i found.
I think what makes it different is because it's on a website and they will prioritize placing their private label items toward the top. If it's reasonably (lower than the original maker) priced and you can see the original maker of the item right next to yours and you begin to compare and contrast the difference and usually you'll go with Amazon Basics because it seems the same. I feel like that's different than buying the "Equate" version of Dove body soap
:Well I just heard a lot of what I said in the video
We avoided selling our creation on Amazon . They wanted to learn from us how to make our products and wanted us to sign contract they can use the logo on other products they own.
They even ask you to submitt your suppliers invoice of where you purchased the product.
It's definitely amazing shoppers still just look at the search results given. When you can also use the Top 100 list as well.
Not saying this is a perfect fit for shopping but in my experience I find the jem in the list with little of a rating or smaller amount of rating.
I tend to focus on when the product is released and not just the cheapest. I tend to find better companies (mostly outside of China).
When you find the jem, does it come with the holograms?
It's time for Americans to put these big tech companies in check by reeling in our money and going back to the stores... don't ever forget how these mega companies were treated with favor while small businesses were forced to close during the pandemic. I am canceling my Amazon membership, and my reason is to support more local businesses. I may be able to get more things from Amazon, but I often realize I'd be perfectly fine without those other things.
Lots of times with supermarkets the label will say "Manufactured by so-and-so for [store name]."
Very good documentary. !!