Coronavirus threatens Amazon's third-party sellers | Distribution is changing, but curiosity still matters | Amazon-hosted knockoffs threaten legitimate brands
Many of Amazon's third-party sellers risk product shortages if Chinese factories remain closed because of the coronavirus. Such shortfalls damage businesses' rank according to Amazon's algorithm, which favors recent sales.
The changing world of distribution explored at the recent NAW Executive Summit means that "traditional competitors are your new allies," said Applico CEO Alex Moazed, but also that being curious and trying new things is still rewarded. "If you're making expensive mistakes, then you're doing the mistake thing wrong," said Proton.ai founder Benj Cohen.
Third-party sellers peddling knockoff or expired products on Amazon are becoming a growing problem for legitimate companies doing business on the site, and many cannot keep up with lost sales. PopSockets CEO David Barnett told a recent congressional hearing on online platforms that his company "lost about $10 million last year" and stopped selling on Amazon for a time, although it resumed selling a smaller number of products.
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TireHub, a tire distributor formed in 2018 by competitors Goodyear and Bridgestone, has 71 tire logistics centers and has built out technology to track demand, as well as take orders through a B2B portal and application programing interfaces.
State of the Wholesale Supply Chain Industry in 2020 For the third straight year, Blue Ridge asked wholesale supply industry leaders about their challenges, how they're thinking about solving them and how they're dealing with the pace of technological change. One key finding for the 2020 survey is the adoption of new machine learning, such as A.I., which is on the rise as a strategy to combat supply chain disruption. Get the report to read more.
Some 56% of brands believe artificial intelligence will have a detrimental effect by reducing creativity, eliminating jobs and diminishing brand differentiation, per Bynder's "2020 State of Branding Report." The study also found marketers say the top channel for brand visibility and perception is social media, followed by influencers and owned media.
Businesses that create C-suite positions for communications will simultaneously strengthen their reputations and brands, writes Newgate Communications CEO Emma Kane. "If the 2010s were the decade of the compliance officer, the 2020s will be the decade of the communicator," she writes.
Called the "Master class in innovation for distributors," "Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series" has arrived. A roadmap for innovation, it helps distributors connect the dots between the forces of change and how distributors can change their business to capture opportunities -- and defend their business when necessary. The best innovations are about getting ahead instead of catching up.
Build strategic thinkers and an agile team when you send your employees to the NAW Distribution Leadership Program, June 15-19, at the Ohio State University. This program is designed specifically to explore all aspects that make a distribution company successful: strategy, finance, supply chain management, sales and marketing, hiring and retention, team effectiveness and driving growth. Your employees will learn how to increase profits and reduce costs as they analyze the latest trends in supply chain management ... all within one week!
Designed for C-suite executives, these roundtables provide actionable strategies and best practices that will increase your company's competitive advantage. Member companies belonging to this community are from distribution firms between $100 million up to a billion in annual sales. You'll experience the best networking in the industry, share ideas and benchmark with your C-suite peers in distribution -- who aren't competitors. Register today.
