Tag: Amazon

Amazon HQ USA

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

SEATTLE — After a search for a new location lasting more than a year, a massive dome was seen descending from the sky and enclosing the whole nation as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced to a horrified American populace that it was now living inside his company’s second headquarters.

The impenetrable steel dome, which reportedly stretches from coast to coast and from the Mexican to the Canadian border, will house a state-of-the-art campus that serves as the online retailer’s long-awaited new base of operations.

Amazon executives said that while they were impressed with the many proposals they received from cities across the country, they ultimately decided the location best suited to their ever-growing needs was the entirety of the continental United States.

“For the sake of convenience, your Prime membership fees will be automatically deducted each pay period, and all wages will be paid in the form of Amazon gift cards. What’s more, every employee in good standing will receive one free Audible download per month!”

– The Onion

In reality… sort of: After conducting a yearlong search for a second home, Amazon has switched gears and is now finalizing plans to have a total of 50,000 employees in two locations.

The company is nearing a deal to move to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, AND the Crystal City area of Arlington, Va., a Washington suburb.

Amazon already has more employees in those two areas than anywhere else outside of Seattle, its home base, and the Bay Area.

Where Will Tomorrow’s Retail Leaders Come From?

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

Look at Kohl’s.

  • Prior to joining Kohl’s, new CEO Michelle Gass, spent 17 years at Starbucks and began her career with Proctor & Gamble.

  • Kohl’s recently appointed president, Sona Chawla, spent 7 years at Walgreens as president of ecommerce.

  • Chief Merchanding Officer, Doug Howe joined the company from QVC.

  • And Chief Marketing Officer, Gregg Revelle, served at Best Buy, AutoNation & Expedia prior to joining Kohl’s. 

Really? What do they know about general merchandising?

A lot. Kohl’s shares are up an impressive 30% in 2018 – during a “retail apocalypse.”
Kohl’s has shops where customers can return their Amazon purchases, and buy Amazon Echo, Fire & Kindle devices. Crazy? Like a fox. It’s doubtful that Kohl’s is creating new Amazon customers, and the store is generating increased traffic & loyalty.
Want groceries with your comforter set? Aldi will open supermarkets inside Kohl’s doors as part of a new partnership. Strange bedfellows or clever collaboration? Credit Kohl’s with innovation and a focus on fundamental retail metrics – driving increased sales with less inventory – better turn, less dilution.
Well done.
And, the company is well positioned to gain market share from recently departed retailers Bon-Ton, Toys R Us and Babies R Us.

(c) David J. Katz, 2018

Where are Brands Headed in the Amazon Era?

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

David J. Katz Podcast

An Interview with David J. Katz – eCommerce Braintrust

Today we have a really fascinating and informative interview with David Katz, of Randa Accessories. He shares with us a lot of his knowledge about brands, where they come from and where they are in the Amazon era. As a result of David’s abundant history in direct marketing, he has a really unique perspective on this topic. On the show today he talks about how his direct marketing has evolved and why he believes that brands are becoming more important, even with the seeming migration of consumers away from brands and towards private labels.

David is the alchemist and Chief Marketing Officer at Randa Accessories, a leading multinational consumer products company and also the largest men’s accessories business worldwide. He is also the co-author of the bestselling book Design for Response- Creative Direct Marketing That Works a frequent public speaker referred to by the press as a retail industry expert.

As a company, Randa is still very involved with the Amazon ecosystem. As  both a seller and a vendor on Amazon, the company continues to have a robust partnership with Amazon, despite the fact that Amazon is moving powerfully forward into private label brands in the accessory space. Tune in to find out what David has to share about brands and where they fit in today’s consumer ecosystem.

  • Kiri Masters

Continue reading “Where are Brands Headed in the Amazon Era?” →

Amazon & Private Label. It started with a simple battery.

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

On the surface Amazon‘s move into private label appears to be a deft move.

Analysts predict that nearly half of all online shopping in the United States will be conducted on Amazon’s platform in the next couple of years. That creates a massive opportunity for Amazon to more than double revenue from its in-house brands to $25 billion in the next four years. That’s the equivalent of all of Macy’s revenue last year.

It started with a simple battery.

Continue reading “Amazon & Private Label. It started with a simple battery.” →

Trust, Mistrust & Antitrust. Amazon is Not Broken. Should it be Fixed?

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

“In Amazon’s early years, a running joke among Wall Street analysts was that CEO Jeff Bezos was building a house of cards. Entering its sixth year in 2000, the company had yet to crack a profit and was mounting millions of dollars in continuous losses, each quarter’s larger than the last. Nevertheless, a segment of shareholders believed that by dumping money into advertising and steep discounts, Amazon was making a sound investment that would yield returns once e-commerce took off. Each quarter the company would report losses, and its stock price would rise. One news site captured the split sentiment by asking, “Amazon: Ponzi Scheme or Wal-Mart of the Web?”” – Lina Kahn, Yale Law Review

Eighteen years later, it’s no longer a joke. No one seriously doubts that Amazon is anything but the titan of twenty-first century commerce.

Success, efficiency and scale are achievements to be admired. Should they be regulated?

Continue reading “Trust, Mistrust & Antitrust. Amazon is Not Broken. Should it be Fixed?” →

Amazon’s New Marketplace Appstore Connects Sellers to Productivity Tools

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

Sellers on Amazon have a new tool, “Marketplace Appstore,” to help them navigate the world of online retail using third-party apps.

The new software platform will be available to sellers based in North America and accessible through Amazon’s seller portal, Seller Central. It will assist sellers with pricing, inventory, marketing and other business needs.

More than 1 million retailers use Amazon to sell their goods through Amazon Marketplace.

CNN reports, here.

What if Amazon is Retail’s Only Hope?

 

What if Amazon is Retail’s Only Hope?

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

“Retail Apocalypse.” The term has its own Wikipedia entry. This transformation, of “biblical” proportions, is often blamed on Amazon.

What if Amazon is not the brick-and-mortar store killer? What if Amazon is retail’s champion?

To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of retail’s death have been greatly exaggerated. The retail industry is not in dire shape, it’s in a different shape. Change is essential: it’s not easy, nor painless.

And, there is an important difference between correlation and causation. Amazon’s success and the disruption of the legacy retail market are certainly related, this does not mean one caused the other. Amazon did not overturn the traditional retail model: Macroeconomics drove this disruption.

Amazon is strategically and significantly investing in mortar-and-brick retail. Further, the company provides valuable tools to third-party retailers to help them succeed. And, critical to its own success, Amazon needs other retailers to thrive.

6 Reasons the Current Retail Transformation Was Inevitable

Continue reading “What if Amazon is Retail’s Only Hope?” →

What I Should Have Said, But Didn’t

~ David J. Katz ~ Leave a comment

 

Last week in Las Vegas, during the largest fashion industry trade show, MAGIC/PROJECT, I delivered the keynote presentation for the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund and UBM Advanstar. It was entitled, “Disruption is the Mother of Invention.”

At the end of my presentation a woman stood up to ask a question. Actually, she made a statement.

“I own a fashion retail store,” she exclaimed. “I’m a good merchant, it’s a good store. It’s been in business a long time. Customers shop my store with their smartphone in their hand… and then they buy the item on Amazon Prime.”

She cried out, “it’s not right. It’s not fair.”

And then she said,

“What do I do?”

My answer was “textbook,” when the last thing needed was a textbook. Continue reading “What I Should Have Said, But Didn’t” →