RESOURCES

Historically, managing Amazon’s third-party landscape has been a serious challenge for brands that sell on the channel. On the MPS blog, we’ve shared suggestions for combatting unauthorized resellers. And it’s a regular topic of conversation with our clients. But sometimes, preparedness and expertise aren’t enough to outsmart savvy, determined third-parties. 

Today, Amazon announced an update that will impact seller profiles and ultimately change the game for many shoppers and brands. Continue reading to learn more.

The Change 

Seller Central users received a notification from Amazon about an upcoming change. Starting in September of this year, all seller profiles will display the business’s name and address. Individual sellers will also have their names and addresses included. In the past, this information wasn’t required to be shared on Amazon’s US marketplace. But now, sellers will need to update their display name and business address before September. 

A Shopper’s Perspective 

Amazon itself, and successful brands that sell on the channel, operate under a customer-first mindset. Therefore, it’s important to consider how this change will benefit Amazon shoppers. This information will allow shoppers to better understand who and where their products come from. This level of transparency could decrease the number of scammers that make their way onto Amazon. 

A Brand’s Perspective 

The larger impact, however, may be for brands that sell on Amazon, and particularly those who battle a significant presence of third-party resellers. 

Many of our clients have run into issues with unauthorized third-parties latching onto their listings, reselling their products, and driving down the price. Third-parties that sell counterfeit versions of our clients’ products also can be a major obstacle.

Usually, it’s difficult to mitigate unknown distributors or resellers without knowledge of their true identity or location. If a product is being sold via Fulfilled-by-Merchant (FBM), obtaining a seller’s address is possible by ordering a product and seeing the return address. However, this is nearly impossible when products are sold through Fulfillment-by-Amazon (FBA). 

Now, identifying resellers that are flooding the market and causing ongoing headaches for brand owners can be done quickly and accurately, allowing the brands to address the issue outside of the channel directly with the supplier.

For our technical team at MPS, this creates an entirely new front to battle the ongoing impact of resellers.

We look forward to learning how this could change the future of Amazon’s third-party landscape and how our clients and shoppers benefit from this change. If you could use the support of a strategic partner, schedule a free consultation. And, as always, we’re here to answer any questions.