Everything is Cheaper on Amazon–Is This Good News?
I used to shop on lots of different websites, looking for good deals on specialty products. Hypoallergenic sunscreen? Coolibar and dermadoctor were cheaper than anywhere else. Dairy-free baby formula? Save about 100% at bulkforcheap compared to buying it in the store. It’s fun to search around the web and find a small company that will give you a great deal. Or it was.
I was just putting in my summer sunscreen order, and decided to check Amazon before using my usual vendor. And what do ya know? Amazon is cheaper. So for fun I went and looked at a bunch of other things I used to buy on various sites, and… wow. Amazon has them all. And cheaper. And usually with free shipping. Even the baby formula. I keep checking new items and thinking, “surely for the Jellycat stuffed animals, Puffins will still be better?” Nope, Amazon has them and is cheaper. And the next item, and the next…. The interesting change is that products from third-party stores on Amazon are now sometimes eligible for free shipping.
Speaking as a stock holder, this is good news. As a fan of independent, small businesses… I think this is good news, but I’m not totally sure. It looks like the Jellycat animals are delivered by EcoTime Toys. And EcoTime Toys appears to be an independent, small business. I wonder if EcoTime Toys feels like Amazon is helping them. Are they getting bigger volume? Are they being squeezed for profit margins? And what’s going to happen to Puffins, and all the other vendors who don’t make a deal with big brother AMZN? Will Amazon partner with multiple Jellycat vendors? I’m going to investigate. Stay tuned….
The Next Bison: Social Computing and Culture 
Based on my experience in the supply chain industry, Amazon is considered best in class in terms of their fulfillment capabilities. One key reason for their success is that Amazon has developed almost all of their fulfillment systems from the ground up. This allows Amazon to be very flexible and subsidize their development cost by providing other companies with the use their infrastructure for a small percent of the sales revenue (kind of like eBay). It isn’t just the small businesses that Amazon works with; most notably, Amazon runs Target.com. Interestingly enough, Amazon also allows vendors selling products Amazon already offers to use their online marketplace. It is definitely possible that multiple Jellycat vendors could appear on Amazon, even if Amazon sold Jellycats themselves!