Posts Taged amazon

44% Increase in US Ecommerce Sales in 2020

2020 turned out to be an amazing growth year for retail sales with total sales increasing 6.9% to $4.04 trillion up from $3.78 trillion in 2019 according to the US Department of Commerce figures.

Despite the coronavirus having a negative impact on in-store shopping, online shopping increased and was responsible for the total overall gain in retail sales, the first time that the total gain in retail sales has been due to ecommerce sales alone.

While Amazon remained the number one retailer in North America, other retailers continued with their push into the online sales arena. Amazon accounted for 31.4% of all US retail sales in 2020 and while this is a huge part of total overall sales, their percentage lead was down from 2019 when they accounted for 43.8% of total online sales. However, it was still other large stores that made more headway in online retail sales. Those that made gains included Walmart, Best Buy and Target.

So it comes as no surprise that the majority of retailers whether large or small are looking to increase their spending on technology and technology related products during 2021.

Whether they are looking to move to a different ecommerce platform, improve website functionality or automate processes, there is no question that the pandemic has caused a major shift in the way online shopping is viewed by both retailers and more importantly, consumers. No longer an afterthought but a major consideration for any serious retailer, online sales are now viewed as an integral part of any retail business.

girl talking online shopping
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More Business Buyers using Amazon

In a recent survey by B2BecNews, it was discovered that nearly 8 out of 10 business buyers were using Amazon to purchase and you would naturally think that it would be a place where manufacturers and distributors are planning to sell their products, if they are not doing so already.

Corporate buyers would love to see more sellers on the Amazon marketplace, but the survey revealed that the manufacturers and distributors surveyed had no future plans to sell on Amazon marketplace.

The survey, which covered corporate buyers from a range of industries including automotive, consumer electronics, industrial and healthcare products found that a staggering 78.4% of B2B buyers researched and made a purchase from Amazon Business, and it is possible that number would be even higher if more manufacturers made their products available on the B2B channel.

Only about 40% of manufacturers sell on either Amazon Business or Amazon.com, and nearly 50% of manufacturers that don’t sell on Amazon, did not have any plans to do so. 10% planned to do so in six months or less, just over 5% thought they would do so in six months to a year, another 13.5% had plans to sell in 1 to 2 years time, so many are ignoring the opportunity to tap into potential buyers who are seeking products that they may sell.

Corporate buyers, who are accustomed to buying online for their personal purchases, are looking for the same ease and simplicity when they make purchases for their business. Amazon B2B offers buyers a streamlined shopping experience which equals the ease with which buyers shop online for themselves.

Manufacturers and distributers who have a website or portal for buyers often believe that they don’t need to be on a marketplace, but research is showing that this is not the case. The opportunity to buy several types of products from different suppliers in one place is also attractive to busy executives.

The numbers below indicate where buyers are most likely to go for their purchases:

Amazon Business – 78.4%
Alibaba – 36.5%
ThomasNet – 28.4%
Global Sources – 24.3%
Wholesale Central – 16.6%

If you are interested in selling on a B2B portal, but not sure where to start, contact xocbox to learn how we can help. Tel 858-752-3803, or email info@xocbox.com.

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Same Day Delivery Shipping Wars Heat Up

In December 2017 we learned that Target had acquired Shipt for $550m in order to let Target customers order groceries and other products online and have them shipped to their home addresses from nearby Target stores.

The goal of this acquisition is to allow Target to offer same day delivery from approximately half of its stores by mid-2018, adding even more stores by the holiday season.

Not all categories of products will be included but it will start with groceries, electronics and other household goods and plans to include all product groups by the end of 2019.

Today Bloomberg reported that Amazon is considering acquiring some of the properties left vacant by the recent bankruptcy of Toys R Us. There is no information on what exactly Amazon plans to do with these stores, but it could continue to expand its bricks and mortar store operations and expand its bookstores which also serve as retail outlets for its Echo devices.

Another possibility for Amazon is that the acquisition of more retail outlets would allow for a bigger network to place inventory closer to where shoppers live, and would allow faster delivery to ecommerce shoppers in more areas.

Amazon has already placed merchants under pressure with the amazing speed and success of its Prime delivery, and as Amazon’s advancement with drone deliveries continues, the competition to keep up with faster delivery times grows more fierce.

Amazon’s goal is to develop a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles that can deliver packages to shoppers in under 30 minutes, and today it was reported that it has been granted a patent for a delivery drone that can respond to human gestures, with the hope that this will help Amazon to figure out how drones will interact with customers who are in the vicinity of their doorsteps.

Walmart’s approach is slightly different, but equally important. Walmart announced that it is planning to put Fedex Office locations in 500 of its stores over a two year period. Not only will they provide the usual FedEx services, but Walmart customers can also have online orders that are being delivered by FedEx held at a Walmart store for pick up.

As big box retailers think or more ways to get products to our doorsteps in the quickest possible time, the shipping challenge continues for niche online stores to compete.

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Amazon Competes for Government Contracts

When you mention Amazon to many people they immediately think of Amazon shopping and Prime delivery, but not as many are aware of the huge inroads that Amazon has made over the past years into cloud computing.

It has been reported that the Pentagon has opened a competition for a multi-billion-dollar cloud services contract, which many of the big players such as Microsoft, IBM and Oracle fear will favor Amazon.com Inc.

Many of the companies looking to compete for government contracts had been pushing for the use of multiple cloud providers, however, the Pentagon announced on March 7 that it was planning to go forward with a single company.

US Department of Defense Chief Management Officer, Jay Gibson, has confirmed that this will be a multi-billion-dollar contract due to the Defense Department’s current technology needs.

The Pentagon confirmed that it intends to strengthen its use of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and internet of things and for this reason is switching to cloud services.

As Amazon has already won two huge Defense Department contracts for cloud services, others in the industry believe it is in a good position to win this contract. Whilst the Pentagon’s contracting office stated that they had no preference in contractors, offering the contract to a single vendor, not only causes those who do not win the contract to be locked out of the market for 10 years, it also creates problems for existing government contract vendors, such as Oracle.

Oracle currently has long-term contracts with several government agencies that use its database to store information on their own systems, and switching to cloud computing, would seriously affect Oracle’s traditional source of revenue.

In February of this year a contract was awarded to REAN Cloud LLC, an Amazon partner for a reported value of $950 million, and although this contract was later challenged by Oracle and then reduced to $65 million, it still worries some that Amazon is now the leader in cloud services.

There is no question that the Pentagon’s planned transition to the cloud will threaten on-site database providers such as Oracle and IBM, and while other vendors plan to emphasize their strengths to win this contract, it will be interesting to see which company is ultimately awarded the contract.

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Amazon robots lead to better fulfillment

image of robot

Amazon revealed today that it had deployed 15,000 robots in ten of its fulfillment centers throughout the US. This will allow Amazon to increase the performance of its already super fast fulfillment centers.

After purchasing Kiva Systems Inc, a logistical provider of robot technology, Amazon anticipated it would have approximately 10,000 in centers by 2015. The retail giant estimates that the introduction of robots will not only increase the speed of fulfilling orders, but also eventually reduce operating costs by as much as $450 million.

Amazon is really raising the standard for retailers with super-fast shipping, and super-fast fulfillment. So what can smaller retailers to do attract buyers to their store when confronted with this competition?

Small businesses need to automate as many of their processes as possible to improve the service they offer to shoppers, and also to free up some of the time their associates would otherwise spend on routine tasks.

Retail predictions for 2015 are betting on a customer-centric year, where customer service, customer interaction with products and services and custom items for customers are a high priority. Small and medium sized businesses focusing on personalized products can make a big impression on shoppers with superlative service and the clever use of technology.

Contact xocbox to learn about automating your business processes.

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