The viability of private labeling on Amazon.com in the 2020s : a study on the popular Amazon business model from a Finnish e-tailer’s point of view
Daniel, Tao Idriss Fabien; Kahlun, Timur Aslam (2021)
Daniel, Tao Idriss Fabien
Kahlun, Timur Aslam
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021112922544
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021112922544
Tiivistelmä
E-commerce (Electronic commerce) is taking over the world and changes the way people purchase and do transaction. The future of selling is online, and this future requires companies to adapt to these changes. Along with e-commerce came a new profession called e-tailer (online retailer), and many companies and entrepreneurs are adopting this position hoping to get a share of the new wealthy markets and opportunities found in the field of e-commerce.
When a company starts to sell online, they need to decide if they’re going to use an existing marketplace to do their sales or set up their own web-shop, usually with the help of a shopping-cart platform. This thesis focuses on the business opportunities Amazon offers to e-tailers, and more precisely, on the case of the private labeling business model on the Amazon.com marketplace using the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) service as a Finnish e-tailer. The business model will be compared with other popular model of operation on Amazon.com, and to go further, it will also be compared to the alternatives of Amazon, specifically from a Finnish-based company’s point-of-view.
Data-collection is conducted in forms of surveys posted on Reddit and Amazon Seller Central forums, and interviews conducted by the authors were each interviewed two senior Amazon sellers from the thesis commissioner’s private network, making total of four interviewees. The data-collection was done in September and October 2021. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces the framework of Amazon as a platform for sellers and brings in theories to help understand the scope of the platform as a new seller entering a new market. The empirical part of the thesis deals with the commissioner company’s own experiences and the data collected from interviews and the survey.
Selling Private Label products via FBA on the US marketplace as a new Finnish e-tailer company is not the most viable option according to the data-collection and the research done on the topic. Recommendations are made for new Finnish e-tailers looking for alternatives to the Private Labeling model and the Amazon.com marketplace.
When a company starts to sell online, they need to decide if they’re going to use an existing marketplace to do their sales or set up their own web-shop, usually with the help of a shopping-cart platform. This thesis focuses on the business opportunities Amazon offers to e-tailers, and more precisely, on the case of the private labeling business model on the Amazon.com marketplace using the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) service as a Finnish e-tailer. The business model will be compared with other popular model of operation on Amazon.com, and to go further, it will also be compared to the alternatives of Amazon, specifically from a Finnish-based company’s point-of-view.
Data-collection is conducted in forms of surveys posted on Reddit and Amazon Seller Central forums, and interviews conducted by the authors were each interviewed two senior Amazon sellers from the thesis commissioner’s private network, making total of four interviewees. The data-collection was done in September and October 2021. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces the framework of Amazon as a platform for sellers and brings in theories to help understand the scope of the platform as a new seller entering a new market. The empirical part of the thesis deals with the commissioner company’s own experiences and the data collected from interviews and the survey.
Selling Private Label products via FBA on the US marketplace as a new Finnish e-tailer company is not the most viable option according to the data-collection and the research done on the topic. Recommendations are made for new Finnish e-tailers looking for alternatives to the Private Labeling model and the Amazon.com marketplace.