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When Jeff Bezos named e-commerce software company Shopify as an example of Amazons growing competition in his testimony to a U.S. House antitrust subcommittee last year, e-commerce consultant and former Amazon seller Jason Boyce wasnt buying it. It struck Boyce then as a calculated claim, a false equivalency to get regulators to back off by overstating Amazons competitive threats.
When he brought it up, Im like, this is a joke, Boyce recalls. Shopify doesnt have a front door. Theyre not a marketplace. They have a small percentage of the total online market.
This weeks news convinced him otherwise.
Amazons acquisition of Selz, a 7-year-old startup that helps entrepreneurs sell products online, signals its ambitions to go beyond its own e-commerce platform to help power standalone third-party retail sites, moving into a new area of online commerce and going head-to-head with the likes of Shopify and BigCommerce.
The implications for Amazon and the broader retail economy are immense.
They want to capture a greater and greater share of the internet itself, Boyce says. They are moving full-steam ahead towards further and greater world domination. Thats what we can read into this latest headline.
Boyce is our guest commentator on this episode of the GeekWire Podcast. Hes the co-founder and CEO of Avenue7Media, and the co-author of The Amazon Jungle: The Sellers Survival Guide for Thriving on the Worlds Most Perilous E-Commerce Marketplace. A former U.S. Marine, he was an Amazon seller for 17 years, before finally giving up after Amazon repeatedly launched products that competed with his, as detailed in the House Judiciary Committees antitrust subcommittee report last year (page 279).
Listen to the episode above, or subscribe to GeekWire in any podcast app, and continue reading for key takeaways.
How Amazon and Shopify stacked up historically: Up to this point, it was hard a stretch to Shopify and Amazon as direct competitors.
Whats different now:Shopifys growth and Amazons ambitions are putting the companies on a collision course.
Amazon tech in physical retail stores: Amazon isnt just involved in online commerce; the company operates its own physical stores. Shopifys platform already extends to point-of-sale terminals for merchants with physical stores. Its not a stretch to imagine Amazon ultimately extending its own technology into third-party physical retail stores, perhaps with a more comprehensive solution, including the technology that powers its Amazon Go cashier-less grocery and convenience stores
What this means for retailers: The ability to run a standalone e-commerce site, while leveraging Amazons fulfillment infrastructure and advertising infrastructure, will no doubt be enticing to many retailers. But its a double-edged sword. Amazon maintains that it doesnt use individual seller data to inform its own product decisions, but based on his own experience as a seller, Boyce advises caution in giving the company even more data, competitive insights, and market power.
Big picture: Amazon has put themselves into this position of judge, jury and executioner for literally the livelihood of millions of small businesses, and it needs to be held accountable, especially as it extends its reach, Boyce says.
Amazon wouldnt be what it is today without the hard work, the grit, the capital, the product knowledge of the third party seller, of which there are millions, and there will be millions more, he says. The sellers deserve a seat at the table.
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