Are cheap brands damaging Amazon’s reputation?

With Christmas around the corner and varying levels of lockdown in place around the world, Amazon’s position at the forefront of online retailing has never been more prominent.

But with that increased platform and exposure has come a growing trend of cheap, copycat goods that are flooding sections of Amazon’s marketplace.

Search for “gloves” on the site and you are greeted with a multitude of low cost, often low quality copycat options. It’s the same for so many products - try the same with earphones, knives or radios.

Some might believe that this is providing consumers with greater options and at lower prices, which can only be seen as a positive.

But the alternative view is that it is lowering the customer experience on the site, especially if the low quality products come back faulty or are easily damaged.

Given Amazon’s customer-first approach to everything, Thompson and Holt managing partner Craig Gedey believes that is a dangerous game to play.

Gedey said: “We speak to a lot of Amazon Sellers who have genuine concerns about some of the quality of products that are being sold on site.

“They believe that it both damages the overall reputation of Amazon - and therefore them by association. For the Sellers striving to provide high quality, risk-free goods, being undercut by poorly produced rivals is extremely frustrating and unlikely to help Amazon in the long-term.

“Not only that, but it is damaging to the bigger brands selling on the site, because their products are being marginalised by poorer quality rivals that bring down the standards of the site generally. If a customer doesn’t know the specific brand they are searching for, the chances are what they are first greeted with in the results is cheap alternatives.

“There is now an absolute plethora of low quality goods available. We’ve even had it pointed out to us that one brand is named ‘Qwertyu’ - they have literally run their hands across a keyboard for their brand name, and offer products as diverse as smart watches to women’s sandals, all at low cost.

“Because Amazon is so customer driven they are walking a thin line here. Most people see diverse, expanded marketplaces that bring down prices as positives for the consumers.

“But if that is being done at the expense of quality and customer experience, it’s a dangerous game to play in the long term.”

Worried about an Amazon suspension?

If you have found yourself suspended while selling on Amazon, contact Thompson and Holt for a free LiveChat to get your Seller business back online as quickly as possible.

Thompson and Holt are also offering a free months trial of their Monitor and Protect service to help sellers prevent a suspension of ASINs or an their account during the COVID pandemic, more information on how to protect your Amazon seller account from a suspension can be found here.