Thread by @investing_panda

now more brand friendly vs consumer friendly. How does it balance all the various incentives (e.g. used to be most customer friendly place. AMZN still good for long-tail, but I would rather buy branded products on TGT or WMT e-comm) recode.net/2018/9/10/1779…

Great overview of and its innovation in retail: medium.learningbyshipping.com/amazon-4648bdf…
• Logistcs
• PRIME (especially free shipping)
• Basics
• And now Advertising

#ecommerce

Senior execs at make $175K in cash comp; vs $650K in other techco's
Downside: vesting schedule sucks; employees are sellers, not investors in AMZN stock (having to sell AMZN stock to maintain lifestyle)
@theinformation article: theinformation.com/articles/with-…

Is 's ad business the same as paying for shelves on grocery store?
I don't trust AMZN ads, but the majority of ppl may not care
recode.net/2018/10/26/180…

less of a marketplace, more of a company that tries to enforce control over suppliers. Will stiff-arming suppliers hurt in the LT or is AMZN's emphasis on consumers matter more recode.net/2018/11/29/180…
#ecommerce

Behind the marketplace of is a pretty savage business world: theverge.com/2018/12/19/181…

A look at how Amazon tailored its e-comm platform in India
"The magnifying glass, a standard symbol for search was called 'the ping-pong paddle'" by local consumers

wsj.com/articles/amazo…
#MFGE @TradeDiversion

In Mar;19 told vendors 1) "no orders" & 2) set up a seller account; hard transition from 1P to 3P
In Nov'18, wanted SME vendors to sell direct to AMZN
Erratic decision making at best, giant struggling for direction at worst
#ecommerce
recode.net/2019/3/8/18252…

's advantage in low pricing & trust is gone, from a consumer perspective.
Remaining strengths, in order IMO, are: 1) selection variety; 2) default behavior; 3) convenience (weakening as comps catch up)

#ecommerce
recode.net/2019/2/28/1816…

1) in-sourcing last mile shipping & 2) deepening logistics layer from @WSJ article (wsj.com/articles/amazo…)
Proposition: fewer variable fees vs. &
Impact: felt brunt of loss in postal injection biz- $600M of lost rev in Q4'18
#ecommerce #logistics

New PL strategy. In lieu of in-house mktg/prod development, ask external brands to come up with own - specific brands. Pitch to suppliers: better support. Pitch to consumers: cheaper $ for worse product (3rd degree price discrimination?)
wsj.com/articles/food-…

W/ push into ads, $+growth % summarized by @theinformation thein.fo/60f34bb2f896ca…, worth asking what job is doing. It's actually providing access to consumers for biz/CPG , less so end-user satisfaction. Works w/ in China cuz less retail competion.
#ecommerce

M&A protocol: quickly, quietly, NO investment bankers and NO leaks.

Kinda like Kawhi Leonard

wsj.com/articles/amazo…

#ecommerce

Great @Recode read on ecomm struggle vs

1. organizational pushback on $1B loss on $22B rev
2. Inability to invest in duplicate FC; 20 FC vs AMZNs 100
3. Disagreement between Lore & Foran
4. Lack of 3P
5. Sale of DTC brand, Bonobos

#ecommerce
vox.com/recode/2019/7/…

buying up large old malls h/t @PlanMaestro
1. cheap
2. close to residential area; that kind of zoning doesn't exist today
3. access to highways
#realestate
youtube.com/watch?v=k53IDb…

@PlanMaestro Crazy story on i) counterfeit & ii) bait-&-switch scheme on re: book

So far, 1-day ship (convenience) & price outweighing degradation of consumer trust (i shop elsewhere but i'm early)

AMZN response: Advertise w/ us to show up first
nytimes.com/2019/06/23/tec…

@PlanMaestro Response from on NYT article

1. $400M invested in ML tools
2. Stopped 1M bad actors & 3B false listings
3. Claims "widespread competition" in booksellers, saying "indie booksellers has grown 50% over last 10 years" (only a 3.5% CAGR)
blog.aboutamazon.com/books-and-auth…

@PlanMaestro "What's ?

It started as an unbounded , an algorithm for running search in physical products. It became a platform for adapting that algo to opportunities w/ customer-centric value creation"

Posits that addiction to ad $'s is beginning of end

zackkanter.com/2019/03/13/wha…

@PlanMaestro 's unbridled 3P biz + perverse ad incentives leads to no checks

While probability of unsafe/mislabeled products is low & can be weeded out w/ research, magnitude of damage (toxic fumes / death) is high & is regressive burden

#ecommerce

wsj.com/articles/amazo…

@PlanMaestro WSJ on prioritizing its search engine to rank items based on i) profitability, not ii) relevance

1. Contradicts old "customer obsession" motto
2. Search team (A9), after reorg, reported to retail head. Now, private labels from ranked higher

wsj.com/articles/amazo…

@PlanMaestro As a 'Day-2' type of company, now relies on convenience/logistics to win customers (vs. trust)

Good thread on logistics prowess

https://twitter.com/modestproposal1/status/1146404882313895937?s=20

@PlanMaestro Logistics is where making moves1
1. Insourced 50% of shipments, up from <15% in '17
2. Truck fleet is 15% of
3. W/ Rivian electric trucks order of 100K from 2021-2024, equalizes truck fleet

wsj.com/articles/how-a…

@PlanMaestro Article re: 's order of Rivian electric trucks

arstechnica.com/cars/2019/09/a…

@PlanMaestro Boom in smaller, more centrally-located warehouses
1. rent up 34% to $7/sqft
2. Predicated on lower cost via i) smaller sq feet; ii) faster inventory turns
3. 1-day

wsj.com/articles/e-com…

#logistics #ecommerce

@PlanMaestro upping bet on industrial warehouses; new logistics company named "Mileway"
1. Owns 800M sq ft; acquired 450M last year!
2. Their thesis: market slow to realize logistic shift
Supply increase would be slower than demand increase from 1-day

wsj.com/articles/black…

@PlanMaestro breaking up w/ ; benefits ?
1. Control over its own demand / shopper data
2. Lack of differentiation vs. 3P marketplace populated w/ fakes.
3. Wants remaining 40 retail partners (down from 40K) to set dedicated space to (eg )

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

@PlanMaestro Profile on Dave Clark, Logistics Head -> likely see this segment allow access to 3rd party retailers this year

AMZN is now three things:
1) Demand generation, monetizing via 3P cut and advertising
2) Cloud #AWS
3) and now #logistics provider

latimes.com/business/story…

@PlanMaestro Very long, comprehensive read on : 3P, fake goods, logistics, worker conditions

Insightfuly asks whether Bezo's divorce / new lifestyle breaks the 'hero' halo within . W/ broken integrity, are the famous leadership principles compromised?

newyorker.com/magazine/2019/…