In 2012, when Jeff Bezos said, “Your margin is my opportunity,” he and the rest of the Amazon company had already been planning, operating, and fine-tuning the Amazon online marketplace for almost a decade. During that year Amazon’s share of U.S. e-commerce sales was about 24%, by 2018, it had jumped to 49%.

Amazon’s popularity took off. Many brands jumped at the opportunity and succeeded whilst many other brands were not prepared.

Part of Amazon’s success is that it runs as an open marketplace, welcoming practically anyone to sell almost anything to Amazon customers. Amazon continues to add millions of third-party sellers to its marketplaces and hundreds of millions of items to its catalogue. However many of these sellers are not authorized by the manufacturer of the products they sell and offer diverted products to unwitting consumers enticed by Amazon’s convenience, low price, and selection.

The type of online sales structure on Amazon can disrupt a brand’s established distribution strategy, creating channel conflict and frustration for both the brand and its authorized brick-and-mortar sellers.

As a result, brands can no longer ignore the fact that their products will find a way onto Amazon Marketplace, and other online marketplaces, where someone sells the products in ways that do not align with the brand's quality controls, customer service requirements, and other measures.

Brand leaders need to adjust to the new environment that online marketplaces have created and be ready to protect their brands and be motivated to align their existing distribution strategy and sales tactics with the new e-commerce age.

Managing brands on Amazon Worldwide