Amazon is simply no longer a profitable sales channel...

Amazon is simply no longer a profitable sales channel...

This is the opinion of a number of sellers with whom I have had the opportunity to hold initial discussions in recent weeks.

I kept hearing that Amazon was no longer what it used to be (2015-2018)! Back then, when it was still relatively easy to sell successfully without much effort.

Today, significantly more effort is required to get started on Amazon and achieve the first sales. This effort is no longer in proportion to the short-term sales figures that are achieved.

Sellers tell me the same concerns over and over again:

1. My sales have been stagnating for years.
2.  The advertising costs "eat up" the entire profit.
3.  Customers only buy cheap products and no longer value high-quality products. 
4.  You can no longer rely on FBA either!
5. I haven't increased my sales prices for years
6. Amazon blocks my items without warning.

Interestingly enough, these are the same sellers who...

1. have not changed or optimized their product range for years.
2. Have combined all their products in an automatic campaign, set Sponsored-Brand to Broad-Match without modifiers and have not accessed the advertising console for 3 months.
3. whose product detail page offers no incentive to buy (2 images, 3 bullet points and €6.90 shipping costs).
4.  Pay the long-term fees for FBA as you still have 3000 units in stock since 2019.
5. Traditionally sold in a Red Ocean category.
6. Design your brand store exclusively with a homepage and a banner as well as 4 products (3 of which are no longer sold).
7. Ignore national laws, but still want to sell their products throughout Europe!

If you don't move with the times, you move with the times - this is especially true for hypercompetitive marketplaces like Amazon. 

Nevertheless, Amazon is still the number 1 marketplace for good reason! No other online marketplace offers its sellers as many opportunities as Amazon. 

At the same time, however, no other marketplace currently offers the same opportunities as Amazon. As an Amazon agency, we know almost all European marketplaces from personal experience (Otto, cDisocunt, eBay, Allegro, BOL, Zalando, MediaMarkt, Emag, Kaufland, Shop-Apotheke etc.) and none of these marketplaces offer the opportunities that Amazon does - both as a seller and as a vendor.

Amazon has the most sophisticated advertising platform, offers its own fulfillment network, helps with internationalization, offers market protection programs for brand owners and many other options to help sellers sell more successfully on Amazon.

Has anyone tried to get search term reports from Otto SPA or worked with the Media Markt backend? Everyone quickly realizes how exceptionally good and user-friendly Amazon's Seller and Vendor Central is. 

Yes, Amazon is certainly not perfect either - we also have regular difficulties. But the opportunities that Amazon offers, especially for ambitious sellers and vendors, are so extensive that a comparison with the "good old days" seems ridiculous.