The REAL Reason Amazon is Slashing Commission Rates?!
I read a very interesting article that seems to reiterate what Kyle has mentioned about Amazon and their falling commission rates for Amazon Associates. Apparently, Amazon is in the midst of changing their website more into something that people seem is unfathomable.
Amazon is changing their site to encourage people to shop LESS. You heard that right, Amazon wants people to shop less at their site. They are in the process of removing the things that would encourage people to keep shopping at their site. They apparently, cannot keep up with the massive amount of demand they've had since the start of this global pandemic, especially since a lot of people are now staying at home.
It's no wonder Amazon is cutting commission rates. They know this will make a lot of affiliates angry and will start to look elsewhere which will dramatically slow down the promotion of Amazon products. This is exactly what Amazon wanted because they cannot cope with the huge surge in demand and they want people to stop buying certain products.
The huge surge in demand should be doing the opposite and it should also be INCREASING commission rates for their associates. Instead, they can't keep up and have decided to punish their affiliates as a result. Kyle is right, it's best not to put all your eggs in the Amazon basket and look elsewhere for better affiliate programs and commission rates. No one knows how long this will last and if Amazon may decide to keep this as more of a permanent thing.
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Don't kid yourself, the only rational thing is that you have more direct buyer. In the beginning, Amazon made their business flourish because of affiliate marketing. Know they encourage everybody to have an account.
Yes, I can see where cutting affiliate commissions would make their volume go down. But you see they know don't need the middle guy for sales anymore.
They have been promoting overnight free shipping for a monthly fee. or three-day shipping. depending on what your monthly bill will be. Buy cutting the middle guy they can do that and still make money on monthly payments.
Do you truly relieve that a company like that would cut sales because they do not want sales? Totally e-logical.
Kayle makes an excellent post in what Amazon is doing it is a must-read.
always a better way Linda
Oh I know they want more sales, but because of what's currently going on, they're having to scale back a bit. I just tried to order some new gaming headphones for my PS4 because I accidentally dropped mine on the floor and they broke. A message comes up saying they are not selling those and consider them as non-essential items. I've also noticed changes on the website already as they are no longer suggesting items and not showing things that other people have ordered in conjunction with whatever item one was looking at.
I have no doubt though they are squeezing out the middleman and driving away affiliates, but this is just another way they are doing that. Once this pandemic ends and whatever kind normalcy returns, Amazon will be in a much stronger position to enjoy full sales from them directly.
Interesting take and it does sound feasible. I know they ARE overwhelmed with orders. I quit Prime last year. It wasn't beneficial for me. I order mostly books and enough at one time to get the free shipping. Usually my order will still come within a week. I ordered some books about 2 weeks ago and they're still not here. I understand they aren't a priority and I have no problem waiting but it all makes sense that they want people to slow down.
I've even read some articles about people quitting because they were either sick or overwhelmed. Crazy!!!!
Thanks for this insight.
~Debbi
That makes sense to me. Definitely time to look for better affiliate programs. thanks for sharing!
Erica
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I believe Amazon is undergoing some change at this point. I propose that the pandemic isn't the only reason why all this is happening. It may be a co-incidence with regard to the pandemic and some internal turbulence for Amazon but probably not because of not being able to keep up with the demands, at least, not as is generally thought. There are likely other reasons as well. One of these come in the limiting beliefs of the owner who is basing this on normal trends of the business. This is leaving Amazon's employees at bay with concerns. Consider the following article...
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/15/bezos-tells-employees-one-day-amazon-will-fail-and-to-stay-hungry.html
Daniel