Amazon, a change of rules and what to do.
Amazon and dirty deeds
I confess that I have never liked the Amazon model nor had success with it.
However, I see many people currently hurting as the margins plummet to a low, low.
I believe Walmart has followed suit and there will be others as well.
Has the affiliate model failed?
The idea behind affiliate sales is that it is a cost effective marketing strategy that adds a free sales force to grow their market.
First of all, it seems Amazon has gone out of their way to limit affiliate sales.
a) 24 hour cookies
b) No sales to family and friends
c) Commissions as low as 1%
If you were starting out today you would be locked away if you thought this was a good deal.
Amazon shows absolute disdain for loyalty, effort and deserves any criticism thrown at it.
Amazon changed its model during the pandemic crisis so one wonders if it is a temporary situation that may come back when the World returns to its normal self.
I won't be changing my Amazon site at this stage but I certainly won't be giving it any attention.
There is always a position that many will leave and those remaining will double sales and return to where they started, a far-fetched thought based on supply and demand laws.
I can't understand the economics of the new Amazon model. If they want sales surely they should make it easy for the affiliate and not put roadblocks everywhere.
They may have reached a point where natural growth has outstripped the need for a paid affiliate source and want to go it alone into the future.
Amazon's marketing boffins should know a lot more than me, but I am starting to wonder.
If all affiliates remove their pages, the market must surely shrink. When this happens, Amazon will go the same way as other mismanaged firms.
1) Borders
2) Pan Am
3) Kodak
4) Blockbusters
5) Compaq
6) General motors
These were all companies that could not fail, but did.
The online market has evolved beyond Amazon.
When Amazon started selling books way back in 1994 no one was really interested in joining the online market. Bezos stated around that time that anyone could copy the Amazon model.
Moving forward a few years and now every major store has an online model as well as a world of smaller players.
This new world is often cheaper than Amazon and more local so that competition is fierce.
Every major is feeling the pressure from the next online tier of players. A whole new world.
So do we believe that Amazon is now like Blockbusters or Borders and flogging products that can be got cheaper and easier from elsewhere? If this is the case and it appears likely, then what future is there for Amazon?
Am I going too far with this and creating doubt and uncertainty among the many followers of what has been a great success story?
Do we see levels of mismanagement that may bring the monolith to its knees?
* They concentrate on food and consumables when the locked down society is buying
online like never before.
* Commissions are just not acceptable so marketing will stop
* Rules are so strict you are limited and strangled every which way
I am sure I have missed many other points along the way so please share them below so readers can make up their own minds.
Affiliate marketing is alive and well it just needs handling properly.
For those that may think I am bashing affiliate sales, you have read me wrong. I love the affiliate model and it is more in demand now than ever before.
Wealthy affiliates are testimony to this as they continue to find growth where many don't.
The model is excellent therefore the company must be as well.
Communications are KING
In this pandemic period communications have managed to control most of the population.
We are told every day by national leaders what is expected of us and how we can help. Not weekly broadcasts but every day with figures that are often very bad and getting worse.
This level of communication has the majority supporting the countries efforts and helping to control the situation. Some are better than others, but they are all trying.
Do you think that corporations like Amazon should have better communications to support a worldwide sales force that is ready to walk out?
Many, if not most, of us at Wealthy Affiliate will have an Amazon connection. Fortunately you are also taught to diversify and keep a few eggs in the basket to if one breaks it is not critical to the future.
Stay safe and healthy and maybe wave goodbye to a bad investment
Peter Hanley
Recent Comments
13
Remember mass layoffs when profit margins evaporated for a lot of businesses? Trimming commissions for affiliates is trimming expenses plain and simple. Our choice: 'Shape up or ship out' as we have NO control over what Amazon does.
Waiting it out and see what happens in the 'near future' might also make sense.
Or we can own the ladder versus climbing the ladder? At 65 years of age or older for a lot...this is just probably now a platform of entertainment, a place to get creative and maybe just maybe we will hit the gold...or we can rant forever.
Again this is my rant for the day... I can always blame things on the Chinese Covid!
Hey, Germany is suing China for $Bs. Perhaps the US need to do the same and as we win the lawsuit, add that to our stimulus money.
Joe
I think that they are taking the attitude that Affiliates are a burden that they can now do without.
I hope that they are wrong and that enough people discontinue promoting them to impact their bottom line.
They are turning vendors away with their policies as well. So, it seems that they are getting too big for their britches and need to be taken down a notch.
Amazon knows if something goes wrong due to this decision then they will raise the commission rate and affiliate marketers will be back.
So, they are making decisions to increase their profit, no matter what happens to their affiliate.
I remember an opposite event of Volumm tracker. They drastically increased their price once by thinking people will not cancel the subscription.
But higher percentage of people canceled subscription including me.
After that, they reduced the pricing but I was committed and not switched back to that shit.
My commitment is the same for Amazon. I am never gonna join that shit in my life.
Bad practices do not last long, I wish for their success but without me and all those committed affiliate marketers.
Amazon needs to appreciate its affiliates because who's to say that things won't reverse themselves one day. I use to hear the old folks say that maybe they're getting too big for they're britches.
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Very true words, Peter. I've never applied because I feel like Amazon is like the Gestapo--trying to shake down sales after heavy investigations into who bought from your link are they perhaps a fourth cousin or some other inane reason. Truthfully, we are all human and related somewhere way back, so their reasoning was flawed from the beginning. They will reap what they have sown, IMHO. Great post!
Stay safe!
Jeff