Sellers experience a temporary dip in sales as checkouts fail

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• Amazon Seller M&A market continues to thrive despite aggregator struggles

• Might Amazon not be the top tech employer anymore?

• Sellers experience a temporary dip in sales as Amazon checkouts fail

• Amazon's take on Tiktok and Instagram marketing strategies

BIG IDEAAmazon seller M&A market continues to thrive despite aggregator struggles

Through 2022, Amazon seller acquisitions declined, shrinking by 10-20% compared to last year, as originally reported in this article by Marketplace Pulse. A business valued at upfront multiples 6x and higher in 2021 is now trading down 4-5x at the end of 2022. But there’s no big difference for those valued at 4-5x last year as they are selling at 3.5-4.5x today. 

Business valuations in the 2-3x range in 2021 drew buyers focused on distressed assets this year. This has since narrowed after the range of seller valuations doubled.

✋ Some are pausing; some are buying

Amazon aggregators either made a few purchases or didn’t buy anything at all. Others, however, are increasing their pipeline, and more buyers are joining the market. 

These days, although many are buying, they aren't exactly calling themselves "aggregators." These folks are holding online brands and category-focused companies, to name a few. Buyers are now more selective and careful than ever.

What’s to come?Consolidation is yet to happen even if some aggregators aren’t at their best state financially. Some actively seek to be acquired, while others look forward to buying smaller ones. Should consolidations occur, it can lead to economies of scale and can support better financing terms.

AMAZON NEWSIs Amazon not the top tech employer anymore?

Gone are the days when Amazon was THE top tech employer around. They hadn't experienced major employment cuts in over 20 years, as reported in this article. Amazon was so stable that it maintained momentum from the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009. With the booming success of online shopping, this ecommerce giant seemed unstoppable... or so everyone thought. 

This past November, Amazon employees experienced what's expected to be the "largest corporate staff cuts in its 28-year history," relieving as many as 10,000 corporate employees. That's about 3% of their office staff. But the layoffs might not stop there; rumors state that more traditional layoffs will push individuals out for unsatisfactory performance.

🤙 A wake-up call for employees? Since Amazon increased its hiring over the years, some say it has turned into a brutal and cutthroat workplace. Here are the results of a LinkedIn survey of more than 7,000 ex-Amazon software developers (out of 25 top tech competitors):

• 19th in "good work-life balance"

• 10th in "flexible work arrangements"

• 11th in "ongoing employee training and development"

🚢 Not entirely unsinkable

Although Amazon is still among the top ecommerce platforms, it doesn't hide the fact that some fundamentals are deteriorating. As a result, things remain uncertain, but people are watching how the ecommerce giant will move next.

BITES OF THE WEEK

• Amazon adds option for obtaining sustainability badge - EcommerceBytes

• Utilizing Amazon’s marketing cloud to track in-store Whole Foods purchases - Tinuiti 

• Amazon stock: should you buy in 2023? - MarketWatch

• 5 tech predictions for 2023 according to Amazon CTO Dr. Werner Vogels - Amazon

• "Amazon back at it again with random brand restrictions" - ASGTG

TRENDINGSellers experience a temporary dip in sales as checkouts fail

On December 7, Amazon.com customers had difficulty checking out. People faced error messages from Amazon stating they were experiencing "unusually heavy traffic." Sellers were also affected as they couldn't ship their orders, as observed in seller forums.

Some sellers found workarounds, including someone who had to "copy and print on stamps and then copy tracking and go back to confirm shipments manually." However, for the most part, since people couldn't place their orders, sellers experienced a decline in sales.

👎 The reason for the fiascoAside from Amazon's explanation of unusually heavy traffic, sellers speculate that there might have been reporting delays as AWS was dealing with issues only two days before.

Ultimately, the matter has already been resolved, but people still want transparency. Unfortunately, this wasn't the only time Amazon experienced a lull in its systems. Just recently, during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale, their ad services went down, failing to provide accurate updates on campaign results.

Amazon hosts millions of site visitors daily, and brands rely on its uptime as sales heavily depend on its platform. With these occurrences, sellers are more seriously considering to not put your eggs in one basket.

ACTIONABLE ADVICEAmazon's take on Tiktok and Instagram marketing strategies

Amazon’s latest feature, Inspire, is a hybrid of Tiktok and Instagram. It allows influencers, brands, and other customers to post content in short-form videos and photos and allows people to buy straight from their feeds. 

You can create Inspire content if you're enrolled in Brand Registry with an active Brand Store. Any photos posted under Brand Posts are eligible to appear in the feed.

This feature will soft-launch to a few shoppers in the United States, as discussed in this article. Here’s what the experience for shoppers will be like:

• Access your Inspire feed by tapping the light bulb icon on the Amazon app.

• Like a post by double-tapping your screen.

• Check your feed by scrolling through the clips and pictures, just like Tiktok.

• Click the See All Details button for Amazon to redirect you to the featured product’s product page. 

Oliver Messenger, the director of Amazon Shopping, says this is a product of their goal to make shopping easy and fun. This new feature also allows influencers to earn from customer transactions.