AmazonBasics Cuts Private Label Brands Out of the Equation
The term AmazonBasics may be unknown to the general public right now, but it is certainly one that should become familiar in the near future. AmazonBasics is one of Amazon.com’s own private label brands. This product line is the result of Amazon’s monstrous research and development budget, which allows them to track the top-selling products from private label brands on the platform. Now, they are using those numbers to create their own versions of the same products at a much lower price.
AmazonBasics was launched back in 2009. Since then, it has slowly developed its own line of Amazon-branded consumer electronics and technology products. Amazon has spent years researching private label sellers – and now, they are capitalizing on their success with clever tricks like this.
The lower prices are obviously more appealing to consumers. Individual sellers can’t compete, and AmazonBasics is leaving successful private label brands in the dust.
One of the major examples of a private label brand that has felt the impact of AmazonBasics is a laptop stand created by the private label brand called Rain Design. The aluminum laptop stand has excellent reviews across the board and is priced at a moderate $43.
Recently, AmazonBasics released an unmistakable imitation of Rain Design’s successful product – and their version is only $20. With the Amazon customer satisfaction guarantee and the same product at half the price, the choice is a no-brainer from the customer’s perspective.
AmazonBasics chooses its products carefully, based upon the data generated from tracking other sellers over the years. It’s a known fact that most of Amazon’s annual budget goes to research and development, which has been flaunted as a “commitment to innovation” in the past. But now, it’s clear that the e-commerce giant is using this data to boost sales of their own.
So what can private label brands do to protect themselves? The answer is unclear. But one fact that is clear is that any individual seller’s success on Amazon.com is no secret.