Amazon has informed its European vendors it will focus on sourcing products directly from brands rather than wholesalers.
According to an email seen by Retail Week, the retailer told its vendors it believes this approach will help control its cost base and “keep prices low for shoppers”.
Wholesalers will still be able to sell their products through the marketplace, and the company will continue to work with them if they own the brand or have sole distribution rights.
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It said: “As part of a procurement policy implemented at a European level, Amazon has decided to focus on sourcing brands directly from brand owners.
“As a result, we hereby inform you that we will stop sourcing the brands included at the end of this email (ie: products where you are not the brand owner).”
Vendors who want to continue selling can set up a ‘Seller Central account’ to become a third-party seller, according to Amazon.
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A spokesman said: “As is common for all businesses, we regularly review our approach to product sourcing as we try to control our costs and keep prices low for customers.
“With this in mind, we’ve decided to focus on sourcing certain products for our European stores directly from brand owners.
“In order to help wholesalers and distributors prepare for this change, we will not implement this change until April.”
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Despite recent setbacks, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated earlier this week that the online retailer was ready to “go big” on physical stores for its grocery division.
Source: Retail Gazette
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