3P sellers should avoid the urge to raise prices on necessities.
Don’t be that seller.
The warning signs are everywhere. Manufacturers and retailers who
sell grocery, medical and personal care items expect new runs on
necessities in the coming weeks. Already, plans are being made to
institute new buying limits on customers at retail stores.
This could easily kick off a new cycle for Amazon sellers eager to
profit off of shortages in brick-and-mortar stores. We saw it last
spring. Retail arbitrage sellers – and even those with wholesale
relationships – increased prices for items in short supply. Once again,
shortages could make price gouging tempting.
Amazon sees this as price gouging. And Amazon shuts down accounts for price gouging.
What is price gouging?
It’s difficult to find a dictionary definition of price gouging that
includes practical terms, like percentages. Legally speaking, different
states have different standards. Like a Supreme Court justice once said
about a different hard-to-define topic, “I know it when I see it.”
Most folks can agree that doubling a price during a time of scarcity
looks and feels like price gouging, especially for essential items. But
on Amazon, the standard it much stricter.
Prior to Covid, when natural disasters hit, Amazon would sometimes
punish sellers who raised prices more than 10 percent. During the Covid
shutdowns last spring, even a nominal price increase on necessities
could land a seller in hot water and result in their ASIN
being shut down, their account receiving a warning, or worst of all
their account being suspended. In April, we discussed enforcement issues
such as gouging and warned sellers about linked accounts here. Once
again, both seem to be on the rise.
What should sellers expect?
In coming days, weeks – and heaven forbid, months – there will be
shortages. Of course, these shortages could make price gouging tempting
for third-party Amazon sellers to buy in quantity when they can and
sell for a huge profit.
Just don’t do it. Your account depends on it. Don’t be that seller.
Amazon wants invoices to disprove design patent infringement, blocks accounts with retracted IP claims
Infringement claims on Amazon have grown increasingly frustrating
over the past year. This has reached a deafening crescendo over the last
few weeks, with our clients being victimized by nonsensical requests
and account blocks – even after doing exactly what Amazon asked.
First, a word about infringement claims.
Also known as intellectual property (IP) complaints, infringement claims occur when a brand owner (or random party/black hat competitor) says a listing should be taken down because of:
IP infringement/counterfeit – the brand owner says the seller is listing fakes.
Trademark infringement – the brand owner says the seller is abusing a
trademark, which could mean that terms or trade dress are being used in
violation of their trademarked words or images.
Copyright infringement – the brand owner says the seller is using
their text or images in the listing or using their branded terms in the
listing or its back-end keywords.
Utility patent infringement – the brand owner claims to own a patent
around the use of a product, and the seller is violating that patent by
selling a product that does or claims to do the same.
Design patent infringement – the brand owner says a competing product looks too similar to their patented design.
Each of those five common infringement types deserves its own blog.
But for this particular piece, we are talking about what’s going on at
Amazon right now.
It’s difficult to choose which recent development is most stunning. Most likely, it’s the one affecting your business right now.
Amazon is refusing to reactivate accounts, even after IP complaints
are retracted. This is maddening for sellers whose accounts were
deactivated specifically because of the IP complaint a brand (or
multiple brands) made against them. For years now, Amazon has told
sellers to reach out to the brand owner and work out a solution. Then,
if the brand owner retracted the complaint, everyone could move forward
in peace. Now, instead of accepting retractions, Amazon is asking for
the same information – over and over and over again.
Amazon is asking for invoices or brand authorization letters to
disprove design or utility patent infringement. This is ridiculous on
its face. A seller accused of patent infringement is not selling the
ASIN for which the brand owner has brand registry. The seller is
offering a competing item, and the brand owner is claiming that the
competing item is violating their patent. How would it make any sense to
provide invoices for the competing items to disprove a patent claim?
(Easy answer: it wouldn’t.)
Amazon is not responding to emails about deactivated accounts with
IP claims – for weeks or months. These are not always blocked accounts.
They are accounts where Amazon has specifically requested information,
and the seller is responding with that information. The wait time for a
response is growing each week, and the escalations addresses that
typically push toward resolution are not bothering to read and
understand the underlying problems with Amazon’s enforcement approach.
It takes a virtual screed to get them to pay attention.
Something is very broken around IP claims. And for the sake of sellers, we hope Amazon fixes it fast.
Liquidation inventory. it’s enticing, cheap and a sure-fire sourcing dream for third-party Amazon sellers. Or is it?
The supply chain issues of 2021 and 2022 resulted in a glut of
late-arriving seasonal and other goods piling up at the nation’s
wholesalers and retailers. At the same time, consumer demand has
softened thanks to a challenging economy.
These forces have contributed to a boom in liquidations. The
liquidation market has more than doubled since 2008, reaching a whopping
$644 billion, according to a 2020 Colorado State University report.
Amazon sellers are attracted to the low costs of liquidation
inventory. Many experts in the space excitedly tell their social media
audiences about the killing they made on auction inventory or lots of
overstocks. “After all,” they point out with dollar signs dancing in
their eyes, “Amazon doesn’t say anything in terms of service about
liquidation inventory. It’s totally OK!”
It’s true. Amazon does not specifically address liquidation inventory
in its terms of service (ToS), nor anywhere in the help section. But
that doesn’t make it an acceptable source of inventory.
Liquidation inventory is extremely dangerous for third-party sellers.
There is so much that can go wrong. In fact, things could go so wrong
that you lose your Amazon seller account permanently.
Taking a common-sense approach
A little common sense will tell you that liquidation carries elevated levels of risk. Consider these:
In almost all cases, it’s impossible to prove the chain of custody
for the products. In other words, you cannot show it is authentic if
asked for invoices, or if you field an intellectual property complaint.
The products might be counterfeit. Some of the most popular sources
of liquidation inventory are Amazon fulfillment centers. But much of
this inventory comes from third-party sellers, and some of it is
outright fake.
The items are often returns. They’ve been opened, used, or refused
because they don’t work. Even if you have a great inspection process in
place, these pieces are only fit for resale as used, or at best,
open-box.
Shelf-wear has taken a toll. Inventory on the secondary market has
been through the wars. It’s traveled to multiple warehouses, stores and
customers. Boxes are worn, torn, faded, discolored and dirty. It often
just doesn’t look new.
Here are some real-world realities from sellers we’ve helped.
Wow, it’s from Woot! A large private-label seller
decided to expand his Amazon catalog. He purchased a large lot of Amazon
FC liquidation inventory via Woot! Almost immediately, he was hit with a
slew of IP complaints
– more than 100! The vast majority of the brand owners refused to
remove the complaints, and his account was deactivated. You know Woot!
is owned by Amazon, right?
PayPal and invoices? We worked with a relatively
new seller who found a load of near-new, name-brand phone cases and
accessories. They were from a chain of convenience stores that was
closing. When Amazon demanded invoices, he could only show PayPal
confirmations. Amazon deactivated his account. Amazon says they accept
PayPal, but no invoices is typically a death sentence.
Wrecked by returns? An experienced, long-time
seller bought closeout housewares from an auction company, which sourced
the items from big-box retailers. The seller inspected the boxes and
saw they were sealed, so he sent the inventory to FBA. When the coffee
makers he had purchased were sold to Amazon customers, they reported
finding moldy coffee inside. Clearly, these were returns that had been
re-sealed at the warehouse of the big-box retailer. The seller’s account
was suspended.
The good news? The Riverbend Consulting team helped all three sellers
get their ASINs and accounts reinstated. But it wasn’t an easy process
and it required approaches that involved a great deal of research,
implementation and complex written appeals.
Should I ever purchase liquidation inventory?
Is there a time and place for liquidation inventory? Here’s the seemingly contrary answer: Maybe.
It all depends on your personal risk profile – and the risk profile
of your business. Many sellers move liquidation inventory quite
successfully. If you’re determined to sell liquidation, it’s important
to know the risks. In addition, take the steps to mitigate that risk
whenever possible:
Be reasonable in your sourcing. Ask yourself – how
trustworthy is the chain of custody for these items? For example, a
recent client purchased liquidation inventory from a large liquidator
that buys directly from big box chains and has the invoices to prove it.
Clearly, this carries less risk than buying from a no-name liquidator
on eBay.
Perform serious quality inspections. Liquidation
inventory cannot simply be stickered and shipped to FBA. Plus, your team
must research to ensure you understand what the items were supposed to
look like, what pieces and parts are included, whether the original box
had seals, etc.
Adjust your ideas about condition. Conservative is the way to go. If it is even possible that an item was opened, don’t grade it as “new.”
Put serious thought into brand choices.
Intellectual property complaints abound on the Amazon platform. Certain
brands carry much higher risk than others. It makes sense to stay away
from liquidation inventory for premium brands and high-dollar items. In
addition, many consumer electronics items would make more sense in the Renewed (certified refurbished) program.
Ultimately, you must choose if liquidation is worth the risk of super
sales or an account suspension. If you find yourself at the wrong end
of a suspension that involves liquidation inventory, don’t hesitate to
contact us
It’s
no surprise that the checkout page is where the magic happens on an
ecommerce site. And as an ecommerce developer, you know that the
requirements for the checkout design can vary widely from business to
business.
At BigCommerce, we’ve put a lot of research behind our flagship checkout page, Optimized One-Page Checkout,
and it’s designed to create a checkout experience that will streamline
the purchase process and increase conversions for merchants across the
platform. But we also recognize that there’s no one size fits all
solution. Across verticals and business models, there’s a ton of
variation in merchants’ design needs and the experience their shoppers
expect when they proceed to checkout.
The
ability to customize the appearance and functionality of the checkout
page is essential, especially for developers who support enterprise
businesses. Our philosophy is that merchants should be able to look to
the Optimized One-Page Checkout as an example of best practices in
checkout form design, but we also want to build as much openness into
our checkout as possible to accommodate merchants with specific business
needs who are able to take on the effort of advanced customization.
This
guide will outline the breadth of checkout customization options on
BigCommerce, from no-code or low-code customizations all the way to
complex headless builds. We’ll begin with a technical overview of the
BigCommerce checkout page and then walk through the spectrum of
customization options available for the checkout page, from native
settings to defining every pixel of the checkout.
Special Considerations
Let’s
start by establishing the fact that customizing the checkout page is
different than customizing other default templates in your theme.
Although there are many good reasons for customizing the checkout page,
the consequences of introducing bugs are significant. Anything that
affects checkout page uptime is going to have a direct impact on a
store’s sales.
Security
is also a consideration. One of the big advantages of using a platform
like BigCommerce is that PCI compliance is bundled into the core feature
set when using the native checkout page. PCI refers to the Payment Card
Industry Data Security Standard, and it governs the way companies who
handle credit card information maintain a secure environment. PCI
compliance reaches into many areas: infrastructure, engineering, even
the practices of company employees. At BigCommerce, we go to great
lengths to make sure our platform meets these security standards.
Some
types of checkout customizations affect BigCommerce’s ability to assume
the burden of PCI compliance and shift this responsibility to the party
customizing the checkout. For example, an app that injects JavaScript
into the checkout page or a headless checkout that’s hosted on an
external server would be within PCI scope.
That
being said, there are best practices you can follow to make sure that
the custom code you apply to the checkout page is going to play nicely
with the platform — today and across future updates. We’ll cover a few
of those best practices in this blog post. Full guidelines on PCI
compliance are out of the scope of this post, but you can read more on
requirements here (Developer Portal).
Technical Overview
The
Optimized One-page Checkout is a single page application whose purpose
is to convert a Cart to an Order. The checkout application is made up of
several layers:
Backend application
Storefront Checkout API
Checkout JS SDK
Frontend presentation layer
The Optimized One-page checkout consumes the same Storefront Checkout API and JS SDK
that are available to external developers. The Storefront Checkout API
surfaces the business logic of the backend ecommerce application —
retrieving customer information, fetching available shipping methods,
and calculating discounts and sales tax. The JS SDK is a wrapper library
that provides methods for interacting with the Storefront Checkout API.
The process for converting a cart to an order follows this flow:
A
Cart object begins as a collection of product line items and a customer
account ID. It becomes a Checkout object when it picks up additional
data — a billing and shipping address — that provide enough context to
calculate discounts, taxes, and shipping options.
The
next step of checkout is creating what are called consignments. Each
consignment is made up of the line items that ship to a particular
address. An order that ships to multiple addresses will have multiple
consignments.
Next,
the checkout is converted to an order — but you’ll notice we haven’t
accepted a payment yet. At this point the order is in a status called
Pending Incomplete.
Lastly,
when a successful payment is processed through a BigCommerce payment
gateway integration, the order status converts from Incomplete to
Awaiting Fulfillment.
Although
there is quite a bit of flexibility in what you can customize on the
checkout page, there’s one important thing to keep in mind. The
application logic that backs the Checkout API has certain validations
and rules in place around the checkout flow that will still need to be
followed, even if you change the UI. For example, a Checkout object must
always have an email address associated with it, and if the cart
contains physical products, a shipping address.
In
most cases, the flow for a custom checkout will still map to the
customer experience outlined above, but there may be edge cases that
require a different sequence. It’s possible to create a presentation
layer in the UI that makes it seem as though you are bypassing required
fields (for example, by masking the fields and filling them with dummy
data), but you’ll need to handle that logic within your customizations
to process orders successfully. Lastly, the checkout customizations
detailed here do not allow you to change the underlying functionality of
the checkout, for example, by integrating an unsupported payment
method.
Available Customization Options
In
this section, we’ll start with the lightest lift and talk about a few
of the customization options that are built into the BigCommerce Control
Panel. Then, we’ll talk about how you can customize the text that
appears on the checkout page, and even translate it into another
language. Finally, we’ll go over how to add custom styling and
functionality to the checkout with CSS and JavaScript.
1. Checkout Form Fields.
BigCommerce natively supports the ability to define new fields
on the checkout page address form as well as reordering fields. Custom
fields will be visible to the shopper on the checkout page and the
values the shopper fills in will be visible in the Order View section of
the Control Panel. Custom address fields support a variety of input
types: checkbox, text field, date picker, dropdown, number-only, and
password.
Common
uses for custom checkout form fields include things like collecting a
customer’s account number or verifying a delivery preference. Because
custom address fields do persist to the Order View screen, developers
making advanced customizations can repurpose custom form fields to store
data that needs to be carried over to the Order record.
2. Store Design Settings
Another
native option for styling the checkout page is Store Design. The Store
Design editor provides an interface for controlling settings like the
checkout page’s header image, colors, and fonts. It’s always a good idea
to check for a setting before hard-coding CSS, because it gives
merchants more control over their design and ensures their choices
persist through theme updates.
As
a theme developer, you can control which Store Design settings are
available for merchants to configure. Settings, along with their
possible values, are defined in the theme’s schema.json file, and
current selected values are stored in config.json, which can be
referenced by custom Sass functions. For more on developing Store Design
settings, visit our documentation.
3. Multi-language checkout.
Moving
on to customizations that require light custom code, the text strings
that display on the Optimized One-page Checkout page can be edited, or
even translated into multiple languages.
The checkout page follows the same convention used by all Stencil templates to render text strings. The {{lang}}
helper, custom to Stencil, pulls a text string’s value from a set of
JSON files, based on the language setting detected in the shopper’s
browser. A store can have multiple .json lang files, one for each
language that a store supports.
To access the translation keys that are rendered on the checkout page, you’ll need to append a JSON object
containing the checkout keys and their text string values to your
store’s .json lang file(s). If English is the default language on your
store but you wish to change the wording on some of the checkout fields,
you would add the checkout JSON object to the en.json file; if your
store supports English and French and you wish to show a French version
of the checkout page to French-speaking shoppers, you would add the
checkout JSON object to your fr.json file and translate the key values
accordingly.
4. Custom CSS.
The Optimized One-page Checkout references the optimized-checkout.scss file for styling, and you can review our theme documentation
for a list of CSS classes that are applied to checkout elements. It’s
important to note that you don’t want to nest or alter the built in
class names, because it can break compatibility with future checkout
page updates. Beyond that, you have the ability to reference a custom
stylesheet or add your own CSS rules to manipulate styles and layout.
5. Custom JavaScript.
BigCommerce supports checkout page script injection via the Script Manager,
an interface for managing third party scripts. If you’re building an
app and need to run custom JavaScript on the checkout or order
confirmation page, to create a pop-up for example, you can also inject
scripts programmatically using the Scripts API.
The
accordion layout of the Optimized One-page checkout loads dynamically
as the shopper proceeds through the steps, which is something you’ll
want to consider to make sure that your JavaScript is executing at the
right time. While you could poll the DOM using setInterval() to make
sure the element you want to target has loaded, using Mutation Observer
is a nice, clean alternative. Support for Mutation Observer is built
into modern browsers, so there’s no need to bring in a dependency to use
it.
As
an example, let’s say we want to execute some JavaScript on the Billing
Address step of the checkout process. We could do the following, which
checks for an element with the ID #checkoutBillingAddress. (adapted from
Ryan Morr’s blog post)
Mutation Observer listening for Billing Address step
Note:
While our engineering team is mindful of keeping DOM elements and
classes consistent, we cannot guarantee that element IDs will never
change across future updates. The best practice for running custom
scripts on the checkout page is to avoid interacting with the checkout
code directly, and these instructions are provided as a consideration
for developers who have weighed the risk.
Headless Checkout
Now
that we’ve covered some of the standard customizations you might want
to make to checkout, let’s get into the more advanced options.
BigCommerce surfaces APIs that cover the full checkout process
end-to-end, which means that you can build a fully custom checkout
either on top of the native storefront, or on a remote platform.
First, let’s set a quick baseline for what we mean by “headless checkout.”
Headless
means that the front-end presentation layer has been decoupled from the
backend platform that powers it. Remember when we talked about the
layers that make up the Optimized One-page checkout? When you’re
building a headless checkout, you’re still leveraging the backend
application logic that’s surfaced through the API, but you replace the
frontend presentation layer — or “head” — with a UI that’s purpose-built
to your design needs and technology preferences.
You
have several options for building decoupled checkouts, and the right
choice for the job will depend on the level of control that you need,
your ability to take on advanced development and security compliance,
and the domain on which you need to run the checkout. We’ll talk through
those considerations below.
1. Checkout JS SDK.
The BigCommerce Checkout JS SDK
is a wrapper library for the Storefront Checkout API, which is the same
API that powers the native checkout page. You can use the Checkout SDK
to call methods on the Storefront Checkout API to move the shopper through the purchase process.
The
Checkout SDK is a tool for building a custom UI for the checkout page,
on the BigCommerce store domain. Essentially, it allows you to build a
checkout UI replacement on BigCommerce.
The
frontend technology that you use to build your custom checkout page is
entirely up to you — you could use React or Vue, or even vanilla
JavaScript or jQuery. This gives you a great deal of freedom to build
highly customized checkout experiences, including features like a local
pickup or delivery step or other add-ons.
So
how does the Checkout SDK relate to the concept of headless checkout?
Checkout pages built with the SDK are considered headless because you’re
replacing the native presentation layer with one that’s custom-built on
another framework. The Checkout SDK can also provide a checkout
solution for remote headless storefronts, if you redirect back to the
BigCommerce domain for the checkout step. This can be a good option if
you need a great deal of control over the checkout look-and-feel, but
want to reduce the overhead of building a remote checkout completely
from scratch.
2. Embedded Checkout.
Embedded
Checkout is a version of the Optimized One-page checkout that can be
iframed into an external website, like a CMS. Embedded checkout is a
great solution for a remote headless storefront, because shoppers can
complete their purchase in-context, without being redirected to a
BigCommerce domain.
The
advantage of Embedded Checkout is that it limits the PCI scope taken on
by the developer. Because the checkout page is on the BigCommerce
domain and isn’t modified by external code, BigCommerce PCI compliance
can extend to the remote storefront’s checkout. That built-in security
comes with a few trade offs when it comes to how much the checkout page
can be customized. Some styling options are available, allowing you to
customize things like colors and font sizes, but the ability to inject
custom CSS or JavaScript is limited.
Today, embedded checkout is coupled to the BigCommerce for WordPress
plugin, but soon we’ll be releasing documentation on using embedded
checkout with a wider range of CMSs and external storefronts. Stay
tuned!
3. Server-to-Server Checkout API.
The Server-to-Server (S2S) Checkout API
allows developers to orchestrate a checkout on a remote server. This
means that developers can leverage the BigCommerce backend business
logic to convert a cart to an order, external to the BigCommerce
storefront.
To
understand how the S2S Checkout API contrasts with other headless
checkout options, let’s compare it to the Checkout SDK and embedded
checkout. The Checkout SDK allows you to have a high degree of control
over presentation, but it must be used on the native storefront.
Embedded checkout allows you to use the BigCommerce checkout on a remote
storefront easily and securely, but it gives you less control over the
checkout page presentation. The S2S Checkout API allows you to build
your checkout on a remote storefront, and it gives you complete control
over the presentation.
The
S2S Checkout API provides maximum flexibility both in terms of
presentation and context. You can use the S2S checkout API to build a
checkout page on a remote storefront, mobile app, or other checkout
experience, like a kiosk. Along with that flexibility comes a heavier
development lift, and because you are building and hosting the form that
will accept credit card information, responsibility for making sure the
checkout is PCI compliant.
Conclusion
BigCommerce
offers a wide range of options for customizing the checkout page —
everything from settings that can be adjusted from within the control
panel, to completely custom-built headless checkout pages. In this blog
post, we’ve surveyed a number of those options, including:
Custom Address Form Fields
Custom Styles and CSS
JavaScript injection
Headless Checkout, three ways
No matter which checkout customization option you choose, be sure to visit our Developer Portal for detailed documentation on the features mentioned here.
we introduced the Amazon Supply Chain Standards and looked at some
best practices that will help responsible business owners avoid pitfalls
while ensuring the products they sell on Amazon are safe, sustainable
and ethically sourced.
This post examines how to get started, beginning with how to locate manufacturers with the best records and highest standards.
Let’s talk manufacturers
Finding the right manufacturer when the goal is compliance with a
strict but nebulous policy such as Amazon’s Supply Chain Standards can
seem daunting. Where do you start?
And what about the question that is likely on everyone’s minds: Is China still a good source of goods under this new policy set?
How do manufacturers in China compare with manufacturers in other
parts of the world when it comes to worker safety, product safety,
ethical sourcing, and best environmental impact?
While it’s tempting to make generalizations about all manufacturers
in a specific country, understand that every manufacturer has practices
and policies that are going to vary. One shouldn’t be quick to judge
based on location alone.
Some people have legitimate concerns about worker safety, product
safety, ethical sourcing, and environmental impact in China,
particularly in light of recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and
near-constant stories of human rights violations taking place in the
country.
That being said, many Chinese manufacturers are committed to worker
safety, product safety, ethical sourcing, and environmental
sustainability, and have made significant investments in these areas.
There are also certifications and standards, such as ISO 9001, that
manufacturers can use to demonstrate their commitment to these values.
It is important to thoroughly research potential suppliers,
regardless of their location, and to judge each individually by
performing the kind of analysis outlined in Part 1
and paying attention to each company’s practices and policies related
to worker safety, product safety, ethical sourcing, and environmental
impact before you engage in a business relationship.
What’s that about certifications?
Certifications are provided by independent organizations whose
mission is to measure a company’s compliance with various standards.
There are a bunch of official certifications that you can look for that
indicate a manufacturer has high safety and ethics standards, including:
ISO 9001:
A quality management certification that demonstrates a company’s
commitment to meeting customer needs and providing high-quality
products.
OHSAS 18001:
An occupational health and safety certification that demonstrates a
company’s commitment to providing a safe work environment for employees.
CE marking: A European Union certification indicating that a product meets high safety, health, and environmental standards.
UL certification: A safety certification from Underwriters Laboratories indicating that a product meets high safety and performance standards.
NSF International: A certification for food, water, and consumer goods, indicating that a product is safe for human consumption and use.
Greenguard Environmental Institute (GREENGUARD): A certification indicating that a product meets rigorous standards for indoor air quality and has low chemical emissions.
This list is not exhaustive, and a manufacturer’s commitment to
safety and quality can also be demonstrated through other means, such as
in-house quality control processes, supplier audits, and third-party
assessments.
It is important to thoroughly research a potential supplier to assess
their practices and policies related to safety, quality, and
sustainability.
How about industry organizations?
A good place to start your research is with industry organizations
that sellers can join to help them conduct their online businesses in an
ethical and environmentally sustainable way. Manufacturers who belong
to this type of organization exhibit high standards that should line up
nicely with Amazon’s Supply Chain Standards. Some popular examples
include:
Fair Trade USA: A non-profit organization that certifies products made by workers who are paid fair wages and work in safe conditions.
Rainforest Alliance: An international non-profit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and promote sustainable livelihoods.
Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): An international certification for textiles made from organic fibers and produced using sustainable and ethical methods.
B Corp:
A global community of companies that are using business as a force for
good and meet high standards of social and environmental performance,
accountability, and transparency.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition:
A global coalition of brands, retailers, manufacturers, academics, and
non-profits working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of
apparel and footwear products.
Sustainable Agricultural Network:
An international non-profit organization that promotes sustainable
agriculture and protects natural resources through certifying and
promoting sustainable agriculture practices.
Fairtrade International : A global network of fair trade organizations working to secure greater justice in trade and promote sustainable development.
Joining an organization such as those in the list above and seeking
certifications from them can help sellers demonstrate their commitment
to ethical and environmentally sustainable business practices, and can
help build customer trust and increase sales.
Sustainable sourcing sounds like a fantastic goal, but where can a
small businessperson (or large businessperson for that matter) learn
more about sustainable sourcing practices? Start here:
Websites of industry organizations: Websites of
organizations such as Fair Trade USA, Rainforest Alliance, and Global
Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) (see links above) are great sources of
information on sustainable sourcing practices, certification standards,
and the latest industry developments.
Online courses and certifications: Many organizations offer online courses and certifications, such as Sustainable Sourcing Professional certifications from the Institute for Supply Management, which can help you learn about sustainable sourcing practices and earn recognition for your expertise.
Books and articles: There are many books and
articles written on sustainable sourcing practices, including “The Lean
Supply Chain: Managing the Challenge” by Barry Evans and Robert Mason
and “Developing a Sustainable Supply Chain: Management Issues, Insights,
Concepts, and Tools ” by Robert Stroufe and Steven Melnyk – just one of
a great 18-piece series called Environmental and Social Sustainability for Business Advantage.
Conferences and trade shows: Attending conferences and trade shows, such as the Ethical Sourcing Forum or the Sustainable Brands Conferences,
can provide you with opportunities to network with others in the
industry and learn about the latest developments in sustainable
sourcing.
Industry experts: Connecting with industry experts
on social media, such as sustainability consultants, procurement
specialists, and CSR experts, can provide you with valuable insights and
advice on sustainable sourcing practices.
Need a consult on seller and sourcing best practices? We’re here to help.
Buying 3P notes is espionage might not catch you, but blackmailers sure could
For third-party sellers, dealing with Amazon
can be frustrating and difficult. But that is no excuse to embrace
corporate espionage. Unfortunately, a significant number of 3P sellers
go down this road. This adds an unacceptable level of risk to their
businesses. Buying 3P notes IS espionage. Before you completely dismiss
this idea, think for a moment.
Have you been offered the notes on your Amazon account?
Have you paid a service or an Amazon employee for notations?
Or, have you heard about sellers paying for details on their competition?
All of these happen – daily. And all of them are subject to both criminal prosecution and civil litigation.
But is it really corporate espionage?
Yes, Virginia, these behaviors really are corporate espionage.
Here is why, Amazon’s data belongs to Amazon.
In other words, this is critical business information regarding
third-party seller accounts. This includes products, sales, risk
management, payments, reviews, feedback and more. All of this data falls
under the classification of trade secrets. Especially since Amazon
promises to protect its third-party sellers from data breaches and
prying eyes.
For example, here are some scenarios where 3P sellers have been known
to acquire Amazon data – in direct contravention of the law:
Purchasing Seller Performance notes on their own account.
There are companies that openly advertise they will obtain these notes
for you. The service providers have insiders they pay off at Amazon for
this information.
Buying competitor information. Sellers sometimes ask Amazon employees to give them data on their competitors, including sales volumes on specific ASINs.
Buying Amazon 1P data. In the boldest scenarios, 3P
sellers pay Amazon 1P personnel to find out about Amazon’s vendors and
pricing on competitive items.
In all three of these cases, the data being purchased is clearly
Amazon property. Therefore, buying it on the down-low is clearly illegal. Buying 3P notes is corporate espionage.
What can realistically happen to you if you buy Amazon data?
Technically speaking, a third-party seller buying and/or stealing Amazon data could be criminally prosecuted. Will they? Doubtful.
In fact, it’s also unlikely they would be civilly sued by Amazon.
Instead, Amazon would probably block their selling account and
permanently hold their funds.
Can this happen? Yes. Amazon has busted employees on three
continents for selling data. When they did so, they worked hard to
discover which sellers were buying the information and blocked those
accounts. They also held very large dollar amounts that were never
disbursed.
Scenarios that have played out for many Amazon sellers.
Nobody talks about these scenarios as it falls under the heading of blackmail.
A Seller Support employee, for example, may be on the phone with a
seller. They dangle the idea of providing competitive information,
notations and the like. (Keep in mind that they likely don’t have access to much – if any – of this information.)
For instance, they will ask for payment and provide some information.
Then later, the Seller Support rep demands more money, allegedly for
“hot” information. If the seller refuses, the rouge Seller Support rep
threatens to turn them in to Amazon and get them suspended, or to
otherwise harm their account.
In conclusion, if the fear of breaking the law isn’t enough reason to
avoid these tactics, perhaps the fear of blackmail will be. Stay safe.
Keep it legal.
“What is the No. 1 type of suspension on Amazon right now?”
In the years that I’ve been asked that question, the answer has never been clearer than it is right now: linked accounts.
Since September 2021, linked accounts suspensions have dominated the
Amazon account suspension types worked on at Riverbend Consulting. Keep
reading to find out what triggers these account suspensions and how you
can protect yourself against them.
Does Amazon Allow Sellers to Have More than One Account?
Third-party sellers are allowed to have more than one account on the
Amazon Marketplace. But there are rules. In brief, a seller must have a
valid business reason for operating more than one account. For example:
Selling in different categories, such as an account with health and beauty products and another account with pet products
Maintaining separate accounts for various brands
Operating one account that is private label and another that is for reseller goods
In addition, each account should truly operate as a separate entity.
It should have its own LLC, bank account and credit card. Funds should
not be co-mingled.
Why Does Amazon Suspend Sellers with Linked Accounts?
There are a few different reasons Amazon may have a problem with one seller maintaining multiple or linked accounts.
First, a single person or entity cannot sell the same ASIN. This is
considered a vehicle for price-fixing by both Amazon and the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission. If Amazon believes that inventory is being
shared across related accounts, it raises a red flag.
Secondly, many linked account suspensions are because one account has
been closed by Amazon in the past. In other words, Amazon shut down an
account for enforcement reasons, and then the seller opened another
account. This isn’t allowed. You get one shot. If you blow it, Amazon
doesn’t want you on the platform.
Looking at it from Amazon’s point of view, this makes sense. If a
seller has an account shut down for inauthentic or condition problems,
for example, Amazon doesn’t want them to simply move that questionable
inventory to another new account and sell it again. Or if a seller is
deemed untrustworthy because of platform manipulation or other offenses,
Amazon won’t trust them with a different account.
Is Everyone Suspended for Linked Accounts Guilty?
Not everyone suspended for linked accounts violated Amazon’s
policies. There are many false positives picked up by Amazon’s
artificial intelligence (AI) and investigators.
Dozens of factors can link accounts. Amazon doesn’t reveal its
formulas and technologies, but it’s clear that Amazon links accounts by
factors such as:
Computer “fingerprint,” including versions of software, screen size and resolution, etc.
IP address
Phone number
Addresses
Credit card and bank information
Email addresses and logins
Sometimes, sellers are linked to other closed accounts by some of
these – or other – factors. But they aren’t always related to the
account.
What Do I Do If I’m Suspended for Linked Accounts?
We’ve worked on hundreds of account suspensions for linked accounts:
Some were false positives
Some were sister companies that are allowed to have separate selling accounts under Amazon’s rules
Some were related to past accounts closed by Amazon for disciplinary reasons
Here are some examples:
An Amazon Seller who forgot to ship the college textbooks he sold a
decade ago. When he tried to open a new seller account for his
brand-spanking-new brand, Amazon linked the two and shut him down.
An electronics seller who was shut down years ago for Order Defect
Rate. When his newer – and successful – account was popped for
inauthentic, Amazon also found the relation to the old account.
A supplement seller works as a consultant to other supplement
sellers – and logs into their accounts. Amazon detected the activity and
assumed there was shared ownership.
Can these tricky suspensions be solved? Yes! But it’s not easy. It
takes detective work, patience, and sometimes a plan of action for every
single account involved. (Sometimes that means two accounts. Sometimes
it means five.)
Every situation is different and requires a unique plan of action
sent to Amazon. Some tips on how to write a winning plan of action for
Seller Performance include:
Ask Amazon for the first three letters of the linked account’s name, if they didn’t already provide it for you.
Don’t simply deny the connection – even if it’s a false positive.
Explain why the connection occurred and why it shouldn’t have shut down your account.
If there is an older closed account you’ve been linked to, solve
that account suspension first. Then ask to have your current account
re-opened.
What’s the lesson? Only those with a strong business case for
operating multiple accounts should do so. And even then, don’t commit
the cardinal Amazon sins. Use separate bank accounts, separate credit
cards, separate LLCs, and carry separate inventory.
In crisis, there is great opportunity. With brick-and-mortar stores
closed and wounded, Amazon has stepped up its game. Join Joe Zalta and
Lesley Hensell as they discuss strategies Amazon sellers can use to
capitalize – right now and in the future. Don’t despair. It’s prime
time.
Restricted Products – Should You Appeal? In one word – Yes!
Does this mean you should appeal all Restricted Products warnings and product eliminations?
No, of course not.
The majority of Restricted Products enforcements will correctly remove items that are not allowed to be sold at Amazon.
Although sometimes these enforcements can be wrong.
Therefore giving you the chance to have an appeal.
What Restricted Products enforcement may be successfully appealed?
Here are some examples:
Commonly sold over-the-counter products are wrongfully suspended as a ‘prescription required.’
Item supposed to contain restricted ingredients, but do not.
Amazon says item is professional use only medical devices-but items are not
How do I appeal Restricted Product enforcement?
Don’t delete your listing. Even though the notification from Amazon
says that sellers should delete listings and recall FBA inventory. That should only be done if an appeal is unsuccessful.
Take a hard look at the detail page and product itself before you
appeal. Just because a similar product is still live at Amazon doesn’t
mean your item should be returned.
You know that your item is allowed to be sold at Amazon? Then you
will need to create a case with Seller Support to provide the
information and proper documents.
How do I prevent Restricted Products enforcement?
Amazon expects sellers to know and follow its rules and policies for selling on the site.
Check and double-check Amazon’s policies on Restricted Product in Seller Central before listing a new item.
If you’re unsure if your item should be listed at Amazon –don’t list it.
Every year in prep for Q4 and the holiday season, Amazon emails sellers updating them on this year’s requirements. These updated requirements usually sent to those who sell toys and games on their platform throughout the holiday season.
These requirements can vary slightly year by year. They also differ from the normal Q1-3 requirements for Toys and Games.
For MFN Sellers in 2020, the requirements are as follows:
Performance Criteria based on Seller-Fulfilled Orders (not fulfilled by Amazon)
Your first sale on Amazon must be prior to September 1, 2020 and does not need to be specific to Toys & Games.
You must have processed and shipped at least 25 seller-fulfilled orders from August 15, 2020 through October 14, 2020.
Pre-fulfillment cancel rates must be no greater than 1.75% from September 15, 2020 through October 14, 2020.
Late shipment rates must be no greater than 4% from September 15, 2020 through October 14, 2020.
Order defect rate must be no greater than 1% as of October 14, 2020.
If your Amazon account doesn’t meet these requirements:
Amazon encourages you to take corrective action now to be able to
sell through seller fulfillment in Toys & Games during the holiday
season.
We have included the following suggestions to remain eligible or improve your performance.
Monitor your customer metrics and take corrective action when necessary.
Check your orders frequently in the Manage Orders section of your account.
Minimize order cancellations; only show inventory for sale that you have available to ship.
Update your account status when you are not available to fulfill orders (for example, on vacation).
Ship orders and confirm shipment in a timely manner.
Ensure your seller policies are up-to-date.
You can also review the below Seller Central Help Pages for more information:
Every business – big and small – needs a disaster plan
Don’t think it cannot happen to you. For small and mid-sized businesses, disasters can take many forms:
Fires that destroy your home, warehouse or office
Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and severe storms that damage office and home locations or take out power and communications
Power or internet outages – from a day to a week – that disrupt your ability to fill orders and communicate with customers
Personal illness or family emergencies that make owners, managers or key employees unable to fulfill their work responsibilities
So what’s a small business to do? Have a disaster plan in place – and
train your entire team on the details. Think through these action
steps:
Make sure more than one person has the ability to put your Amazon
seller account on vacation mode. If a fire, flood or something else
strikes and you cannot fulfill orders, it’s critical to go on vacation
ASAP while you sort out the details.
Have more than one team member trained to answer customer service
messages. Again, in the event orders cannot be filled or are filled
late, you must be able to communicate this to customers as soon as
possible. By being open and honest, you will avoid negative feedback and
unwanted cancellations.
Train your team to understand that going on vacation mode to protect
your account is more important than ensuring a flow of new orders.
Don’t let the panic of temporary lost revenue tempt you into making
business-ending mistakes.
Have a backup location for your inventory. Do you know of a storage
space, warehouse, or other solution in case your current location is
damaged or off the grid? How would you move your inventory there in a
disaster?
Create a virtual “fulfillment relocation kit.” Know which technology
and tools would be needed to quickly and easily replicate your
fulfillment operations in another location – such as a laptop, label
printer, shrink wrap solution, boxes, labels, etc.
If your business operates on platforms other than Amazon, be ready
to leverage social media to communicate to your customers. Have canned
graphics ready to go, and let your loyal customers know what’s going on,
how they can help, and when they can expect you to be back in business.
Planning ahead can save you a lot of headaches in the end – and ensure your business is creating cash flow faster.
The Amazon mantra: Amazon Seller Customer service.
Amazon sellers with years of success know that one of the keys–if not
the biggest key–is customer service. Amazon prides itself on the buyer
experience and ensuring timely, solutions-driven help. It expects the
same standards and customer service operations from its sellers.
After all, Jeff Bezos once had this to say:
“The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the
customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.” –
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
Amazon’s internal philosophy is to keep its eye on the customer, not the competition, to grow and sustain its business.
What IS good amazon seller customer service?
Good amazon seller customer service centers around meticulously
listening to and resolving your customers’ needs and desires. If you do
not constantly seek opportunities to improve your customer service, your
relationships stagnate. For a seller, that relationship really means
repeat buyers. To be a successful Amazon seller, the relationship – and the repeat buyers – are paramount. And when polled, buyers cite customer service among the reasons they re-patronize a seller.
It’s not all about flashy product photography or prices. In fact, no
matter how unique your product is or how talented your team is,
customers will remember the direct interaction they have with your
company. If it’s a bad interaction, they’ll tell others and won’t shop
with you again.
I frequently have Amazon sellers ask me how they can improve their
customer service. The answer to this question varies, but here are a few
universal truths that help sellers set themselves apart from the
competition.
Are you efficient? Efficiency doesn’t just mean
getting a task done as fast as possible; it means answering customer
service inquiries in a timely, organized fashion. This lets you address
truly complex buyer concerns with more time on your side. If you’re
buried under customer queries and questions, and have no time, personnel
or process to quickly respond, you’re in trouble. Creating templates
for common questions, generating autoresponders for quick responses, and
using other time-saving tools will alleviate the burdens and backflows
of customer interaction, and prevent customers from being
disappointed—and disappearing.
Is your tone appropriate? Responding to buyers with
empathy, patience, and consistency defuses tension before it can build.
Most buyers want their concerns to be seen and acknowledged. As
difficult as it is, kind words bring rewards.
Are you being clear? We all think we’re superb
communicators. Most of us are not. Review your communications. Are you
being clear, concise and accurate? How’s your tone? Do you appear
courteous or curt? Some customers will be angry, and others, full of
questions. And some will be chatty. The trick is knowing how to handle
all these customers and provide the same service every time. But above
all, write with clarity and solution-finding in mind. Avoid hostility,
sarcasm and criticism. Check to make sure you are not unclear or
ambiguous. Don’t kill the chance of repeat sales for a quick stab at the
customer.
Create solutions, not barriers. When you’re a
buyer, you want the retailer or department store to solve your problem,
be it a refund, exchange or just empathizing with your experience.
Amazon buyers want the same thing. Be sure to have clear, concise
policies about returns. Be mindful that you might need to bend
occasionally to satisfy a buyer.
Poor amazon seller customer service can leave a lasting stain on public perception
Let me also share how dangerous it is for a seller to not satisfy the
customer, or to become snarky or critical. Social media. In 10 seconds,
an angry buyer can make vicious claims against you. One tweet or
Facebook post can wipe out a seller in seconds. It’s not worth it.
So what’s next? Be honest with yourself. Look critically at all
phases of your customer service operations. If you’re not consistently
achieving all four of the above points, go back to the drawing board.
Getting this right sooner is always better and will help you scale your
business to greater heights.
Also, share with your team that Amazon seller customer service is the
cornerstone for ultimate success or failure; that each customer
interaction will be measured on a scale from terrible to terrific. Shoot
for terrific! It encourages repeat business and strengthens customer
loyalty.
Which brings us back to the question, “What is good Amazon
seller customer service?” It is customer-focused attention with empathy
and active listening. Bring these to your organization and you’ll be
successful on Amazon. Long term.
Imaginary Price Gouging Mania and Shuttering Second Accounts.
Amazon enforcement goes nuts! Seller Performance is shutting down
seller accounts for imaginary price gouging – when will it end? And a
big “yup, that’s what she said” on second and related accounts. They are
going down faster than ever. Find out more with Kelly Johnston and
Lesley Hensell on today’s Amazon Seller Happy Hour.
Software development without a roadmap is akin to driving off a cliff —
an undertaking that seriously jeopardizes your product’s life. Here’s
how to develop a business technology roadmap that ensures your project
safely reaches its final destination.
When people have an idea for a piece of software or an app, they tend
to be pretty energized about getting it to market as quickly as
possible. It’s exciting to create an app or piece of software no one’s
ever imagined or built before. As software developers, we’re usually
right there with them.
At some point, though, we need to sit down with clients and give them
a sometimes sobering reality: software development without a business technology roadmap
can be a lot like driving aimlessly from point A to point Z. Sure, you
get to discover new worlds and experience unexpected adventures, but you
also frequently get lost, spend more money, and can lose enthusiasm for
the journey.
“Agile” And “Fast” Are Not The Same In Software Development #
Many people think an Agile approach to software development discards
long-term planning. Perhaps it’s because we so often use the word “sprint” in conversation. In reality, all good software development must flow from a business technology roadmap, as it:
Provides context around the development team’s daily work.
Responds to shifts in, among other things, the competitive landscape.
So, what is a business technology roadmap, and how can one be
developed to support software development? That’s what we’re here to
talk about.
Unlike detailed blueprints that lay out all tasks, deadlines, bug reports, and more along the way, technology roadmaps are high-level visual summaries highlighting a company’s vision or plans.
In an Agile approach, a
technology roadmap feeds the sprint and grooming processes, providing
insight into how the product will travel from start to finish. It makes
it easier for development teams to:
Understand how the product will evolve.
Make near-term decisions that don’t compromise future work.
Gain awareness of which features are or aren’t working.
Companies can use technology roadmaps to review their internal IT,
DevOps, infrastructure, architecture, software, internal system, and
hardware procurement policies and procedures with innovation and
efficiency in mind. The roadmap helps them define how a new IT tool,
process, or technology supports their business strategy and growth and
aligns projects with short and long-term goals.
There are hundreds of templates companies use for
their tech roadmaps. A typical IT roadmap covers everything from
requirements to testing and integrations. A dev team’s work dictates
software or development roadmaps, highlighting tech initiatives, epics,
and features while communicating the team’s primary goals.
For a typical client, a roadmap follows the following structure.
We created a list of all the features based on competition and wish list,
We narrowed that down based on what we wanted to be and what our beta users wanted,
We used that narrowed list to start technical planning and user stories,
As new features came up, we ran that through the roadmap to know if it fits in or how it should be prioritized,
We adjusted the roadmap if needed every 3-5 months.
The Role A Technology Roadmap Plays In An Agile Approach
In practice, a technology roadmap in Agile software development:
Facilitates planning activities by recognizing
the journey is just as important as the destination. It forces teams to
“come out of the weeds” and think more strategically.
How this might play out:
Your dev team suggests that the product needs built-in calling, meeting
scheduling, and multi-layer reporting features. That forces you into planning activities
like grooming meetings and getting outside feedback where you dissect
each feature and come up with scenarios for setting them up. You might
also discuss things like vendor selection for each feature.
Conversations tend to follow an “or” pattern, as in “are we going to do
this, or this, or that?”
Highlights key focus areas and works as a navigational tool to help the entire team succeed.
How this might play out:
Putting a spotlight on the areas the team needs to focus on forces you
to decide who you want to be and what you want to become. Put another
way, if you’re tailoring your product to a specific group, say inside
sales reps, highlighting core features that matter to this narrower
group of users helps eliminate tasks that might be used in other
projects.
Works as a critical communication tool both within the teams and with other key stakeholders.
How this might play out:
As your project progresses and team members remind you about particular
features stakeholders said they wanted, you can easily refer back to
the roadmap to see if it was there in the first place. You can see where
you chose to make certain development decisions, i.e., “we chose to be an inside sales rep tool,” and “we chose
to be this or that.” This acts as sort of a forcing function, helping
you revise the roadmap and rearrange the order and priority of tasks
based on how they affect your schedule and deadline goals.
Different development companies and teams use different charts to
construct their agile product roadmap, but they all tend to include:
A “longer-term strategic theme,” which points teams in a specific direction based on their assigned tasks.
A list of quarterly outcomes or objectives and key
results (OKR) goals that each team will focus on to achieve the
strategic theme. These goals basically answer the question, “what are
the things we may build?” The answer lies in how you define success.
Each team gives their best guesses as to how they’ll achieve each
quarter’s goals.
Additional columns contain OKR goals, but with fewer and fewer
“things we may build” listings. That’s because teams don’t know what
they’ll be working on three or four quarters out so there are fewer best
guesses. As the project moves forward and goes through testing, the
boxes for the later quarters fill up.
More detailed software roadmaps cover milestones
like player launch, product details like user profiles, UX/UI such as
desktop icons and wireframes, and dev goals like press-to-play and
performance enhancements.
Unlike traditional software development approaches, Agile focuses on the strategy, not the plan.
That means outcomes, not outputs, are prioritized; tactical plans are
left for backlogs. In a way, they’re designed to communicate uncertainty
and provide transparency into what stops along the way are likely to
remain as is and which might be in flux. For this reason, it’s crucial
to update Agile roadmaps often as priorities shift and change.
How A Technology Roadmap Feeds The Agile Sprint And Grooming Processes
Sprints frequently go off track, which can have a
negative effect on downstream operations. A technology roadmap helps
teams run more successful sprints by setting a foundation and
identifying how work should be organized so activities can be finished
in a short time period.
A sprint goal refers to what can be delivered in the sprint.
A sprint backlog is the list of tasks to be completed during the sprint to achieve the goal.
To illustrate, let’s say you want to develop a new product feature.
During the sprint planning meeting, team members need to “groom” the
backlog and say which tasks they’ll work on. This is where many teams
are led down the wrong path. They assume planning for the next two weeks
is easy-peasy. They overlook or forget the work they’re planning must
also satisfy the established goal.
A good backlog:
Lists each work item in order of importance.
Includes full-developed user stories the team can begin to execute on.
Has a current estimate for each work item.
Because it’s easy for teams to get bogged down in the details of a project, a technology roadmap helps them stay focused on high-level objectives and true customer needs.
The Role Of A Technology Roadmap In Digital Transformation
Today’s digital transformations focus on three key areas:
customer experience, operational processes, and business models.
Whether it’s for a small company or multi-national enterprise, a
well-developed business technology roadmap helps companies reach short
and long-term digital transformation goals by allowing them to:
Remain agile enough to accommodate course changes.
Build long-term value in the product.
Avoid roadblocks and other obstacles.
Because digital transformation is a relatively new concept, it’s often a
journey filled with blind spots. What does it mean in terms of the
scope and intensity of change? What will the repercussions be of
pursuing and implementing it?
On the one hand, the digital transformation process is seen as using
technologies to create new or modify existing business models. On the
other hand, it’s about companies needing to embrace new cultures,
structures, and processes that align with their IT architecture. One
thing’s for sure: digital transformation is a fundamental change for any
company.
A technology roadmap assists overall digital transformation goals by answering some key questions:
How is digital changing or poised to change the business and its industry?
What new offerings, operating models, and business models can it enable?
How is digital affecting the business’s competitive advantage? Where
does the company remain well-positioned, and where is it disadvantaged?
Which digital opportunities are consistent with a company’s strategy
based on value potential? In what order should the business pursue
them?
What gaps in systems and capabilities need to be filled to succeed?
What are the targets, timelines, and accountabilities for individual
projects and programs? What steps are needed to finance the journey?
Just about every business can benefit from developing their business
technology roadmap as part of their digital transformation plan. New
digital advances and the opportunity to improve traditional technologies
to change customer relationships and employee experiences put
businesses on a clear and rewarding path for turning technology into
transformation.
Creating A Technology Roadmap To Drive Successful Innovation
Many businesses already have a technology roadmap. The question is
whether that map is pointing to where they want to go, or has it only
carried them to the present leg of the journey? Are they focused only on
existing projects, or are they anticipating future breakthroughs?
The best technology roadmaps continually evolve,
adding new destination points and aligning all resources and
capabilities behind long-term goals. It’s not an easy process, but a
methodical approach helps.
1. Identify Goals
Technology roadmaps must integrate long-term goals and visions.
It’s often best to start at the end and work backward. For instance, in
software development, milestones are often thought of as software
releases or new versions of a project. But with a business roadmap,
goals and initiatives also include things like hitting revenue targets
or launching in a new region or market, basically anything that’s a
significant result of combined efforts.
2. Seek Input From Stakeholders
For smaller businesses, this often means involving everyone.
Including all pertinent stakeholders and decision-makers brings
different views and priorities to the table and helps establish a clear
direction for where the company’s headed. As collaboration is key to
most business success, it also increases the chance of the roadmap being
implemented. For specific projects, it weighs all pros and cons and
ensures the new technology meets everyone’s particular needs.
3. Evaluate Current Systems And Chart A Course
All business technology roadmaps include negotiating a budget.
Now’s the time to question previous decisions to see if they still
align with the company’s vision. For example, a company has the goal of
doubling customers, so assumes it must increase hardware capacity to
meet it. That can cost significant sums of money. Another approach might
be to make strategic changes to the software or combine current tools
with custom software, typically a far less expensive strategy.
4. Be Open To Change
Clear vision and a revised budget in hand, it’s now possible to view
the business landscape with a critical set of eyes looking. Perhaps a
company previously developed a custom app because no existing product
satisfied its needs — but now that software exists! The custom software
could possibly be retired for the new software that will be supported by
someone else.
That makes it possible to use in-house staff to develop new,
potentially more profitable products. Sometimes bringing in an outside
consultant to audit systems, processes, and teams help identify changes a business can make to support improvements and future initiatives.
5. Set Priorities
Up next is determining what’s critical, blocking, or simple.
Items should be prioritized, and continuous feedback should be
solicited from stakeholders. Project management tools can simplify the
process and ensures items are linked to their dependencies and what
needs to be done first is clear.
6. Build Out Timelines
Each task or initiative comes with its own level of effort. It’s
critical to pull in the right technical people so to get an estimate
around each effort. This should not be a long, drawn-out endeavor.
Instead, it should be a quick activity that verifies
how everyone’s on the same page. Often leadership has items it believes
can be implemented quickly, but the team is of the mind it will take
much longer to pull off.
Once there’s a clear view of what can be worked on, when it can be worked on, and how long it might take to implement, there’s enough information to fashion a budget
for each item. Each item’s details should be worked through fully to
get an as accurate as possible estimate for what’s needed. Budget
decisions can also affect how urgent or necessary an item truly is. Some
businesses find they’re better off putting something on the back burner
or investing in a service that solves the same problem.
8. Visualize The Roadmap
Finally! Project implementation planning can now begin. Each project
should be laid out and overlaid with the resources needed for project
delivery. If working in an Agile software development environment,
there’s no need to write out every detail of every feature. Simply focus on high-level component delivery,
marketing dates, and other top-level deadlines. While building out the
software, Agile teams can pull in features on a different schedule, but
they should always work towards the company’s high-level schedule.
Many businesses find that creating a steering committee or oversight
committee helps to see if initiatives are following a steady path or are
veering off-course. These committees can be helpful in that they’re not
involved in the day-to-day delivery of a product like development teams
are.
Doing What’s Best For The Journey And The Destination
Rushed software development projects don’t save time or money, and they often negatively affect quality
— the greater a company’s rush to launch, the greater the risk. Before
starting any software development project, a business should take the
time needed to develop a technology roadmap.
Decades of experience have taught there is a lot of truth in the
adage that “prior planning prevents poor performance.” Moving too fast
can cause enormous problems for software development, dooming them to failure.
Creating a business technology roadmap gives enterprises the best of
all worlds. It drives digital transformation while being agile enough to
accommodate course changes. By the time the final destination or launch
is reached, long-term value has been built into the product, roadblocks
have been avoided, and other obstacles that often run other development
projects into a ditch have been overcome.
One of the most important decisions an Amazon
seller makes is where to source their goods. Experienced sellers know
the gold standard of sourcing is directly from the manufacturer, brand
owner, and at the very least, an authorized distributor. Conversely,
Amazon frowns upon retail arbitrage, liquidation, other e-commerce
platforms like eBay and Alibaba
and unverifiable obscure vendors. What category do outlet stores fall
into since they are technically manufacturer direct via retail
arbitrage?
Let’s explore the good, the bad and the ugly of this type of bargain
shopping so you can decide for yourself if sourcing Amazon products from
outlet malls is safe.
What ends up at an outlet mall, anyway?
Outlet mall shoppers often go for the bargains. But why can you find premium brands at a discounted price?
Last season’s styles: retailers keep their shelves
current so older designs get boxed up and shipped to the outlet stores
once newer merchandise trickles in.
Overstock: Excess units of a design or size that
are unlikely to sell within a specific time frame at the retail store
are sent to the outlet store for a quicker turn over.
Defects: Small quality issues that make the unit
unsuitable for sale in a retail store at retail prices are found in
outlet stores. Imperfections like color bleeds, small stains, poor
seams, and incorrect labels do not pass muster against retail store
quality or against Amazon’s new condition guidelines.
Items specifically made for sale in premium outlet malls:
These products may carry the same familiar labels and be produced by
the same company as their retail-store counterparts, but the inferior
quality accounts for the cheaper price.
Big Problems for Amazon Sellers
Excess inventory and last season’s items are ideal finds if you are
going to source from outlet stores. Although, you will quickly find
that items in these categories often account for a small portion of
inventory. Problems arise when well-meaning sellers buy and list
inventory with imperfections and those made especially for outlet stores
against the made-for-retail store Amazon listing, often resulting in
inauthentic and condition complaints. Unless you are extremely familiar
with the brand and its newest styles, it can be hard to know if you’re
listing a retail store reject or a different item altogether.
Riverbend’s advice is to err on the side of caution and prioritize the
health of your seller account over a good deal.
