About That BigCommerce Amazon MCF Partnership

SaaS
Written By Rick Watson

BigCommerce released a tie-up with Amazon Multichannel Fulfillment.

In the short term, it will likely not move the needle very much. In the long term?

I have a few more thoughts.

  • Big blockers in the short-term: Amazon boxes and FBA limits will mute the impact of this. But this will likely change over time as Amazon starts to expand its third-party fulfillment efforts. I'll be honest, I had completely forgotten about MCF.

  • Snark comment: Shopify is arming the rebels and BigCommerce is arming the empire?

The reality is you could hook up Amazon MCF up to Shopify too, however.

Strategic comment: I think Shopify building its own Fulfillment Network is somewhat misguided (and likely underfunded), so I like BigCommerce's partner-oriented approach.

Random speculation: Amazon has been acquisitive in eCommerce platforms worldwide (Perpule in India/Selz in Australia). It likely needs platforms in each market to be effective, and BigCommerce would be a cheap option for them.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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