Amazon Opening Hair Salons Is Not Crazy But Relates to its B2B Business

Marketplaces
Written By Rick Watson

The big news in April 2021 was Amazon building a network of hair salons. On the surface level this is completely ridiculous, but under the surface there is a lot going on.

  • First, what Amazon has announced it will do right now in these salons is almost irrelevant. It's a platform for improvement and customer learning that is the key.

  • Second, the big news is truly the continued verticalization of Amazon Business. There will be more industries that get this treatment. This is not isolated. One of the primary risks to Amazon's business model generally, and Amazon Business specifically - is that their category-specific experience, recommendations and customer knowledge could not possibly compete with a vertical-centric competitor. This is intended to blunt that existential risk.

  • Finally, It has been true for some time that Amazon Business is swallowing up whole the "long-tail supply" of the procurement market that has traditionally been owned (for large companies) by SAP Ariba, Coupa, etc. However, the beating heart of Amazon Business is small business procurement. And this is Amazon doubling down on its core strengths.

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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