Does Alibaba’s Increased Logistics Footprint Impact Amazon?

Marketplaces
Written By Rick Watson

Alibaba is recently in the news over global ambitions to deliver anything in 72 hours - WORLDWIDE. This should make Amazon somewhat nervous. AliExpress is already a major player in Asia and EMEA.

Amazon (online) has one global eCommerce competitor: Alibaba. Everyone else is not really in the same ballpark. Including Walmart (yet).

If you look at pictures of Alibaba's lights-out warehouses, there is no gap between what Alibaba has been doing and what Amazon does. Unlike Amazon's US competition, Alibaba can do it just as well, and with less expensive labor in their home market.

A marketplace becomes what its supply is. A central part of Amazon's strategy in the past 10 years has been to "out-Alibaba" Alibaba, but in the US market. I can't imagine what part of FBA is simply "forward-deployed Chinese supply" but I would imagine that number is 95%+.

Some reports I've read put 75% of all new sellers on Amazon as Chinese. I can believe it.

If Alibaba continues down this path, I predict a titanic battle for the US market with an easy-to-access nationwide fulfillment network powered by some savvy industry experts like my old friend Jamin Dick.

You might even see some smaller regional carriers and 3PLs gobbled up by Alibaba - who knows. Consolidation is coming!

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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