A recorded conversation (Oct 2017) between Ryan Daniel Moran and Casey Gauss about Amazon’s evolving ecosystem. They discuss increased competition, Amazon’s push toward brands and Brand Registry features (AMS ads, storefronts, early reviewer), the growing difficulty of launching new products, and the possibility that traditional product-launch/promotion tactics (e.g., current viral launch methods) may become obsolete as Amazon changes rules and exerts more control.
Chapters
So let's talk about the future of what Amazon is going to look like. In the last year we've seen Amazon acquire Whole Foods, I think they're going to acquire more retail brands. We've seen the algorithm change@capitalism.com and freedom fasting. We have hundreds of million dollar success stories of people who have gone from nothing to running multi million dollar businesses. And the question always comes up, well, what is, what's the next thing? And I say, well what's been working forever is still working, but what is the future from somebody who controls more data than anybody in this space, what's the future?
Well, so I definitely think that Amazon is getting more difficult simply because there's more money being invested from brands, there's bigger players coming into the space that have more money to invest, you know, but again the opportunity is, I still think that those that are doing well, that are doing, you know, 100k a month plus or I mean even less, maybe 50k a month plus or whatever. If you understand the Amazon space, you're so far ahead of everybody else and you like, I cannot stress enough how much you need to play to that advantage. And so I definitely think that it will continue to become more difficult to launch new products but, but it is still so much easier now than it will be next month or the month after or next year. So definitely would advise people in that way. I think Amazon will definitely be pushing more so into brands or brand registry.
Right.
So if you're brand registered right now, they've recently come out with AMS ads or brand storefronts, early reviewer programs. So I think that they're gonna continue to favor brands which is a huge advantage to those that are already in brand registry. But those willing to go through the effort. I also think that, you know, to be candid, I think that the traditional launch method will be antiquated, you know, pretty soon.
What do you mean? What do you mean by that?
So in terms of promotions.
Yeah.
Oh, antiquated, sorry. Meaning it will kind of be a thing of the past. Right. And so the, so just.
I'm sorry to interrupt but like your brand is viral launch, you are the leader in this space and you're saying maybe this won't be around forever. Yeah, you know, I'm just curious about this. That's kind of a bold thing to say. So expound.
They always say, you know, if you're not putting yourself out of business, somebody else will. I think in this case the most likely player would be Amazon. Right. And just in so much as like the rules changing. And again, you know, I just think the whole launch model is ripe for being kind of innovated on. And so we're working on these strategies, but I suspect other people as well. Yeah, I guess that's not very actionable insight.
Yeah. What do you think is going to be if this is not going to be around forever? Meaning this particular marketing strategy may lose some value in the future. Do you have any. If we're gonna speculate on that, let's speculate about what might replace it.
Yeah. So I just think that there will be more sophisticated methods of, I mean, not just promotions, but selling in general. Right. Where Amazon was a lot more of this lifestyle business and we've kind of talked about this where it was so easy to just throw products up there they do well, send them through viral launch and okay, now I can just kick back on the beach. But more and more because of the level of competition, it just is requiring more sophisticated players to come in and those that are being a lot more diligent about what's working today and what is going to be working tomorrow and setting themselves up well for that. Setting myself up with great brands. Right. Great aesthetic and having this cohesive line of products helps me to have success. Whereas before it didn't really matter if you didn't have that great of photos or if you didn't have a other products to bounce your customers around on. Basically all this to say, I think what's working now will be amplified more and more as competition continues to increase. But I think that things like giveaways will lose some of their effect.
