With years of experience under our belt, our co-founder, Harris Sterling, recently sat down with Independent Retailer to explain the intricacies of selling and managing a brand on Amazon.  Click here to read his interview and to find out how we can help you build your brand or product on Amazon!  

READ HERE: Maximize Your Amazon Listing with The Starren Group - Independent Retailer

​Amazon is the elephant in the room. According to the Internet Retailers Conference and Exhibition that took place earlier this month in Chicago, $4 out of every $10 spent online in the U.S. is with Amazon (43%). Currently, there are approximately 80 million Amazon Prime members – that’s 64% of households in the U.S.

​In a recent announcement, Amazon revealed they would be offering free shipping (without a Prime membership) on orders of only $25 or more.  This is in response to Walmart, which in January of this year, started offering free shipping on purchases over $35 – no membership fee necessary.  In response, Amazon started to offer free shipping (without a Prime membership) on orders of $35 or more but are now lowering it by an additional $10. 

​There is no doubt that Amazon is dominating the retail world and competitors are not happy.  According to MKM Partners analyst, Rob Sanderson, Amazon is “eating the retail world”.  The chart below shows Amazon, in the categories that the company serves, growing its market share, as brick-and-mortar retail sales are on the decline. 

​The gap has continued to widen over the past couple of years.  Amazon is growing while competitors like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco and Target continue to lose market share as their “margins shrink and the dollars shift back to Amazon”,  added Sanderson. 

Prime Day 2017.  30 hours. 13 Countries.  Hundreds of Thousands of Deals. 

Amazon just announced its third annual Prime Day and 24 hours isn’t enough.  It will kick off on July 10th at 9pm ET and run all day July 11th.  The 30 hour event will be held in 13 countries – including China, India and Mexico. For those of you who don’t know, Amazon Prime Day is a one-day only global shopping event exclusively for Prime members.  So, if you’re not already a Prime member, now is a good time to sign up.  

​It’s no secret that traditional retailers have been struggling as brick-and-mortar legacy stores have been threatened by competition from digital powerhouses like Amazon.  Amazon will surpass Macy’s this year, which announced last year it would close 100 stores, to become the largest seller of apparel in America. 
Shopping habits of the consumer continue to shift online.  Online clothing and accessory shopping hit a whopping 21% of total retail sales last year (estimated by equity research firm Cowen and Company). 

Amazon.com is an amazing company that has made starting a business "easier" than ever. It's easy in the sense that anybody can do it. You can start and run your business from anywhere in the world, and work on that business at any time of the day. Yes there is still work, time, money and energy that needs to go into running a successful Amazon business, but Amazon handles all of the heavy lifting for you. Amazon allows sellers and business to leverage their billion dollar infrastructure as if it was their own.  Below we have broken down 3 reason as to why you should start your own Amazon.com business today!