What: A new take on Amazon’s private labels business by a Tech specialist

Why it is important: Ben Evans wonders why Amazon’s private labels business is demonized: this activity is simply a staple in the retail business, and Amazon is not even the best at it.

Benedict Evans releases every week a newsletter on Tech and its involvement in any sector or activity, including retail. This week, he explores the reasons why Amazon is criticised for its private label business, all the more that this has been a basic activity from retailers since the beginning. He reminds that the job consists of knowing what customers want, or miss, and supply them with specially designed products at the right price.

Be it Amazon or a brick & mortar retailer, the job has been the same for the last 130 years. Interestingly, private labels represent only 1-2% of total turnover at Amazon, a lower share than other retailers, which leads Benedict Evans to wonder if Amazon is actually scrutinized according to different standards than other retailers, simply because it is currently disrupting the market, the same way department stores, Target, Macy’s or Sears did in their own times.

Amazon's private labels