Multi-Channel Seller News
With the holiday weekend and shortened week, we decided to combine both weeks for our multi-channel seller news update. All in all, things were relatively quiet on the marketplace news front, but there were some exciting stories that affect many sellers to some degree, particularly from Amazon and Google.
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Amazon is tightening up controls on the apparel category. Already a gated channel for sellers, product titles now have to be shortened from 250 characters to 80 on the heels of this recent announcement.
Rakuten announced plans to buy a streaming video site, Viki. The move comes as Rakuten continues to diversify its holdings in order to develop new avenues for disseminating product content worldwide. Rakuten continues to be one of the most interesting companies to watch from a business development perspective.
Last week Amazon UK relaxed its policy that requires sellers to maintain equal or higher prices on other sales channels. This is a big win for sellers who pay lesser commissions on other channels and want to go a little more aggressive on their pricing to drive sales. The decision was a result of an impending investigation by the Office of Fair Trade in response to seller complaints.
Google and eBay are stepping up their tests of same-day delivery service in the San Francisco Bay area, clearly hoping to prove the model viable before Amazon beats them to the punch. Both charge customers a $5 fee per retail stop.
On the heels of the last article, look for the Google’s deal with online seller ratings provider StellaService to start making itself apparent soon. According to David Utter at eCommerce Bytes, the online ad giant is implementing the ratings in order to better qualify its ads to consumers and diversify its portfolio to be more inclusive of eCommerce traffic.
