ICYMI, Shein and Temu are being accused of selling “deadly baby and toddler products.” A thorough investigation has already been requested, so now we wait.
And while you’re waiting, we’re serving other hot news today you might want to check out.
- Listing hijackers strike again 🎳
- Walmart Marketplace’s new initiatives 🆕
- MarTech: What is it and how to use it 🧑💻
BLACK MARKET
While everyone prepares for a festive holiday season, bad actors are doubling their efforts to victimize sellers. Ecommercebytes recently received a letter of a common Amazon horror story: listing hijacking.
❓ What happened?
The sender, alias “Mike,” is claiming a Chinese hijacker is ruining their brand of 30 years.
- One of their listings has been run solely and smoothly by a 3P partner.
- But this week, it was hijacked by a Chinese company, who then reduced their prices, effectively tanking the brand’s sales.
- The Chinese hijacker never asked for permission to sell the brand.
But the bigger issue? Amazon allows any seller to resell ungated brands! Plus, sellers feel the company doesn’t make too much effort to stop bad actors. Instead, it gives them “an equal playing field.”
Other sellers shared related concerns, such as unjust flagging of their listings and poor customer service from Amazon. Someone even suggested moving to Walmart and setting up a Shopify shop instead.
🛑 How do you stop hijackers?
There are several ways to deal with them:
- Reach out. The most common way is to contact the unauthorized person to make them stop or negotiate reselling terms.
- Report. You can use the “Report a Violation” tool in Brand Registry if the first one doesn’t work. This is also useful for dealing with copyright, trademark, or patent infringement.
- Amazon Brand Gating. If hijackers persist, you may want to consider being gated. This way, NO ONE can sell your items without your permission.
- Just submit the ASINs you want gated. It typically takes 3-5 weeks but is completely free!
Do you have any more tips for fighting off hijackers? Let us know so we can spread the word! 📣
TOGETHER WITH WALMART MARKETPLACE
Walmart Marketplace’s new initiatives are the keys to accelerate your business growth
Walmart leaders unveiled several initiatives to thousands of sellers who attended the Let’s Grow! 2024 Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit. Notable announcements from the summit include category expansion, multi-channel fulfillment, and new features that simplify selling across markets!
Walmart Marketplace, one of the fastest-growing eCommerce platforms, continues to invest in capabilities and solutions to fuel seller success and offer customers an endless aisle of items they need, want and love.
Learn more and sign up to sell on Walmart Marketplace today.
BITES OF THE WEEK
- 30-day Limit: eBay reduces the retention time of videos not associated with active listings.
- Webinar Alert: Do you feel like Unlocking the Power of Amazon Shopping Events (All levels) this September 12?
- Budget with Impact: Learn how to plan your Facebook Ads to fit your budget.
TECH MARKETING
What’s MarTech and how do you use it to boost your business?
Technology is making marketing smarter by the day. And if you can’t get on board with the changes, your business might fall behind.
So, if you're selling on Amazon, it’s time to meet marketing technology or MarTech. Amazon defines it as a fancy term for the tools that help make your marketing more efficient and effective.
But what’s MarTech, really?
In simple words, MarTech refers to using software and technology to run your marketing efforts, like email automation, social media management, and data analysis. With the right MarTech, you can better reach customers, track your progress, and even predict what they’ll want next.
🚀In addition, MarTech can boost your business by:
- Helping you keep up with change, especially fast-changing customer journeys and trends.
- Improving efficiency. Save time and effort by streamlining your marketing from start to finish.
- Strengthening relationships by improving communication with both businesses and customers.
- Scaling your marketing to grow your marketing efforts as your business expands.
🗂️ Types of MarTech tools
- Management toolshelp you organize content, products, and budgets. They make it easier to manage marketing tasks and get reports quickly.
- Social optimization tools automate social media tasks, like managing influencers and customer relationships, so you can stay connected with your audience.
- Campaign reach tools help you retarget ads and reach new customers. They help strengthen connections with other businesses and consumers.
- Insight generation tools analyze your campaigns and provide easy-to-understand insights to help you make smart data-driven decisions.
Should you start using MarTech?
If you want to do more with less to make your marketing efforts smarter, then YES!
You can start small, like adding tools that manage ads or track customer behavior. You can even stack multiple tools together for even more power. 📚
Just remember to keep your eyes on your goal: to build a strong business that really serves customers.