PPB November 2019

Is the “Amazon Effect” Real? For distributors, both online and off, no conversation about the changing market can happen without discussing Amazon. The omnipresent online retailer has disrupted industries as varied as book stores, music and film, and groceries, and with its enormous installed user base—95 million people in the U.S. have an Amazon Prime account, according to Statista—people in the promotional product world have been waiting for the day when it gets into the custom decorating department. But is that really a possibility? It’s true that online retail has had a direct impact on consumer purchasing habits and their expectations, but that isn’t the same thing as overtaking the market. So, the question remains: Should online distributors be concerned about competing with companies like Amazon and Alibaba? “In the short term, this question is nearly irrelevant,” says Dale Denham, MAS+, senior vice president and chief information officer for Geiger in Lewiston, Maine. “Very few customers of online and offline distributors are sourcing promotional products from either firm today.” Several distributors interviewed for this article mentioned that Amazon has absolutely changed—some would say defined—online shopping and customer behaviors. Things like next-day shipping, accommodating customer service, online inventories and a buying process free of human interaction are now expected by clients, and Amazon is to thank for those demands. “Living in an Amazon world with same-day delivery, it’s hard to manage customers’ expectations sometimes,” says Jason Loui, marketing director for Ontario, California-based Anypromo. Still, most people quoted here stopped short of accusing the company of crossing into the promotional world. Even though Amazon doesn’t seem likely to start quoting EQPs to buyers, there was one exception where distributors do see some overlap: the single-purchase buyer. When a (usually small) company needs to make a one-time purchase, they may be more likely to look at Amazon— especially if they have no long-term marketing plans or are only concerned with cost. “At the end of the day, there will always be customers who will shop on price, and others who will value a relationship and what that value provides,” explains Steve Paradiso, president of ePromos Promotional Products in St. Cloud, Minnesota. “The small, transactional, one-time- purchase business will be the only side affected, and we don’t foresee the enterprise businesses moving to purchase in that space.” Kyle A. Richardson is a writer and editor living in Philadelphia and the former editor-in-chief of Promo Marketing magazine. Reach him at www.karichardson.com. FEATURE | Online Distributor 46 | NOVEMBER 2019 |