Amazon releases a new tool that gives sellers access to information on what buyers are looking for on its platform.
The company announced the release at the Accelerate 2021 conference that happened on the 20th of October.
If you are a third party seller on Amazon, you should be excited about the new development.
It says this would help the sellers target what to sell on its platform.
Product opportunity explorer, the name of the new tool, is in its beta testing state.
However, it also announced that the feature would be available to all sellers by 2022.
What does Product opportunity explorer do?
In Amazon words, it is “a new tool that helps sellers identify opportunities to launch new, high-potential products to serve unmet customer demand.”
Also, Amazon says in the release that the product would take the stress of identifying the products to launch as identifying and launching a product is key to a seller’s success.
It added that it would help the sellers identify the niche of emerging products, providing relevant data for them.
The marketplace provider says that this is another way of empowering retail sellers on its platform as it would help them bring new products faster and efficiently.
However, many are curious as to where Amazon would be getting the data it plans to share.
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Arising concerns over the tools
The announcement of the tool might be exciting to sellers as they are the major ones gaining from the development.
However, there might be some concerns regarding the data that would be shared.
Some of the questions that might arise include: Where would the data come from? Also, how much data is Amazon willingly to share?
What is the accuracy and quality of the data that would be shared?
Interestingly, Amazon was able to debunk some of these questions in its release.
It mentions the data would be shared with these sellers.
Some include data on “search volume and growth, sales history, and pricing trends, so they can identify and act on customer demand.”
Also, it includes that the tool was developed with product research and development.
And so, the data should be expected to be rich and accurate.
However, this is because Amazon has accused cases of using private information from individuals on its platform for its advantage.
In past interviews, Amazon claims that it doesn’t use private data from sellers on its platform for developing basic information.
However, allegedly Amazon was accused of using data from its marketplace.
Testimonies
Amazon has been contributing to the growth of its third-party sellers through its tools and services.
In 2020, it invested $18 billion to help sellers on its platform.
And through that has been able to create jobs for people.
John Broadbent of Silver Onyx, a seller with seven brands in Amazon’s store, testifies in the release.
“We have built our business on Amazon, and our growth strategy is based on increasing the number of products we offer,” he said.
Implication for you
Over the years, Amazon has been developing tools and services to help sellers launch new products on its platform.
So this is nothing out of the normal.
If you are a seller on its platform, you should be excited about this as it would better position your business.
Although still in beta testing, you can access the tool with no cost charge on Seller Central, Amazon’s online business management resource for sellers.
Accessing the tool would grant you access to data that would help you satisfy your customers’ needs.
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