We asked Casey Carey, vice president of marketing at Monsoon Commerce, how he thinks AmazonSupply will play out in the marketplace. Carey told Multichannel Merchant that Amazon’s business-to-business marketplace launch brings a range of possible implications:
· “It’s a very smart move in addressing the supply needs for small and middle market industrial/MRO, a somewhat partially or inadequately served market segment. It’s a classic beachhead market-entry strategy that stacks up nicely against their core competencies.
· “Though many in the industry are branding it as “an incomplete substitute” for the status quo, it has the potential to be highly disruptive. Amazon has proven its ability to make significant strategic moves pay off over time, and I wouldn’t sell this one short.
· “While clearly not currently able to support the more advanced needs of e-procurement or complex, integrated supply chain scenarios, AmazonSupply has plenty of opportunity to change the game for smaller, high-frequency purchases across a broad range of categories.
· “Perhaps most important, Amazon’s open platform approach on the business-to-consumer side has created an ecosystem resulting in unmatched selection and competitive pricing. Without question, the same dynamics apply to this segment of the b-to-b market. I would expect third-party merchants to play a key role in what will ultimately render the closed supplier networks from current players obsolete. So the question for b-to-b merchants now is, ‘What is your Amazon strategy?'”
Sound familiar?