any discussion about amazon is complex because amazon isn’t just a store. amazon manufactures their own products. amazon brands and labels other manufacturers products. amazon buys and offbrands products. amazon is a store in which they sell other peoples products. amazon is a marketplace in which people sell their own products. it is also the infrastructure that it all runs on. that is an impossible stack to be fair across. i’ve always found it hard to understand how that can be legal, isn’t there laws to prevent and break up entities before this happens?
that being said, these amazon offbrands aren’t quietly taking over amazon.
their growth tracks relatively.
A lot of their onbrands like “Amazon Basics” products are really good value, reliable items.
Sears still owns Kenmore, Craftsman, and Lands End. Among others. Most retailers do the same as well. Its… Pretty normal.
A number of Amazon’s house brands are also quite good as well. They tend to tier certain things where you’ll have an Amazon basics or other bargan brand. With 2 nicer options above it.
Where there’s an issue its that there’s a lot of them. And its a bit difficult to tell if something is a house brand. Its not “secret” per se but its not labeled as such, or made clear in anyway. And Amazon’s search and product page increasingly pushes their house products to the top of the results. So there are like 6 different house brands of sheets. And invariably they show up as sponsored, Amazon Recomends, and Top Seller. And mixed heavily into the first couple pages of results. And while 3 of those brands of sheets might be a great deal and quality products. The other 3 are who knows.
Craftsman tools have been pretty. Not quality. Since the 90’s. Everything Kenmore my family owned in the last 15 years has been a disaster.
Lands End got quite good all the sudden a few years back. Apparently they’re struggling right now. But one of the more pleasurably experiences I’ve had buying cloths online, and a very good, quality product for the price.
I seem to remember them existing before the Amazon house brands thing. But I think I’m confusing them with M-Audio. All the google results are BS fake review sites, various pages from their own site, and Amazon pages for their products. Though they seem to be available from other retailers.
That was the whole point. Quality brand you can only get one place. Brings people through the door.
Every one can stand to know where the good underwears is at. Now I know useful things for when my female friends lament the lack of quality bralettes at an affordable price.
Well it’s definitely big and powerful, but it doesn’t really seem anywhere near a monopoly at anything. Their web services run tons of sites, but there are still countless other places you can get hosting just a click away. They do a lot of retail business, but there are still stores everywhere. You can sell through them, but there are several other places you can do that. And if you want to set up your own e-commerce site the barriers to entry are negligible.
Where we have real problem companies, things like ISPs having de facto monopoly over a region (or railroads, telephone landlines), it’s because of the locality factor and infrastructure. Those factors don’t really apply to today’s megapowerful web/tech companies. And considering how lenient the law has been toward big companies, mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations since the 80s, it seems doubtful.
I think the Kenmore brand is the only one Sears still owns. They spun off Lands’ End 4-5 years ago; it’s now publicly traded. Sears stock dropped afterwards, since Lands’ End actually made money and little else in the Sears portfolio does.
Craftsman is now (per the Wikipedia article) “controlled” by Stanley Black and Decker. Sears apparently “maintains the right to manufacture and sell tools using existing supply channels under the Craftsman name for 15 years after the deal closed.”
This is all a measure of just how incompetent Sears management is.
On Amazon: I won’t buy from third-party sellers (with the exception of used books). We’ve also had some problems with Amazon Prime claiming that items would arrive at a specific time and not being shipped at all. And what the hell is Amazon doing with advertising on its own site?
It’s completing its management-induced self-destruction
For the better part of a year, the Sears at the local mall has been stuffed into the bottom of its two floors while things are being renovated. Just a few weeks ago, the “pardon our dust” signs were replaced with ones that advertise “store closing, everything must go”.
An ignoble end.
The two Macy’s in that location are filled with discount merchandise-- one location has the “Macy’s backstage” treatment. Retail is basically dying.
I don’t know which is a more ominous fate for a once useful storefront-- mattress store, or halloween store. Probably the halloween store, since that isn’t going to stick around.
My wife bought a Kenmore refrigerator (I think it’s a Whirlpool under the hood) and it’s still working after 19.5 years. (Though I probably just jinxed it)
We replaced a Craftsman garage door opener with same, about 6 or 8 years ago, and the logic board (or whatever) crapped out after a couple of years (thus far the replacement’s been OK, although it also went through light bulbs like potato chips). In hindsight I should’ve just tried replacing the stripped gear in the old one (which is all that was wrong with it).
Oh, since I just bought a new one, you know what cheap Chinese knockoffs are great for? Fitbit (and I assume Apple Watch) bands. Fitbit wants $50 for a leather band for the new Charge 3. I bought two on Amazon yesterday for $25. I bought half a dozen bands and bangles for my Alta, so I know the company I bought them from makes good stuff. My friend is allergic to everything but the silicone bands and you can buy a package of 10 in all different colors for the price Fitbit wants for one.
