By Martin Heubel, Founder and Director of Consulterce, a strategy consultancy for B2C Household & CPG brands.
Here’s why most Amazon experts are wrong in predicting the end of Vendor Central:
They compare the features available between 1P and 3P today. This leads many business leaders to believe they need to switch business models between Vendor and Seller Central.
The truth is that comparing features between the two ignores an important point:
Amazon develops Vendor and Seller Central through entirely separate teams.
That’s why the famous Search Query Report was initially launched via 3P and only recently got published via Vendor Central.
While this may frustrate brands, this unparallel feature development has major advantages for Amazon:
1. It allows Amazon to build features more quickly and cost-effective.
They don’t need to deploy large tech teams to develop the same feature for both platforms right away.
2. This allows Amazon to benefit from faster feedback loops.
If a tool proves popular among sellers, it can be optimised with 3P before the more mature version gets launched via 1P.
3. Features can be adapted to the needs of users.
While 3P may need a P&L overview for their listings, most vendors are big organisations that want the commercial raw data to process them in-house.
So yes, Amazon 1P is far from dead. I’d even argue it’s going to still be around in 2030.
But the key takeaway is this:
Don’t make short-term decisions to move between 1P and 3P just because a feature is missing in one of them today.
Instead, rest assured that Amazon will launch popular and valuable functions across Vendor and Seller Central over time.
For further insight and support, contact Martin Heubel here
