Omni Market Developments

The omni market, and especially the collaborative network supporting the opportunities of the omni market across all participants from consumers to retailers to the supply chain and the specialized partners in these networks has unquestionably allowed retailers to incorporate and develop the capabilities that allow them to not only support the demands but also to incorporate the changes that will disrupt the retail market as well.  I see this collaborative network as not only a means to support the demands of consumers but also as a means and tool to disrupt the market as well. This collaborative network provides a great tool that can equalize the playing field for small retailers and a tool that can disrupt the market and the capabilities of the largest players that have in the past been able to exclude the smaller players simply by the cost and the difficulty in attaining the capabilities to participate in the market.

Over the years there have been many eCommerce sites such at eBay and Overstock that have provided outlets for people and small retailers to sell over the Internet through a robust channel.  Amazon is another example of a major eCommerce retailer providing a channel for small retailers and individuals to offer their products in an environment where these individuals can take advantage of the full power of the Amazon channel through search and simply consumer reputation to take advantage of opportunities that would not have been available not that long ago.  We are seeing a maturity in the services offered by these types of eCommerce channels over the last couple of years and these services are all taking advantage of the opportunities and capabilities offered to enhance the breadth of their market reach without a large investment in technology.

I see the key in these developments and services to be the quality and robust nature of the service and also the market reach available from these services for small to mid-sized retailers that allows these retailers to compete in the marketplace like they never have in the past.  This is where the true benefit to these small retailers is being experienced and even more than the benefits to the participants, these offerings are again disrupting the marketplace by introducing a new level and avenue of competition to the major legacy retailers. These services really give these small retailers the same reach and capabilities in the eCommerce marketplace that the large retailers invested many years and large amounts of cash to develop.  This may just be the greatest impact of Amazon on the retail marketplace; developing and supporting a collaborative network that allows the small retailers to compete in the marketplace without a huge investment.

This is obviously not done by Amazon because they are such nice guys.  Amazon sees an opportunity and they are quickly developing this opportunity to expand their reach and offerings without an investment on their part, other than making available to small retailers the same services offered to the consumer by Amazon.  This will bring more people to visit Amazon and give more reasons for these visits to extend in the time that they remain on the site and increase the likelihood of purchase. Amazon in the end will be making money in all cases and this is just a great investment in the future for Amazon.