Totally agree. I did a quick search for a Lands’ End men’s white shirt and up popped a message pointing me to their brand. Desperate times lead to desperate measures but I agree with Ken. Amazon is a data mining company that sells stuff. Help them with their Trojan Horse and expect the consequences. Especially when something like 55 percent of search starts on Amazon.

Interesting question. I keep wondering why retailers are okay with their tech vendors hosting their apps on AWS for the same reason. AWS is the profit engine of Amazon. If it wasn’t there, I think shareholders would be more impatient.

I think it’s a statement of strength on the part of the retailer. It’s time to stop running scared.

Interesting point but I don’t see retailers refusing to sell Alexa as stopping consumers from making the purchase any more than retailers can prevent customers from using the Internet. What they must do is to delight and excite every customer that walks into their store, giving them a reason to shop and comeback.

There are clear benefits applicable only to the in-store experience and conveniences that relate only to online shopping. Retailers must understand both and invest in what maximizes both. The in-store experience should be a great one with courteous and knowledgeable associates and the store website should be easy to navigate with an online chat to answer questions. Retailers need to focus more on what they can do that is better than the competition using creativity and powerful marketing and by providing exceptional shopping experiences.

First, lets define two things. Alexa is an interface device and Amazon.com is a selling marketplace. Selling a good manufactured by another company is exactly what Target, Best Buy, Staples and the others mentioned sell all the time. Does Target or Staples not sell HP printers? Have they not built their businesses selling other brands? In fact they have. And herein lies the problem for retailers that has manifested itself. Retailers have not built anything that cannot be taken away by better execution. Because they do not have anything proprietary that sets them apart from another retailer. They all sell the same products as the next guy and it becomes a real estate game of location. If these retailers you mentioned had spent the last 20 years understanding e-commerce and the consumer, they would be in a more powerful position. To the second part of the article: Amazon marketplace sells brands and products by brands. I have been a seller on Amazon for over a decade and I can tell you that if you understand… Read more »

Alexa will become modern history’s voice of Helen of Troy and Amazon’s Echo (and similar devices) are today’s Trojan Horse. Traditional retailers are selling their competition. These devices are like an invasive species and inviting them into your home and selling them through your store is expediting your further loss of privacy and the relevancy of your brick-and-mortar store. These sensors will suck up any bit of insight and data in your home and it is all being collected, curated and logged into a vast collection of servers around the planet. You will become a “person of interest” to every brand — leveraging all this data to sell you more stuff.

Retailers selling these devices and services are not thinking about their future. Unless they get access and intelligent use of all the data being collected they are helping expedite the success of the opposition.

I highly suggest that retailers proceed with caution. There are deeper considerations that retailers have to take into account before reselling Amazon Echo devices. The current online commerce climate is dominated by algorithms, namely Amazon’s followed by Google’s and others. The concept and significance of retail and CPG “brands” has reached a critical state as voice activated commerce, led by Amazon’s Alexa, has essentially created a seamless shopping experience for the customer while leading the ultimate shopping decision to Amazon’s own brands. The challenge for retailers and CPG companies is, how do they rise up the ranks in this new commerce paradigm led by Amazon’s algorithm? The challenge for retailers remains, how do you navigate through this technological challenge by motivating your customers to your native mobile apps? They have to offer an extremely engaging, integrated experience that combines mobile payments, loyalty, social, voice and omnichannel capabilities. In addition, retailers and CPG firms should consider strategic partnerships to optimize, drive and sustain relationships with existing and new customers. This very topic was very well articulated… Read more »

I don’t know how Ken wrote this insightful article without once referring to a “Devil.” Such an entity is usually a core part of any discussion about selling one’s soul. No one talks about selling one’s soul to God, or Truth or Integrity or Innovation or all those other values dutifully posted on websites and staff-room bulletin boards.

I’m sure those who fashioned the iconic Trojan Horse had a jolly time too with more than one builder asking in amused skepticism, “do you really think they’ll go for it?”

Most of these retailers saw the short-term gain from selling Alexa and ignored the long-term pain that is likely to follow. The question is, did they even think about the consequences of their actions or was it simply a competitive reaction? Were they thinking, if X sells Alexa they may get traffic that we won’t so we’ll sell it too and negate any advantage they hoped to gain? This reminds me of the story of putting a frog in a pan of cold water and slowly raising the temperature over time. We know who the frogs are.

I see this as similar to a department store selling Ralph Lauren apparel knowing that Ralph Lauren has stores themselves competing for the same customer. Does that mean the department stores should stop selling Ralph Lauren apparel based solely on this fact? No, I don’t think so. I agree with Phil Masiello on this one — retailer brands have been built on selling other brands’ goods, so why should this be different? While many retailers produce their own house brands to try and maximize margin on select items, the ultimate goal for the retailer should be to create an amazing in-store experience that leaves a memorable, positive impression on the customer so they keep coming back and keep buying. If selling an Amazon device helps do that, then so be it. In the end, these brick-and-mortar brands are not going to make a big dent in Amazon device sales such that if they stopped selling these devices Amazon would lose any customers for it.

At the rate that Amazon is taking customers and revenue away from every other retailer, killing off more than a few in the process and severely wounding others, is there any question that aiding and supporting Amazon in any way is a bad strategy for a retailer?

The only question is “by not selling Alexa, will it stop people from purchasing Alexa?” If Alexa is the future then retailers have bigger problems than selling Alexa-enabled products. Not selling Alexa is Maginot Line thinking.

Amazon Echo is definitely a stealth shopping device. The question is whether retailers not selling Echo will make a difference. Consumers are going to buy Echo if it fits their lifestyle, whether it is from a retailer or directly from Amazon.

Personally, I don’t need Echo to tell me how to shop. I use Siri on my phone to get information the same way someone would use Echo.

Perhaps this is a concern. However, retailers are truly in the business of filling their customer’s needs. Great retailers recognize this and have factored this into their success. Offering Alexa (at full pricing) can be used to get customers into the store and demonstrate how great your retail pricing, performance, customer service and model is, as well as showing off Alexa. Great retailers should think of themselves as a phone store, rather than a dedicated store for just one type of phone.

This is not about the tiny amount of incremental revenue gained as a seller of a device. When a retailer sells Alexa or sells products on Amazon.com it is validating these services to the consumer, making it easier for the shopper to shop its competitor, and further minimizing its own brands’ reach and value. For a retailer to use AWS as its hosting provider is to provide funding for a competitor. I don’t understand why any retailer who wants to have its own channels and support its own brands would participate in any of these activities.