It’s been nearly 24 years since Jeff Bezos introduced us to his pioneering e-commerce platform, formerly known as Cadabra, Inc (as in Abra-Cadabra, I guess? Otherwise it’s just a weird name) and with over 300 million users, it is any wonder that Amazon needs to keep innovating.
And it’s latest announcement is one specially for the sellers.
Marketplace Appstore taking centre stage
That’s right, Amazon has unveiled a whole new app store specifically for companies selling products through the e-based retailer. This brilliant new feature aims at helping you get the most out of your selling experience, with a wide range of apps related to improving and streamlining the sales and promotion process, including pricing, inventory, and advertising among others.
In a statement to CNet, Amazon said: “Many developers have innovated and created applications that complement our tools and integrate with our service.
“We created the Marketplace Appstore to help businesses more easily discover these applications, streamline their business operations, and ultimately create a better experience for our customers.”
One of the companies signing up to the store is product experience management platform, Salsify. CEO Jason Purcell said, “Salsify customers include a wide variety of brands with different needs when it comes to succeeding on Amazon.
“Being part of the Amazon Marketplace Appstore will help us bring our expertise accelerating growth and improving profitability across digital retail channels to more companies navigating the modern commerce landscape.”
Presently, the store is still in a public beta phase, and developers need to apply to be part of it, on an invite-only basis. Interested parties would be subject to an Amazon review, but the good news is that it is currently free for developers to use.
Fostering stronger ties with developers of seller tools
It seems as though the Marketplace Appstore came round at just about the right time. There was a need for Amazon to enhance their ties with developers, which was highlighted as one of Amazon’s aims over the last year.
The conclusion was not just the app store, but a brand new advisory board called the Marketplace Developer Council, which launched officially a few weeks ago. The main agenda for the board is to revamp communication between Amazon and the developers, to help take the selling experience to a whole new level.
Chief Marketing Officer and partner at Seller Labs, Jeff Cohen, whose company will provide advertising and customer communication tools through the app store, highlighted the risk of Amazon using developers’ insights through the council in its own development work, but hoped that the relationship would become symbiotic, with both sides working to help each other.
Are you an Amazon seller? What do you think of the Marketplace Appstore? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
