News

Amazon unveils new services for small-to-medium retailers

May 24, 2010

Amazon Services has launched its newest version of Amazon WebStore, providing customers with new capabilities, greater control, increased flexibility and lower pricing. According to a company release, Amazon WebStore is a full-featured e-commerce product that enables small- to medium-sized retailers and manufacturers to quickly design, build and manage their multichannel e-commerce businesses using Amazon's technology.

"With the new Amazon WebStore, we are making it simple for retailers and manufacturers to build and operate a world-class e-commerce business tailored to their brand and customers," said Scott Pulsipher, director, Amazon WebStore. "By leveraging Amazon's technology and infrastructure, Amazon WebStore levels the playing field for small- and medium-sized businesses, helping them quickly and easily build their businesses and improve the customer experience."

The newest version of Amazon WebStore powers the multichannel e-commerce offerings of businesses including Timex, Handstands, Bella Sara and hundreds of other Amazon WebStore customers.

"When we launched our new Amazon WebStore, we saw an immediate lift of 40 percent in revenue and average order size," said Cal Crouch, director, e-commerce, Timex. "And on the support side, we have gained the flexibility to make most changes to content as well as brand ourselves — saving us thousands in development costs."

According to the release, the new Amazon WebStore capabilities include:

• Simple, self-service setup. Redesigned registration and launch wizard that makes it fast and easy for sellers to build, design and launch their multichannel online businesses.
• Flexible layout and merchandising tools. Powerful set of layout and merchandising tools, including template designs and personalization widgets, to help businesses design and manage their websites with full control of the look and feel.
• Unified interface for managing sales and inventory. Single interface to manage product, inventory, order and customer data across multiple channels.
• Automated and easy-to-use marketing tools. Guided workflows to create marketing promotions, manage search engine optimization and monitor customer behavior. The new Amazon WebStore Selling Coach provides recommendations to improve seller performance by analyzing customer behavior and various seller configurations.
• Multichannel applications. Seamless integration of end-user applications for store and phone ordering that enable sellers to personalize the customer experience across channels.
• Integrated Amazon expertise. Proven traffic-driving and conversion features, pre-built integration to Selling on Amazon with a single administration environment, easy leverage of Fulfillment by Amazon and ready access to tens of millions of Amazon customers.