This episode predicts key ecommerce trends for 2018, focusing on shifts in Amazon policy, growth of platforms like Shopify, and the increasing cost of advertising. It offers valuable foresight for ecommerce operators to anticipate changes in sales tax, platform fees, and marketing strategies, helping them prepare for potential impacts on their businesses.
Key takeaways
Amazon will broaden sales tax collection for sellers across multiple states, impacting pricing strategies and compliance requirements for merchants.
Shopify will continue its dominance in hosted ecommerce, but its stock growth may slow due to market saturation for new store owners.
Facebook ad costs will significantly increase, necessitating a re-evaluation of paid acquisition strategies and budget allocation.
Amazon will implement stricter measures against counterfeits and knock-offs, benefiting brand owners but challenging third-party sellers.
Amazon will substantially raise FBA fees, requiring sellers to adjust their cost structures and pricing models accordingly.
As 2017 comes to a close, it's only fitting to devote our last episode of the year to 2018 ecommerce predictions. Dave and I listed what we think will happen in the ecommerce world next year, from sales tax to Bitcoin. It's always fun to make these predictions and then revisit them by the end of 2018 to see how many of them actually happened. It would've been great to have Dave on the episode as well, but he is still in China as of recording this, so I will just cover his predictions here. This will also be our last full-length episode for the year and we will resume with new episodes twice a week next year. I also recorded a short special for Christmas Day next week, stay tuned for that! Here are our predictions for ecommerce next year: Amazon will start collecting sales tax for sellers in multiple states (it will begin collecting sales tax for merchants in Washington State early next year) Shopify will continue to dominate hosted ecommerce platforms but its stock will dive when investors realize there's a finite number of ecommerce store owners to grow their customer base with Facebook will start to monetize messaging near the end of 2018 Amazon will continue to get bad press for counterfeits and knockoffs, do a major crackdown which will benefit brand owners but probably hurt sellers selling third party merchandise China will continue the crackdown on factories heavily contributing to pollution Facebook ads will continue to get more expensive - way more expensive Amazon will increase fees substantially (Amazon has just announced fee increases beginning February, probably with more increases to come) Amazon will actually do something about the review debacle More sites accepti
