James Thomson: Media, Speaking and Commentary

For much of my career, I have been asked to comment on Amazon, marketplaces, ecommerce economics and the challenges consumer brands face when online channels begin affecting the broader business.

Those conversations have evolved. Many of the issues that once looked like ecommerce operating problems have become board-level questions: marketplace concentration, channel control, distribution leakage, paid demand, inventory exposure, governance and the quality of growth.

My work today focuses increasingly on those questions, particularly for PE-backed consumer, ecommerce and marketplace companies.

Selected Areas of Commentary

Amazon and Marketplace Strategy

One of the recurring questions for consumer brands has been how to benefit from Amazon without surrendering control over pricing, distribution, economics or brand presentation. In 2017, I described the underlying problem this way:

“The root cause of the Amazon problem is a brand’s distribution problem.”

That observation remains central to how I think about marketplace governance today.

Amazon is often where a distribution problem becomes visible. It is rarely where the problem started.

Related EVA resources:

Original source: Digiday, “Brands bristle at third-party sellers on Amazon, but have little recourse.”

Marketplace Incentives and Enterprise Economics

Brands and marketplaces do not necessarily optimize for the same outcomes.

In a Forbes interview, I made the point that:

“Amazon’s incentives rarely align with the incentives of your brand.”

The implication is not that Amazon is an undesirable channel. Amazon can be an extraordinarily productive channel.

The governance issue is different.

Boards and management teams need to understand where the platform’s incentives and the company’s objectives diverge and determine whether the resulting economics and dependencies remain acceptable.

Related EVA resources:

Original source: Forbes, “5 Things Amazon Isn’t Telling You About Selling on Their Site.”

Distribution and Channel Control

Another recurring theme throughout my work has been that marketplace pricing and unauthorized sellers cannot be managed independently from distribution.

As I told Forbes:

“If a brand does not have tight control of its distribution, it can be quite hard to control the price.”

The marketplace listing is often downstream evidence of decisions made elsewhere: distributor incentives, excess inventory, reseller policies, international supply, liquidation or channel conflict.

That is why I consider channel control a governance system rather than an enforcement project.

Related EVA resources:

Books and Long-Form Work

I have written two books focused on the strategic problems created when consumer brands operate in open online marketplaces:

The Amazon Marketplace Dilemma

The book examined the fundamental choice between selling to Amazon and selling on Amazon, and how that decision affects economics, distribution, operational control and brand strategy.

Learn more about The Amazon Marketplace Dilemma

Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon

Written with Whitney Gibson, this book focused more deeply on unauthorized sellers, distribution control and the systems brands need to manage online channel complexity.

Learn more about Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon

Speaking Topics

I am particularly interested in discussions involving:

  • Ecommerce governance for PE-backed companies
  • Amazon and marketplace concentration risk
  • What boards should understand about ecommerce economics
  • Marketplace governance and decision rights
  • Ecommerce due diligence
  • Channel control and unauthorized sellers
  • The first 100 days after acquiring an ecommerce-heavy business
  • Preparing ecommerce businesses for buyer diligence
  • When marketplace expertise belongs on the board

The common thread is not how to operate an Amazon account.

It is how boards, investors and management teams should think about ecommerce when it becomes material to enterprise value.

Selected Media and Interviews

Recommended entries:

Media or Speaking Inquiry For media interviews, panels, conferences or private discussions involving board-level ecommerce and marketplace issues, please use the contact form below.