Never one to be left behind, Amazon’s latest venture will once again put them at the forefront of internet trade; they have recently added a new storefront on their website, a platform for hardware and physical goods startups to “launch, market and distribute” new products on Amazon.
It has a similar theme to their Amazon Exclusives page, which launched in March and sold products exclusively from “up and coming” brands. With Amazon’s Launchpad, they are promising to “curate the cutting edge so you can discover unexpected and fresh new products.”
Essentially, this is Amazon hoping to muscle in on the growing start-up sector. With crowdfunding platforms making these young businesses ever easier to set up, Amazon is now hoping to get in on this by offering start-ups a platform to market and promote their products.
They have teamed up with 25 crowdfunding platforms, venture capital firms and startup accelerators, including Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator and Indiegogo, to bring together the set of products made by new businesses who will have access to 10 of its international portals for distribution.
In a statement, Jim Adkins, Amazon’s Vice President, said: “As the pace of innovation continues to increase within the startup community, we want to help customers discover these unique products and learn the inspiration behind them. We also know from talking to startups that bringing a new product to market successfully can be just as challenging as building it.”
“Amazon Launchpad gives customers access to a dedicated storefront featuring a variety of innovative new products from emerging brands. For startups, we handle inventory management, order fulfillment, customer service, and more, allowing them to focus their efforts on the innovation that results in more cool products.”
One of the new platform’s first businesses is Pavlok, a brand who produce a bracelet that sends an electric shock to wearers when they engage in a bad habit. Their marketing manager Sims McGrath III said Launchpad provided an opportunity to tell the company’s story.
“We were able to share details about our company, our mission, our CEO, and some of the success stories that have come from early users of Pavlok,” McGrath said. The company, which has made 3,000 sales through its own website, is “mentally preparing for an influx of orders, based on Amazon’s global reach,” he said.
