Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is an ideal market place for several third-party sellers. It has become a popular site for grocery shoppers. However, Amazon is unable to ensure the sale of quality products through its e-commerce site.
Counterfeit and expired foods
A lot of consumers are uneasy with expired foods and counterfeit products, which are a common scenario nowadays at Amazon e-commerce site. According to the complaints received from Amazon customers, items like granola bars, beef jerky, coffee creamer, and baby formula are arriving in spoilt condition. The interviews with third-party sellers, consumers, brands, and consultants show loopholes in the logistics system and the technology of Amazon that allows shipping of the expired products.
2.5 million Businesses use Amazon for distribution
Around 2.5 million businesses that include food sellers use Amazon for delivery of their merchandise. The e-commerce site facilitates the sale of used and new products sourced by third-party sellers from clearance aisles, flea markets, and official distributors.
According to CNBC, which scanned the Grocery and Gourmet section on Amazon, several customers have raised complaints about the sale of expired granola bars, baby food, baby formula, beef jerky, hot sauce, and Goldfish crackers, which are six months old. According to the customer reviews on Amazon, Saranya has received a product with a fake expiry date. It is an indication that Amazon lacks quality checks on the sale of products by third-party sellers.
According to a recent analysis by an Analytics firm that analyzed 100 best selling products on Amazon, around 40% of the sellers on Amazon have received complaints about the sale of expired products.
Liquidation warehouses and closeout sales populate Amazon’s e-commerce site with expired products. Several sellers purchased discounted tea-related products from being shuttered Teavana locations of Starbucks in 2017 and resold through Amazon. The e-commerce site even today listed Teavana products, including fruit teas and rock sugar, which are discontinued in 2017.
According to the top customer review of one Teavana listing, the tea has a terrible smell, maybe because of spoilt fruit. The listing carries a label ‘not for resale.’ At least someone in the supply chain should identify such a product and prevent its sale.
