August 10, 2009
By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
Last week, Target announced that it will not renew its contract with Amazon to power its online store. The plan is for Target to take control of their own ecommerce operations by 2011 with a new Target.com in time for the holiday shopping season. Losing this partnership that began in 2001 will hurt Amazon and may be the beginning of more big retailers leaving to run operations internally. This situation is unique in that these Internet retail giants compete for sales online so it makes sense for Target to bring everything in house.
“We believe it is in Target’s best interest going forward to assume full control over the design and management of Target’s e-commerce technology platform, fulfillment and guest services operations,” Steve Eastman, president of Target.com, said in a statement. As more and more consumers turn to online for their shopping, it is critical that big Internet retailers have as much control as possible over the look and feel of their online storefront as well as the profits.
In the last few years, Amazon has also lost other big Internet retail partners like Toys”R”Us and book seller Boarders. This trend also indicates that Amazon is not as reliant on these relationships for their business as they continue to diversify and gain new customers daily. While it makes perfect sense for a big Internet retailer like Target to run their own ecommerce operations it does not make much sense if you are a small or medium size company. Unless you have the proper resources and funding it is best to use a third party to power your ecommerce store and shopping cart experience.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
