Overview

The power dynamic between Amazon and traditional retail is shifting. Vendors are no longer riding a wave of easy Amazon growth—they’re navigating price pressure, channel conflict, and internal organizational silos. In this episode of Marketplace Masters, Paul Sonneveld sits down with Christoph Krauss, Associate Partner at Prof. Roll & Pastuch, to dissect how leading brands can recalibrate their channel strategy to thrive in a slower-growth, higher-transparency Amazon landscape.

Amazon Is Not the Problem—It’s the Mirror

If you're blaming Amazon for your pricing chaos, you're looking in the wrong direction. As Christoph Krauss puts it, “Amazon is a magnifier.” The platform doesn’t create channel conflict; it exposes it. From rogue distributors flooding the Buy Box to price erosion fueled by cross-border arbitrage, Amazon simply makes visible what was once buried under the surface.
This isn’t a platform problem—it’s a strategy problem. Or more precisely, a lack-of-strategy problem. Too many vendors are selling “everything to everyone” and hoping Amazon will just slot in. That’s not strategy. That’s chaos.

The Three Cs of Smart Channel Strategy: Consumer, Capabilities, Commercials

To course-correct, brands need to ask better questions—starting with the consumer. Who are they? Where do they shop? What does their path to purchase look like? Channel prioritisation should flow from real shopper behaviour, not internal politics or legacy channel relationships.

• Capabilities – Do you actually have the organizational muscle to operate in a new channel effectively? Distribution without execution is just wishful thinking.
• Commercials – Can you make the margins work? Selling into a distributor in Eastern Europe who back-channels product onto Amazon.de might look like growth on a P&L, but it’s a brand erosion bomb waiting to go off.

In short, if you don’t know what to prioritise—and just as importantly, what to say no to—you don’t have a strategy.

Price Strategy Must Start at the Shelf, Not the Spreadsheet

If pricing is your Achilles’ heel, you’re not alone. But as Krauss points out, many vendors design pricing structures based on internal margin targets, not real-world shelf value. That’s backwards.
Start with the consumer-facing price. Determine the value of your product—brand, features, services—and what people are actually willing to pay. Then work backwards through the “price waterfall”: retailer margins, trade terms, and finally, your triple-net price.

1. Ensures your margin math reflects reality.
2. Gives you control over what prices show up in-market—so long as you can enforce it.

Want to Fix the Buy Box Battle? Start Plugging the Leaks

Many vendors try to “mop up the floor” by chasing unauthorised resellers. A few succeed. Most burn out. The smarter move? Repair the roof.

Krauss gives real-world examples where brands had to sever relationships with high-volume distributors because they were back-dooring product onto Amazon. Yes, it meant short-term revenue loss. But it was necessary to protect brand integrity, retail partnerships, and long-term price positioning.

And if you’re getting killed by price matching? Consider GTIN segmentation—slight variations in product bundles or packaging that break price comparability across channels. Yes, it adds complexity. But not as much complexity as trying to reclaim price control after you’ve lost it.

The Hidden Barrier: Organizational Silos

One of the most under-discussed barriers to effective channel strategy? Your org chart. The Amazon account team often operates as a separate entity, disconnected from traditional retail sales and pricing decision-making. That’s a miss.

Krauss advocates for more cross-functional dialogue—bringing traditional and Amazon-facing teams into the same room to share insights, align on priorities, and build integrated plans. Because Amazon isn’t “digital” anymore—it’s just retail. And it deserves to be treated with the same strategic rigour.

Looking Ahead: Amazon Isn’t Going Anywhere, But Your Structure Should Change

Amazon will remain the dominant e-commerce channel in most markets. But vendors that treat it as “just another account” or isolate it from broader retail strategy will continue to feel the pain.

Christoph’s prediction? The future belongs to vendors who build internal fluency across all channels, root out channel leakage before it shows up in the Buy Box, and design pricing strategies grounded in consumer value—not internal wishful thinking.

If you're a brand leader who’s ready to go beyond firefighting and actually engineer a profitable, future-proof vendor strategy—MerchantSpring’s platform and expert network can help.

Explore our vendor insights hub or reach out for a custom demo. It's time to stop mopping and start fixing the roof.