For this episode of Expert Connect, I spoke with Gary Perez, CRO of Canopy Management, about the evolution of aggregators and predictions for the Amazon ecosystem. This episode was recorded at Prosper Show 2022 in Las Vegas. Watch or read the conversation below.
Alan Osetek: How is Prosper changing your mind about the overall Amazon ecosystem—anything come to mind?
Gary Perez: Nothing surprises me anymore, but what’s shocking is just how everything is still growing at such a—as we approach the post-pandemic world, there’s still so much money flowing into the space. And people are acquiring businesses. And the sellers that we’re talking to are even bigger this year than they were last year. So it’s exciting. And I’m really thankful to be a part of all of it.
AO: You mentioned earlier on the Amazon agency side, you’re starting to see some changes in the dynamics or the service offerings of agencies.
GP: We’ve been talking to so many people this week, and they don’t want to just talk about Amazon. They want to talk about how can you help drive traffic off Amazon to my listing, or help me with my Facebook, and all different kinds of things. And so I think it’s shining a light on some opportunity for us to be doing a little bit more. But certainly Amazon is the focus.
AO: Yeah, they’re the 500-pound gorilla. But as you and I came from digital performance backgrounds, it’s interesting to see and meet people moving away from Amazon, and their overall thoughts on how to reach consumers.
GP: It’s super exciting. And then another trend that we see is so many people want us to help them deal with Amazon, because that’s time-consuming and it requires a lot of moving parts and they’re just like, “I want to focus on my product. I’m a brand builder or a product builder. That’s what I want to spend my time doing.” So they’ll come to us and say, “You handle all these other things, and then I can do what I’m most passionate about.”
AO: One trend I’ve seen is just the number of aggregators here is amazing.
GP: Yeah. As usual, they’ve got the biggest booths, biggest parties, and it’s fun. That’s really what’s driving this whole thing. I feel like right now—they’re acquiring so many brands at a breakneck pace and competing with one another. I think it’s good for everybody. There’s more than enough to go around. So yeah, again this year, they’re really dominating the headlines.
AO: Any other thoughts of the show—what are you seeing?
GP: I mentioned a second ago, but we’re really impressed at the size of the businesses that we’re talking to this year. That the sellers—I just feel are even more sophisticated than they were last year—have bigger, more unique challenges that they’re facing every day. And it’s fun to be a part of those conversations and seeing where we can play a part.
AO: Okay, so one prediction. We’re sitting here next year at this time. What’s going to be the big change or transformation this year?
GP: I think, gut feeling, is that you’re going to start to see some of the aggregators holding hands, joining forces, maybe bringing different product category specialties together, whatever that might look like. But I think there might be some consolidation in the future.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
