A Nom Nom Kids reaction to the Amazon Christmas Boycott

The campaign to encourage shoppers to Boycott Amazon this Christmas is apparently gaining considerable ground and has received a fair amount of press in the last couple of days. Amazon Anonymous who are leading the campaign say that Amazon “don’t pay their workers a living wage … They take money away from our local shops” in addition to avoiding a proportion of UK tax.

What the general buying public probably do not know is that, for a small or micro business, selling on Amazon can really help get a new brand or product off the ground. If it wasn’t for Amazon I may have given up on my business a few months ago like so many other new businesses. The majority of my sales now come from Amazon.co.uk and although I would love all of these sales to be coming through my website they aren’t because I don’t yet have the marketing budget required to reach enough interested consumers.

For a new or micro business Amazon offers us a wealth of potential consumers. We have to compete with our “rivals” by getting great reviews, giving fantastic service and good value for money. It’s not always about who is the cheapest. Everyone knows and trusts Amazon and it’s a place where my products can be directly compared alongside my competition – be they another mumpreneur working from home or a large company with numerous employees. I am exceptionally proud that people are choosing my products on Amazon and letting everyone else know that they really liked them by leaving a great 5 star reviews (phew!).

I currently use Amazon to generate my orders and advertise my products. I pack every order myself and each day I walk, cycle or drive to my local post office with my children (unless it’s one of my 2 days where they are in nursery) to post out my orders. One day this won’t be possible and I will need to enlist the help of the Amazon workforce to fulfil my orders....maybe my defence will be different then.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with tax avoidance or paying low wages but I really hope that the public can see that by boycotting Amazon completely it can have a detrimental effect on the new, small and micro businesses across the country who have invested in stock for the Christmas period. Most of us also sell elsewhere and hopefully the boycotting public will come find us. It will take a little extra effort of course but use Amazon to compare and contrast products, read reviews, buy there if you want or come directly to our websites so we can continue to thrive.

I do worry that micro businesses like mine will get overlooked in this boycott argument. I’m not your local independent retailer but I am not Amazon, yet I will also be boycotted to some extent. I am Nom Nom Kids, a new brand of Reusable Food Pouch for babies and toddlers. I would love to be selling to independent retailers and this is my aim for the coming year but at the moment I like that I can sell directly to my customers in a way that they feel safe and comfortable with. It’s really helped me to improve my products and perfect my customer service.

Please don’t boycott businesses like mine, there are thousands of us across the country all trying to get noticed, come find our websites and buy from us directly.

Thank you

Suzanne