AmazonBasics and How Customer Feedback Can Be an Early Warning Sign of Safety Hazards

AmazonBasics has been making headline news lately.

First there were the antitrust allegations, which claim the company uses insider data to develop its own private label products that directly compete with other brands. Amazon launched its first private label brand, “AmazonBasics” in 2009. Today, they have more than 200 private label brands in a variety of categories. You’ll find these under names like Stone & Beam, Amazon Essentials, Presto!, HappyBelly, Ravenna Home and more.

Now, there are several reports that flag the private label electronics products as safety hazards.

A CNN investigation found dozens of “customers reporting that the products had melted, exploded or burst into flames”. Despite the safety hazards, many of these products remain up for sale.

Safety Monitoring After a Product Launches

Last week, Amazon released a statement on its blog about the safety protocols its products go through before, during and after production. Monitoring reviews is a big part of their safety monitoring standards after a product is on the market:

“We also actively monitor customer reviews, as well as customer inquiries for any feedback related to safety and take necessary action, which can include removing the product from our store, adjusting the design of the product, notifying customers to stop using the product, or other appropriate actions.” – Amazon Blog

Although the blog stated they’ve only initiated recalls on two products since 2009, the CNN investigation found at least 1,500 reviews that mention safety risks.

Reputation Studio is not privy to the technology Amazon is using to monitor its customer feedback for signs of safety issues. But brands can utilize Reputation Studio’s AI-driven sentiment and intent analytics to get alerted of these types of issues in real-time. Having advanced warning of potential product dangers can help brands meet safety standards and regulations without having to deal with a public investigation like this one.