Amazon Vendor Central is Amazon’s retail program.

That is to say that the products are sold to Amazon which distributes them according to the usual rules of commerce.

Sure Amazon Seller Central , professional sellers sell their products themselves using the sales features offered by Amazon.

Each sale on Seller Central results in the payment of a commission to Amazon. Conversely, the sale via Vendor Central works on a “classic” model of purchase resale by Amazon.

By selling in Retail to Amazon, brands generally have little control over their selling price, which is decided by Amazon. Amazon is known to have an aggressive pricing policy, and practices automatic and systematic benchmarking of the competition. The moment you sell your products to Amazon, you lose all control over the selling prices. This point is not specific to Amazon, the same applies to other e-commerce sites, which benchmark each other.

Conversely, if you distribute the products via the Amazon Marketplace, you define your pricing policy yourself. In return, you make the delivery to the consumer yourself, and provide customer service. It is always possible to use the “Fulfilled by Amazon” service which frees you from logistics and customer service, and is often a good solution for a brand that does not know how to manage the end consumer.

The choice to distribute its products through the marketplace also allows more control over its range and the availability of its products. It is the brand that decides to display the products in stock, while through Vendor Central, Amazon decides whether or not to order your products, which sometimes can affect availability.