Suddenly collapsed! Amazon's well-known seller filed for bankruptcy, owing nearly $600 million

Since last year, news of various big sellers going bankrupt in the cross-border e-commerce industry has become common.

Recently, news came out that a well-known seller on the Amazon platform has officially filed for bankruptcy.

Instant Brands files for bankruptcy

It is understood that Instant Brands, a popular home appliance brand on the Amazon platform, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of Texas, USA .

The main reason for the bankruptcy was that Instant Brands was facing huge debts due to high interest rates, tightening credit conditions and a continued decline in consumer demand .

Instant Brands will be allowed to continue operating while it seeks approval for a plan to repay creditors, according to its bankruptcy filing .

In addition to the bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, Instant Brands is also initiating bankruptcy protection proceedings in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

According to Bloomberg , Instant Brands has $ 563 million in debt on its books and is currently unprofitable. S &P Global downgraded Instant Brands ' rating last week and warned that without external funding or debt relief, Instant Brands is expected to face a liquidity shortage in the short term.

Instant Brands ' chief restructuring officer Adam Hollerbach said that in the past three years, the company has suffered from the impact of the external economic environment and internal operating difficulties, which has had a direct impact on the company's business and financial condition.

Instant Brands said its liabilities and assets range from $ 500 million to $1 billion, and it has 1,000 to 5,000 creditors . The company currently owes more than $38 million to its top five creditors . In order to maintain the normal operation of the company , Instant Brands completed a debt transaction in January this year to raise new funds.

Currently, Instant Brands has obtained $ 132.5 million in financing, and will continue to operate during the bankruptcy process.

It is regrettable that Instant Brands , once a popular Amazon product, eventually went bankrupt.

It is reported that Instant Brands was founded in Ottawa , Canada in 2009 and is headquartered in Illinois , USA . Its brand sales network currently covers 23 countries and regions around the world .

The founder of the brand is Canadian Chinese Dr. Robert Wang (Wang Bo), a doctor of computer science who once focused on the research of artificial intelligence systems .

Its star product , Instant Pot , is very popular in North America. It has been well received since its launch. Almost every Chinese in North America owns one. It once set a sales record of 300,000 pots sold out on Amazon Prime Day , and a record of 320,000 units sold in one day on Black Friday .

(Image source: Instant Brands official Weibo)

This product is very suitable for young people who are accustomed to a fast-paced life because it has more than ten functions in one , including pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, frying pan, yogurt maker, baking, insulation, low-temperature cooking, etc. It can cook accurately in multiple temperature ranges , and subsequent functional improvements can also connect to Wifi and Bluetooth , and even cook rice through mobile phone programming . It is very convenient and fast for daily use and meets the various needs of consumer groups.

Instant Pot's flagship product, the 7-in-1 multi-function pressure cooker, has received more than 160,000 reviews, a score of 4.7, and has long been ranked first in the pressure cooker category on Amazon.

In addition to the Instant Pot , many products under Instant Brands have long dominated the B S rankings on Amazon .

But even though it was once a popular seller on Amazon , it couldn't escape the fate of bankruptcy .

According to data released by NPD Group , Instant Brands ' sales of electronic multi-cookers ( mostly Instant Pot ) reached $758 million in 2020. However, this figure fell to $344 million in 2022 , a drop of more than 50%. Data shows that as of April this year , sales and sales of such products have fallen by 20% compared with the same period in 2022 .

According to data released by S&P Global , sales of Instant Brands products in the first quarter of 2023 fell by approximately 22% compared with the same period in 2022. This is the seventh consecutive quarter that Instant Brands ' sales have declined.

Instant Brands saw breakout growth in its products early in the pandemic , but even as sales climbed , its freight costs also rose due to port closures in Asian countries .

Entering the post-epidemic era, American consumers have begun to return to offline shopping, the time spent at home has been greatly reduced, and the demand for cookware has also dropped sharply.

Another reason for the bankruptcy is that Bed Bath & Beyond, one of Instant Brands' long-term key distributors , declared bankruptcy in April , which had a certain impact on Instant Brands ' business.

Many well-known Amazon sellers left the market sadly!

The current economic situation has caused many big sellers to suffer heavy blows and fall from the altar . Even Amazon’s number one seller has gone from bankruptcy to closure.

Packaged , a popular seller on Amazon's US site , has filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court, while also undergoing liquidation procedures, laying off employees and eventually shutting down its business. It is understood that the main reason for Packaged's bankruptcy was the continued decline in the company's business due to the ongoing supply chain crisis, and the subsequent failure to go public and obtain more financing, which ultimately led to bankruptcy.

It is reported that Pharmapacks, a brand under Packable, was once the largest seller on Amazon's third-party market in the United States, and was also a top seller at Walmart, mainly selling health, personal care, beauty and household products.

On the Amazon platform, searching for Pharmapacks-related products, you can find that many products dominate the BSR list, and the number of reviews for its products is as high as tens of thousands.

Packable's final bankruptcy made many people sigh. Even Amazon's top sellers had no choice but to leave the market under multiple blows.

In April this year, American home furnishing giant MillerKnoll announced that it would stop operating its home furnishing brand Fully in order to further reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. Before the cessation of operations, Fully sold its inventory at half price on its official website .

MillerKnoll also said that closing the Fully brand would save $ 37.2 million in costs.

It is understood that FullyFully was founded in 2006. Its main products are ergonomic office furniture, which are widely welcomed by North American consumers and have won BSR on the Amazon platform many times.

Under the influence of high inflation and the ongoing cost crisis, the demand for home products continued to decline, and Fully had to leave the market after 17 years of operation.

Since last year, the home furnishing industry has faced an unprecedented impact, with many well-known big sellers and retailers facing bankruptcy and closure ...

In November 2022, United Furniture Industries, the parent company of Amazon's home furnishings giant Lane Home Furnishings, suddenly announced that it would permanently close down, and all of its 2,700 employees were laid off.

Judging from the current market situation, the sales growth of companies and sellers in this track has also slowed down significantly .

In general, cross-border sellers still face huge challenges in 2023. The collapse of several Amazon sellers has also alerted sellers. The market is changing, and consumer demand is also changing. How to better avoid market risks and find new growth points has become crucial.

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