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Amazon Adopts 3D Printing with Tech Specific Product Page

After about a year of slowly adding 3D printing shops onto the ecommerce site, Amazon has officially embraced 3D printing as the retail method of the future by opening its own 3D printing product page, devoted to all things 3D printing. Alongside 3D printers, CAD software, and general 3D printing supplies, the 3D printing product page compiles a number of 3D printable designs, including customizable printed goods. You can now purchase 3D printed items – designed by individual sellers and sold through Amazon – with all of the flexibility that 3D printing provides. For the moment, the only completely customizable products have been created by a sole seller, Mixee Labs, which allows customers to parametrically control designs for such products as 3D printable bobble head and molecular jewelry. These products can be viewed in a 360 degree interface, where they can be rotated at the customer’s delight.

amazon offers 3d printed products

Nancy Liang, co-founder of the Brooklyn-based Mixee Labs, describes how their products deliver a unique experience, “The personalization widget empowers customers to make something unique in seconds without knowing how to 3D model. A product personalization platform on Amazon has the potential to become the app store for the physical world. Customization gives customers the power to remix their world, and we want to change the way people shop online. It also makes the shopping experience more fun, creative and personal.”

mixeelabs on Amazons 3D printing product page

The new page may indicate a change in which ecommerce as a whole may be performed, due to the advantages offered by 3D printing, as Petra Schindler-Carter, Director for Amazon Marketplace Sales, explains, “The introduction of our 3D Printed Products store suggests the beginnings of a shift in online retail – that manufacturing can be more nimble to provide an immersive customer experience. Sellers, in alignment with designers and manufacturers, can offer more dynamic inventory for customers to personalize and truly make their own. The 3D Printed Products store allows us to help sellers, designers and manufacturers reach millions of customers while providing a fun and creative customer experience to personalize a potentially infinite number of products at great prices across many product categories.”

screenshot of amazon opens 3D printing product page

With the ability to personally design an item and select the material it’s printed in, 3D printing stands to revolutionize the shopping experience. Clément Moreau, CEO and co-founder of Sculpteo, elaborates, “The online customer shopping experience will be redefined through 3D printing. When you take into consideration the investment needed for manufacturing products, 3D printing offers a cost effective alternative that benefits customers by limitless product options. Amazon’s deep understanding of customers coupled with Sculpteo’s fast, high-quality manufacturing process offers an unprecedented level of product possibilities for customers. With 3D printing, a customer’s wants are no longer limited to what is in stock but instead by what they can imagine.”

By devoting an entire page to the technology, Amazon is opening consumers up to 3D printing in an entirely new way. As the most popular place to go to purchase goods, the ecommerce giant has officially welcomed 3D printing to the mainstream. At the same time, it has entered the 3D printing space with little investment on their part. Whether consumers take to the new product offering and what this means for 3D printing marketplaces like Shapeways is yet to be determined.

If you’re interested in selling your 3D printed goods on the new product page, visit www.amazon.com/sell-on-3d-product-store/.

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