Your business is on rented land, and last Friday, retailers across North America woke up to proof of it. Shopify, the e-commerce giant that powers online stores for countless retailers, sent out a notice that it could no longer carry certain products, specifically VIOFO dash cameras but others brands might be effected. Shopify simply removed them, no negotiation.
The reason traces back to a DMCA dispute, a licensing conflict between the manufacturer behind Novatek microchips and an open source software company. It’s a legal fight most dealers have never heard of and have zero control over, yet it’s their businesses caught in the crossfire.
Here’s the twist. You can still sell these dash cams in a physical store. But for retailers who built their entire operation online, taking leads through their website and booking installation appointments, that entire sales funnel just disappeared overnight.
I spoke with Matt Carter of Seattle Dashcams, one of the hardest hit. He runs no storefront at all, purely online lead generation followed by on-site installation. When the product vanished from his site, so did his pipeline. And switching customers to another brand isn’t as simple as people assume. As Matt put it, if someone walks in asking for a Ford, it’s tough to sell them a Chevy instead.
This isn’t just a Shopify problem either. What happens if the manufacturer keeps selling direct through their own website? What about Amazon? Is this a platform specific policy, or a warning sign for the entire industry?
And it doesn’t stop at dash cams. Think about DSPs, a staple in our industry. What if one hypothetically lacked proper Bluetooth certification? Could the same nightmare play out again for retailers?
Jeff Bates, owner of Lockdown Security in Markham, Ontario, deals with the same customer loyalty issue, though he’s more diversified, running anti-theft installs and multiple brands. Still, he confirms it: customers ask for specific products by name, and that brand loyalty doesn’t bend easily.
Matt Carter, on the other hand, put his eggs in one basket. In hindsight, maybe that was the risk. But here’s the thing, he had no complaints about the product. His customers loved it. He loved selling it. So where exactly does the blame land when a chip manufacturer and a software company’s disagreement takes down a business that did nothing wrong?
Ben DelGrosso of SafeDrive Solutions, an industry authority in dash cam sales and installation, made a video breaking down this issue for customers. I’ll link it below so you can form your own opinion.
Which brings us to the real question. Is your business built on solid ground, or is it standing on rented land? We’ve covered stories before, like when car audio was banned outright in Turkey, where an entire market vanished overnight through no fault of the businesses involved.
How do you protect yourself from something like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Let’s keep it a business conversation, not an emotional one. Talk to me, 12-volt industry.
*The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States law that protects creative work on the internet. It helps owners stop people from copying or sharing their digital art, music, videos, or writing without permission.
This is ongoing and businesses all over the world are affected. I have talked to people in New Zealand, Netherlands, USA, Canada, and India all affected by this.