Viewers had to wait 96 minutes to hear Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos field questions during his Congressional debut on Wednesday. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., finally did the honors in the second hour of the highly anticipated House Judiciary Committee hearing on online platforms and market power, revisiting a familiar topic: how Amazon uses internal seller…
Dominance in overall search does not equate to dominance in product search. That’s a hard truth Google may have learned too late. Now, however, it’s trying to win back brands and customers by establishing itself as an Amazon alternative in ecommerce. And, in its latest bid, Google announced the sellers who use its Buy on…
Scout, Amazon’s autonomous six-wheeled delivery device, is expanding its routes to “select customers” in Atlanta and Franklin, Tenn. According to a blog post, Amazon is “starting with a small number” of the devices in each city, and they will deliver during daylight hours Monday to Friday. As of January 2019, Amazon had six Scouts in…
In 2015, Pennsylvania resident Heather Oberdorf was blinded in one eye while walking her dog with a collar she bought from an Amazon seller The Furry Gang. According to legal documents, the collar broke when her dog lunged, causing the retractable leash to fly back and hit her in the face. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported…
Amazon is trying to make summer during a global pandemic a little less boring by teaming up with Boys & Girls Clubs of America to simulate a summer camp experience for kids across the country. Amazon hopes its Camp Prime will facilitate a sense of normalcy among families by keeping kids entertained and making the…
Amazon has revealed its upcoming grocery store in Woodland Hills, Calif. will feature smart shopping carts called Dash Carts when it opens later this year. Like its Just Walk Out technology at the 26 checkout-free Amazon Go locations in the U.S., Dash Carts will allow shoppers to skip checkout lines. With Dash Carts, customers can…
Amazon is the latest retailer to pull Washington Redskins merchandise from its digital shelves as pressure mounts on the NFL team to change its name, which has long been considered a racial slur. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the news in an email, adding, “With the announcement from the Washington team and the NFL, we are…
Amazon said it will start displaying contact information for its 461,000 active U.S. sellers starting Sept. 1. This information will appear on their profile pages, which is a big development because only sellers in Europe, Japan and Mexico were previously required to post those details. And as a November 2019 Wall Street Journal investigation pointed…
The House Judiciary Committee has confirmed that the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google will go before its antitrust subcommittee later this month, as governments across the globe continue to put regulatory pressure on Big Tech. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai will appear as witnesses at…
Since the introduction of Amazon’s signature virtual assistant Echo, powered by Alexa, customers have engaged with brands differently and with ease. Increasingly, consumers are getting more comfortable using voice-enabled devices to help with tasks like shopping. According to research conducted by Amazon last year, 39% of customers said they were quite comfortable starting their shopping…
Amazon is set to acquire autonomous vehicle developer Zoox at a value of approximately $1.2 billion, aiding Zoox in its current focus of developing and deploying the “robotaxi,” a self-driving car that will be used for an automated taxi service. Zoox will remain a standalone business, and will continue to be led by CEO Aicha…
Amazon has secured the naming rights to Seattle’s KeyArena, which will henceforth be known as Climate Pledge Arena in honor of the ecommerce platform’s 2019 pledge to achieve net-zero operations by 2040. The venue, which is currently undergoing redevelopment, will be the “first net zero carbon certified arena,” according to Amazon. In fact, the retail…
Amazon has established a Counterfeit Crimes Unit, which it described as “a global, multidisciplinary team composed of former federal prosecutors, experienced investigators and data analysts” to help it bring sellers listing counterfeit products to justice. According to a statement, the Counterfeit Crimes Unit will mine data and information from external sources like payment service providers…
In its 2020 U.S. Store Closures report, research and advisory firm Coresight Research estimated that there would be 20,000 to 25,000 store closures this year, up from a record 9,800 in 2019. That means we really haven’t seen anything yet as far as the alleged retail apocalypse goes. Odest Riley Jr., CEO of WLM Financial,…
Amazon customers stuck at home during the Covid-19 pandemic have been buying more pet food, kitchen tools, haircare products and athleisure wear. That’s according to a new study from web analytics firm SimiliarWeb, which looked at the buying habits of consumers on the ecommerce platform from January to April 2020, and compared it to the…
As a national spotlight remains focused on police brutality, Amazon said it is implementing a one-year moratorium on the use of its facial recognition technology by police departments. This marks a significant reversal for Amazon, which, until now, had not been swayed by calls from dozens of organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)…
Consumers are slowly returning to public spaces as stay-at-home restrictions ease throughout the country, but safety remains a priority, according to a new report from ecommerce performance analytics platform Profitero. The report, shared exclusively with Adweek, shows that demand for and sales of disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer on Amazon remain steady at peak numbers,…
Amazon is donating $10 million to 11 organizations advocating for social justice and improving the lives of Black Americans. In a blog post today, Amazon said it stands in solidarity with the Black community in the fight against systemic racism and injustice. As a result, Amazon worked with its Black Employee Network (BEN) to identify…
Just days after reports that Amazon plans to delay the summertime deal extravaganza known as Prime Day, the ecommerce platform confirmed it is hosting a Big Style Sale later this month. An Amazon spokesperson said the June 2020 event will “include seasonally relevant deals from both established and smaller fashion brands.” Citing a document sent…
Amazon deliveries are facing delays in U.S. cities with curfews as well as in areas the company determines are unsafe as demonstrations continue throughout the U.S. following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minn. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees and partners,” said Amazon Delivery Services spokesperson Rena Lunak in…
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