#127 - Amazon Punished its Own Sellers, Shoppers can Buy Products on Facebook and Instagram, and more
Hot News
Meta Lets Amazon Shoppers Buy Products on Facebook and Instagram Without Leaving the Apps
Meta debuted a feature that lets users connect their Facebook and Instagram accounts to Amazon so they can more easily buy goods promoted on their feeds. "For the first time, customers will be able to shop Amazon's Facebook and Instagram ads and check out with Amazon without leaving the social media apps," Amazon said. Over the past year, Meta has been improving its online ad system with artificial intelligence, which has helped lift overall sales despite a tough digital ad market.
cnbc.com
Amazon Punished its Own Sellers to Limit Walmart's Reach
Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) punished its own sellers to limit Walmart's reach as Walmart got into e-commerce, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In addition to making $1 billion by using a secret algorithm called "Project Nessie" to push up the prices that U.S. households pay, Amazon may have also succeeded in curbing Walmart's ambitions.
reuters.com
Funds of European Amazon Sellers Wrongly Frozen
Amazon has recently frozen funds of legitimate sales partners. The company has now acknowledged that mistakes were made. The blockade is being lifted, but sellers continue to face problems. According to European regulations, Amazon is obligated to ensure that there are no unfair traders active on its websites. Other marketplace providers also have the obligation to prevent sellers, for example, from evading value-added tax.
ecommercenews.eu
Good to Know
Amazon Readies Its Big Play To Scoop Up Non-Amazon Ad Dollars
Good afternoon readers, and welcome back to the AdExchanger Commerce newsletter. This week, we’re catching up on an indomitable force in retail and a growing leader in advertising. Which are the same company: Amazon, of course. On Amazon’s earnings call last week, CEO Andy Jassy said the company has “barely scraped the surface” of its advertising business potential.
adexchanger.com
Amazon halted Seller Fulfilled Prime enrollment despite strong delivery performance
Amazon paused new enrollments for Seller Fulfilled Prime despite strong delivery reliability from sellers in the fulfillment program, according to newly unredacted portions of the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against the company.Amazon launched its Seller Fulfilled Prime program in 2015, which allows third-party sellers to independently fulfill Prime-eligible orders without using the company’s in-house fulfillment service.
supplychaindive.com
Amazon Hit With Another Class Action Lawsuit Over Refunds on Returned Products
Amazon failed to issue refunds for returned products and breached its own policies, according to a new class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Seattle this week. The suit alleges that Amazon “has engaged in a repeated and systematic scheme” related to products purchased on its online marketplace and returned by customers who say they never received a refund for products that were “timely and properly” returned to the company.
geekwire.com
According to a Kantar survey commissioned by Amazon and BeCommerce, more than half (55%) of Belgian SMEs are still hesitant to launch their business online, even though 53% are actively looking for new growth drivers. With Amazon.com.be turning one year old, we’ve announced the launch of the E-Academy, a free training programme designed to allow entrepreneurs to access the knowledge they need to launch their business online.
aboutamazon.eu
FTC’s Prime Complaint Flubs Facts
When an antitrust suit is brought to court, the plaintiff must prove that there was specific, factually-established conduct by the defendant that caused an anticompetitive harm. In the recent suit against Amazon and its Prime service, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has misconstrued evidence of supposed wrongful conduct and therefore lacks legal ground to stand on and should fail.
project-disco.org
Amazon’s Ads Generative AI: Should Digital Marketers Care?
Amazon has introduced an AI-powered image generation tool to help businesses produce engaging ad content without creative expertise. Although Amazon’s generative AI tool is still in beta, it has created quite a buzz in the advertisement industry. Without further ado, let’s learn what Amazon’s generative AI tool can do and what it means for creative professionals.
techopedia.com
Amazon and Other Industry Giants Team up to Battle Fake Reviews
If you are planning to shop for Amazon Prime days coming up soon, you might want to be careful about fake reviews. Fake reviews are a serious problem for online retailers like Amazon because they can mislead consumers and damage trust. According to a study by Review42, fake reviews influence $791 billion of e-commerce spending annually in the U.S. You know what I’m talking about. A product has tons of glowing five-star reviews for an item that is just so-so at best.
wfin.com
Free Shipping Has Its Costs for Merchants, Supply Chains and Consumers
PYMNTS Intelligence data as recent as Tuesday (Oct. 31) shows that roughly half of consumers value free shipping so much that they’d place it at the top of key considerations when deciding which merchant to place their orders with. But somewhere, at some point along the commerce continuum, the costs of shipping are passed along. Amazon’s a good reference here.
pymnts.com
Is This Amazon's Next Big Business?
Amazon gave investors a phenomenal update last week that was chock-full of good news and exciting announcements. Investors breathed a sigh of relief after several quarters of pressure, and Amazon stock has jumped 7% since the report. Among the many positives that management discussed, there was one new initiative that stood out: Supply Chain by Amazon. Could this be the company's next big thing?
fool.com
What Antitrust Experts Want You to Know About the Amazon Trial
In late September, the United States Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon for using a set of anticompetitive strategies to maintain its monopoly in the online retail market. ProMarket asked four antitrust experts —two economists and two law professors —to discuss the foundations and strength of the complaint’s arguments, the history of similar cases, and the potential for a legal remedy.
promarket.org
Amazon's Software-as-a-Service Strategy Set to Drive New Growth
“This is the story arc of AWS’ success,” said Brendan Witcher, vice president and principal analyst at research firm Forrester. He was referring to Amazon Web Services and how it contributes to the merchant’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) strategy, which has led to new growth opportunities for the region’s top ecommerce retailer.
digitalcommerce360.com
Amazon All but Invites Shoppers to Return Halloween Costumes
Sellers are always leery of people purchasing items with the intention of using and then returning them, especially seasonal or one-time-use goods - such as Halloween costumes and decor. So Amazon's tweet the day before Halloween might seem ill-timed for third-party sellers who must abide by Amazon's generous return policy.
ecommercebytes.com
Meta and Amazon Settle UK Antitrust Probes Over Use of Third-Party Data to Benefit Marketplaces
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today announced that it has accepted proposals from Facebook’s parent Meta and Amazon to limit how they use data gathered from their respective marketplaces to benefit their own products and bottom lines. The CMA has been probing both companies as part of separate investigations, though the cases bore similarities in terms of how each platform was using data to give them what the CMA argued was an “unfair advantage.”
techcrunch.com
Tips and Tricks
Amazon Wholesale: The Complete Guide to Selling Wholesale on Amazon
In order to sell hundreds of millions of different products to consumers around the world, Amazon’s sales platform is supported by more than 6 million third-party sellers worldwide. Of those sellers, 26% sell products using a sales model called wholesale.
junglescout.com
The Best Ways to Find Products to Sell on Amazon
The first step in finding products to sell on Amazon is to decide what you plan to sell and source the items from a wholesaler or manufacturer. It is essential to perform actual market research utilizing the tools offered by Amazon, and to estimate your potential for profit. Here below we present you with some ideas on how to identify the best products for your e-commerce business.
londonlovesbusiness.com
How to Become an Amazon Seller
More than 60% of the sales on Amazon involve independent sellers, most of them small and mid-size businesses, the e-commerce giant says.1 If you're looking to become an Amazon seller—either as a new business or as a new sales channel for an existing business—here's what you need to know to do it successfully.
investopedia.com
Amazon Influencer Program: How to Apply in 2023
Are you looking for a new way to monetize your social media skills? The Amazon Influencer Program may be a great option for you! Using your influence, you can get paid to promote products you think your audience will love — all without investing in inventory, creating product listings, or incurring upfront costs.
junglescout.com
Podcasts
Amazon scraps Style stores, Walmart stores get a facelift & Michaels launches an Etsy competitor
On this episode, two Amazon Style stores are closing after the company tested selling apparel physically. Meanwhile, Walmart is revamping hundreds of its stores as part of an ongoing $9 billion investment. Last, we look at the new MakerPlace by Michaels — which the company is positioning as a more seller-friendly competitor to Etsy.
modernretail.co