WebProNews

Category: Retail & eCommerce

eCommerce, Online Retail & Retail News

  • Salesforce Economy to Create 9.3 Million Jobs, $1.6 Trillion in Revenue by 2026

    Salesforce Economy to Create 9.3 Million Jobs, $1.6 Trillion in Revenue by 2026

    A new report is demonstrating the breadth of the current digital transformation, claiming the Salesforce economy will create 9.3 million jobs and $1.6 trillion in revenue in the next five years.

    Salesforce is the leading CRM provider in the world, and recently acquired Slack, one of the leading corporate messaging platforms. Salesforce has gone all-in on the hybrid/remote workplace, and aims to be the “digital HQ” for its customers. CEO Marc Benioff is a firm believer that employees “can be successful from anywhere,” and Salesforce is aggressively positioning itself as the company that can make that happen.

    A new study by IDC, shows Salesforce is doing something right, as the company and its ecosystem partners “will create 9.3 million new jobs and $1.6 trillion in new business revenues worldwide by 2026.” Equally impressive, for every $1 Salesforce makes, its partner ecosystem will make $6.19.

    The company attributed its “digital HQ” strategy as a key to IDC’s findings. IDC predicts that cloud-related tech will make up 27% of digital transformation IT spending in 2022, and grow to 37% in 2026. This trend is being driven by the remote work transition initially sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Salesforce is helping its customers make that transition smoother.

    In fact, IDC found that Salesforce solutions had helped 47% of customer respondents expand their workforce to include more suburban and rural areas. In addition, 38% were able to expand their workforce into new demographics, such as stay-at-home parents who would otherwise not be able join the workforce, and 36% are able to support more flexible work environments.

    “The Salesforce partner ecosystem extends the power of Salesforce to companies of all sizes, across industries and helps make customer success possible,” said Tyler Prince, EVP, Alliances & Channels, Salesforce. “As Salesforce grows, so do our partners — and we are committed to providing our expanding partner ecosystem with the tools needed to succeed in the jobs of the future.”

  • Facebook Building Yellow Pages Into WhatsApp, Launching in Brazil

    Facebook Building Yellow Pages Into WhatsApp, Launching in Brazil

    Facebook announced it is building a Yellow Pages feature into WhatsApp, allowing users to look up local business information.

    Once a staple of everyday life, the Yellow Pages directory have fallen out of favor, replaced by digital alternatives. In Facebook’s quest to monetize WhatsApp, and make it a critical business tool, the company is looking to provide a digital Yellow Pages feature that will help users find local business information.

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the feature in a Facebook post:

    We’re building a modern-day Yellow Pages into WhatsApp where you can look up and contact local businesses right inside the app. Launching in São Paulo today, and hopefully more places soon.

  • DoorDash Now Delivering Alcohol in 20 States and DC

    DoorDash Now Delivering Alcohol in 20 States and DC

    DoorDash has announced its alcohol delivery service is expanding to 20 states, as well as DC.

    DoorDash is a popular food delivery service, but the company has been expanding into the lucrative alcohol market as well. The company attributes the expansion to various cities and jurisdictions relaxing regulation during the pandemic.

    “Over the past year, many cities where we operate evolved their legislation in order to permit the delivery of alcohol to residents’ homes. Over that time, we worked tirelessly to build a trusted alcohol ordering and delivery experience for merchants, customers and Dashers,” said Caitlin Macnamara, Director, Alcohol Strategy & Operations at DoorDash. “We’re committed to providing new earning opportunities for merchants and Dashers, a safe, high quality experience for customers, and being a responsible leader in compliant alcohol delivery.” 

    The company says it has implemented “rigorous ID verification prior to checkout and multiple ID check points along the delivery to ensure customers are of legal age.”

  • Docker Updates Subscriptions, Desktop Not Free for Large Businesses

    Docker Updates Subscriptions, Desktop Not Free for Large Businesses

    Docker has updated its subscriptions, and Docker Desktop is no longer free for large businesses.

    Docker is widely used in the cloud industry, as it provides a way to package an application, along with all its dependencies, in a cross-platform container. Virtually every major cloud service supports Docker containers, and the company says some “55% of professional developers use Docker every day at work.”

    The company is looking to monetize more of its products, specifically Docker Desktop. Doing so will help the company better keep pace with the growth in the developer market.

    As part of the change, Docker is introducing a new top-tier subscription, Docker Business, coming in at $21 per user per month. The new plan includes improved management and security options, especially for software development at scale.

    The change also means that Docker Desktop is no longer free for large businesses, those with more 250 employees or $10 million in annual revenue. The free plan has also been renamed to “Personal.”

    The changes went into effect on August 31, 2021, although “there is a grace period until January 31, 2022 for those who require a paid subscription to use Docker Desktop.”

  • Venmo Redesigns App to Remove Global Payments Feed

    Venmo Redesigns App to Remove Global Payments Feed

    Venmo has redesigned its app to remove the global payments feed, after a high-profile incident in which President Biden’s account was discovered.

    Venmo is the digital payment app owned by PayPal. A key component of Venmo’s popularity is its social component. Users can see each other’s transactions in a social media-style feed. In previous versions of the app, it was even possible to see the transactions of strangers in the global feed.

    Unfortunately for the company, it was extremely easy to find President Biden’s account, leading it to make changes. The new app redesign completely ditches the global feed.

    Venmo has always been social at its core, designed to be a place where friends can split and share payments and experiences. As part of our ongoing efforts to continually evolve the Venmo platform, while staying true to the heart of the Venmo experience, we are removing the global feed, and the friends feed is now the only social feed that will appear in the app. The Venmo community has grown to more than 70 million customers, so this change allows customers to connect and share meaningful moments and experiences with the people who matter most. 

    The move is a welcome one, as far as privacy advocates are concerned, and brings the app a little more into the mainstream.

  • Verizon and Mastercard Team Up to Apply 5G to the Payments Industry

    Verizon and Mastercard Team Up to Apply 5G to the Payments Industry

    Verizon and Mastercard are partnering to bring the benefits of 5G to the payments industry.

    5G stands poised to revolutionize numerous industries, not the least of which is the financial sector. Like most carriers, Verizon has been moving ahead at full-speed in its efforts to deploy its 5G network.

    The two companies plan to use 5G to help “drive transformational solutions for the global payments and commerce ecosystem.” The next-gen wireless technology will help revolutionize new areas of the commerce industry, including contactless payments and autonomous checkout.

    In particular, the two companies’ efforts will help advance the use of smartphones for making and accepting payments, providing touchless retail experiences, VR/AR shopping and creating new ways to consume digital content.

    “Business needs and consumer demands constantly fluctuate. Critical components of long-term success are the ability to remain agile and align with strategic financial and payments partners that have the tools and capabilities to drive industries forward,” said Sampath Sowmyanarayan, CRO, Verizon Business. “Coupling Verizon’s leading global IP network and transformative 5G technology with Mastercard’s deep industry expertise, leading services and solutions, and a strong commitment to innovate, is a partnership that aligns perfectly with what we are striving to achieve at Verizon and one that can create game-changing solutions.”

  • Amazon Unveils Fire TV Omni Series, Its Line of Smart TVs

    Amazon Unveils Fire TV Omni Series, Its Line of Smart TVs

    Not just content to sell other companies TVs, Amazon has unveiled its own line of smart TVs, the Fire TV Omni Series.

    Amazon currently sells the Fire TV Stick line of streaming hubs, giving customers a convenient way to stream Prime Video, as well as virtually all the major streaming platforms. The company is now building on that with the Fire TV Omni Series, a family of full-fledged smart TVs.

    The Fire TV Omni Series is available in a variety of sizes, including 43”, 50”, 55”, 65”, and 75”, and will offer 4K Ultra HD, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Digital Plus. The two biggest models sport a slim bezel for improved aesthetics and include support for Dolby Vision.

    “We’ve reimagined what a TV can do by building it with two of our most popular experiences at the core—the intelligent always-available power of far-field Alexa, and Fire TV’s content-forward approach to entertainment,” said Daniel Rausch, Vice President, Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services. “Our new Fire TV Omni Series smart TVs, with hands-free access to Alexa, make controlling your TV faster, simpler, and more natural.” 

    The TVs will be released October 27 and will start at $409.99.

  • Twitter Buying Scroll to Serve as Foundation for Subscription Service

    Twitter Buying Scroll to Serve as Foundation for Subscription Service

    Twitter has announced it is buying Scroll as it looks to establish a subscription service for premium content.

    Twitter has been looking for ways to diversify its services and new ways to monetize its user base. Despite being one of the oldest social media platforms, Twitter has been surpassed in many ways by newer, upstart platforms.

    The company is purchasing Scroll in an effort to introduce paid subscription services, free of ads. Twitter VP Mike Park announced the company’s plans on the company’s blog:

    That’s why we’re excited to announce that Twitter is acquiring Scroll. Scroll has built a way to read articles without the ads, pop-ups, and other clutter that get in the way, cleaning up the reading experience and giving people what they want: just the content. Meanwhile, publishers who work with Scroll can bring in more revenue than they would from traditional ads on a page. It’s a better Internet for readers and for writers.

    Twitter also hopes integrating Scroll will help it to assist the journalism industry, one that has experienced major setbacks as a result fo the digital transformation.

    Those who create and consume news know that reading – and more broadly, journalism – deserve a better future. Scroll will help us build that future, solving one of the most frustrating parts about reading content online. We want to reimagine what they’ve built to deliver a seamless reading experience to our hyper-engaged audiences and allow publishers to deliver cleaner content that can make them more money than today’s business models.

    To do this, we plan to include Scroll as part of an upcoming subscription offering we’re currently exploring. As a Twitter subscriber, picture getting access to premium features where you can easily read articles from your favorite news outlet or a writer’s newsletter from Revue, with a portion of your subscription going to the publishers and writers creating the content.

    Park said Scroll will pause new sign-ups while the service is integrated with Twitter. After the integration, Twitter will work on growing Scroll’s subscriber base.

  • Robots Are Saving Understaffed Restaurants

    Robots Are Saving Understaffed Restaurants

    Robots are helping restaurants deal with staff shortages, taking over some of the easier, but critical, day-to-day duties.

    Just days ago, we wrote about the impact robots are having on service industries, an area once thought to be safe from robots and automation. According to CNN, restaurants are one industry that is particularly benefiting.

    Espartaco Borga, owner of Dallas-based Latin restaurant La Duni, is renting robots for $15 a day. The robots have been a game-changer for Borga, who was struggling to meet the uptick in demand, with only a third of his staff returning after the pandemic slowdown. In spite of the smaller staff, Borga says their business was 50 to 100% higher than ever, including pre-pandemic levels.

    The solution was robots from American Robotech.

    “The very next day they showed up, they mapped the restaurant, and they assigned the tables numbers within 45 minutes,” Borga said. “After a day, the girl at the expo line was in love with this because her arm didn’t hurt after carrying 60 trays in a day.”

    Borga says the robots greet customers, deliver orders and even sing “Happy Birthday” to customers. He’s also not worried about concerns of robots taking jobs, since his whole problem sprang from no one wanting the jobs he had available. Even more, with the money he’s saving using the robots — at a mere $15 a day — he’s able to pay his remaining workers more.

    The robots are also a hit with customers.

    “They don’t even see them as what they are, which is a tablet on wheels,” he said. “They see them as part of the service experience because these robots have a personality, they can interact. If you touch them, they giggle and they tell you things.”

  • YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Passes 50 Million Subscribers

    YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Passes 50 Million Subscribers

    YouTube Premium and YouTube Music have crossed the 50 million subscriber market, just a few years after Google unveiled YouTube subscriptions.

    YouTube is the undisputed champion among video platforms, but much of the platform’s income is based on ads. The company does offer a subscription service, and it has crossed a major milestone, according to Head of Music Lyor Cohen.

    It’s been almost 6 years since we kicked off our subscription journey at YouTube and today we’re excited to share the news that we’ve crossed 50 million Music and Premium subscribers, including trialers. It’s an honor to build a membership that allows people to more deeply immerse themselves in music, learning, fashion, gaming, and more, all the while supporting the creators and artists that make it possible. Music and Premium subscriptions are key pillars of YouTube’s monetization, enabling unique content and communities to flourish.

  • Amazon Will Hire More Than 40,000 Corporate and Tech Roles

    Amazon Will Hire More Than 40,000 Corporate and Tech Roles

    During Amazon’s Career Day 2021, to be held on September 15, the company plans to hire more than 40,000 corporate and tech roles.

    Amazon has experienced significant growth as a result of the pandemic. During lockdowns and quarantines, the company’s e-commerce platform was the lifeline for many consumers. The company has already went through multiple hiring sprees.

    Amazon has now announced it will hire more than 40,000 tech and corporate roles during Career Day 2021, along with tens of thousands of hourly positions in its Operations network.

    “We’re working hard every day to be the best place for people to have satisfying and fulfilling long-term careers,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. “Amazon continues to grow quickly and relentlessly invent across many areas, and we’re hoping that Career Day gives both job seekers and current Amazon employees the support they need to learn new skills or reimagine their careers at Amazon or elsewhere.”

    Amazon says it is the biggest job creator in the US right now, and has hired a whopping 450,000 individuals since the pandemic started. It appears the company isn’t slowing down yet.

  • Amazon Partners With Affirm to Offer Buy Now, Pay Later

    Amazon Partners With Affirm to Offer Buy Now, Pay Later

    Amazon is partnering with Affirm to offer its customers the option to buy now, pay later.

    Buy now, pay later is becoming an increasingly popular option, even in e-commerce. Square recently inked a deal to purchase Afterpay Limited in an effort to offer buy now, pay later.

    Amazon is now getting in on the action, partnering with Affirm to offers its customers the convenience.

    As a result of Amazon and Affirm’s partnership, select Amazon customers now have the option to split the total cost of purchases of $50 or more into simple monthly payments by using Affirm. Approved customers are shown the total cost of their purchase upfront and will never pay more than what they agree to at checkout. As always, when choosing Affirm, consumers will not be charged any late or hidden fees. 

    The two companies are testing the service with select customers, but intend on bringing it to Amazon’s wider customer base as soon as possible.

    “By partnering with Amazon we’re bringing the transparency, predictability and affordability that Affirm provides today to the millions of people who shop on Amazon.com in the U.S.,” said Eric Morse, Senior Vice President of Sales at Affirm. “Offering Affirm’s alternative to credit cards also delivers more of the payment choice and flexibility consumers on Amazon want.”

  • Amazon Expands A-to-z Guarantee to Cover Personal/Property Damage

    Amazon Expands A-to-z Guarantee to Cover Personal/Property Damage

    Amazon has unveiled a major upgrade to its A-to-z Guarantee, vowing to cover personal or property damage caused by defective products.

    A-to-z Guarantee was initially rolled out 20 years ago and provided no-hassle returns for products sold by third-party sellers on Amazon’s store. The company is now expanding that to cover damage caused by defective products sold via Amazon, including products that are sold by third-parties.

    The program will automatically cover up to $1,000, at no cost to the seller, although Amazon reserves the right to cover more expensive claims if it feels the seller is not properly addressing the issue.

    Amazon announced the program in a blog post:

    Now, in the unlikely event a defective product sold through Amazon.com causes property damage or personal injury, Amazon will directly pay customers for claims under $1,000—which account for more than 80% of cases—at no cost to sellers, and may step in to pay claims for higher amounts if the seller is unresponsive or rejects a claim we believe to be valid. We are also launching Amazon Insurance Accelerator to help sellers buy insurance at competitive rates from trusted providers. We’re excited that these innovations create a more trustworthy shopping and selling experience for customers and sellers in our store.

    The new policy is good news for customers and sellers alike.

  • YouTube Paid Creators $30 Billion Over the Last Three Years

    YouTube Paid Creators $30 Billion Over the Last Three Years

    YouTube has provided insight into the state of its content platform, including some impressive figures regarding its revenue and payouts to creators.

    YouTube is the undisputed king of video platforms. The company recently crossed the milestone of two million creators in its monetization program — the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) — and is revealing just how much it has paid those creators over the last three years.

    Creators who are part of YPP can make money and earn a living from their content on YouTube with ten different monetization features (and we keep adding more), from advertiser revenue to selling merchandise. Over the last three years, we’ve paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies. 

    With $7 billion in ad revenue in Q2 20201 alone, YouTube’s report is an impressive glimpse into just how important the platform is to Google’s overall business.

  • Walmart Launching Delivery as a Service

    Walmart Launching Delivery as a Service

    Walmart is launching Walmart GoLocal, its delivery as a service aimed at helping businesses deliver to their customers.

    Walmart already has a delivery service for its own customers, but the company sees an opportunity to help other companies do the same. The company has launched Walmart GoLocal to address the delivery needs of a variety of companies.

    “In an era where customers have come to expect speed and reliability, it’s more important than ever for businesses to work with a service provider that understands a merchant’s needs,” said John Furner, president and CEO, Walmart U.S. “Walmart has spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support our network of more than 4,700 stores and we look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low-cost services.”

    “We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last mile delivery program for our customers,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president, last mile, Walmart U.S. “Now, we’re pleased to be able to use these capabilities to serve another set of customers, local merchants. Be it delivering goods from a local bakery to auto supplies from a national retailer, we’ve designed Walmart GoLocal to be customizable for merchants of all sizes and categories so they can focus on doing what they do best, leaving delivery speed and efficiency to us.”

    Walmart is often accused of killing off small businesses, but this latest service will certainly help.

  • There Is No Change Coming To Lyft, Says Co-Founder – Despite Ruling

    There Is No Change Coming To Lyft, Says Co-Founder – Despite Ruling

    Lyft co-founderJohn Zimmer is extremely confident the court ruling that found California Proposition 22 unconstitutional will be overturned on appeal.

    “If you look at California Constitution we feel very confident in the way the ballot initiative was written,” says Lyft co-founder and President, John Zimmer. “The Attorney General in California agrees with us and was on our side in this lawsuit. As this goes through higher courts, the appeals court in California, we are extremely confident that the proposition will be upheld.”

    “There is no change coming (to Lyft) out of that ruling,” adds Zimmer. “It will go on appeal and we’ll continue to work within the system of law and we are confident of the final outcome.”

    “It’s hard to predict the legal process fully but we’re optimistic that within that (6 months) timeframe we’ll get a more final resolution.”

  • Amazon Poised to Open Department Stores

    Amazon Poised to Open Department Stores

    Amazon may dominate e-commerce, but reports show it now plans to take on traditional retail with its own debarment-style stores.

    Department stores were once a staple of American life and the go-to place to shop for everything from clothes to household items. In recent years, however, e-commerce has taken a toll on the industry, with many going into bankruptcy or making major changes to how they do business.

    Now Amazon, arguably one of the biggest factors in the demise of the industry, is now preparing to open its own department-style retail stores in California and Ohio, according to The Wall Street Journal.Amazon already has some retail locations, such as bookstores and the Whole Foods chain it purchased 2017. The company also has its 4-star stores, although those primarily sell gadgets.

    According to WSJ, Amazon’s new retail stores will be roughly 30,000 square feet, quite a bit smaller than a traditional department store, which usually comes in around 100,000. Even so, the new stores will be much larger than the company’s other retail efforts and will offer the full range of products from top brands, much like a traditional department store.

    While nothing is a sure bet, Amazon’s chances of success are pretty good. Having its own stores would give users the ability to try on clothes before buying them, eliminating one of the more frustrating aspects of online shopping.

  • Amazon Warning Sellers About Congress’ Antitrust Efforts

    Amazon Warning Sellers About Congress’ Antitrust Efforts

    Amazon is contacting third-party sellers to warn them of how impending action by Congress could impact them.

    Congress seems determined to tackle issues with Big Tech, including what it perceives as antitrust violations and monopolistic behavior. Amazon is one of the companies Congress has its sights set on, and this is already a concern for the e-commerce giant.

    According to CNBC, the company has begun contacting some of its third-party sellers, one of its biggest growth markets, to inform them of how they may be impacted.

    “We’re reaching out to a small group of our sellers to make them aware of a package of legislative proposals, currently in Congress, that is aimed at regulating Amazon and other large technology companies,” states the email, send by CNBC. “It is early in the process and the bills are subject to change, but we are concerned that they could potentially have significant negative effects on small and medium-sized businesses like yours that sell in our store.”

    As Amazon points out, there is much that could change before the antitrust bills make it into law. Nonetheless, the threat of the bills is already causing major concern.

  • PayPal and Fiserv Bringing Direct Deposit to PayPal and Venmo Accounts

    PayPal and Fiserv Bringing Direct Deposit to PayPal and Venmo Accounts

    Gig workers, and others who rely on PayPal, will be able to have payments direct deposited thanks to a partnership between PayPal and Fiserv.

    PayPal is one of the most popular options for many gig workers and small business owners to be paid. The company has been expanding its offerings to compete more with traditional banks, even offering a debit card that provides cash back. The missing piece, however, has been the ability to receive direct deposit payments, such as paycheck.

    PayPal and Fiserv are partnering to address that shortcoming, providing a way for businesses to send direct deposits to both PayPal and Venmo accounts, via Fiserv’s Carat commerce platform.

    “Fiserv is helping organizations across the globe move money and information with the speed, flexibility, and convenience that today’s consumer is demanding,” said Nandan Sheth, Head of Carat and Digital Commerce at Fiserv. “With the addition of payouts to PayPal and Venmo accounts via our Carat ecosystem, businesses can benefit from enhanced visibility of their brand via a logo, tagline or customized message in Venmo’s social payments platform. This provides our clients with a unique opportunity to drive next generation customer experiences, with the simplicity of doing so at scale through a single API.”

    “With more than 400 million active accounts on the PayPal and Venmo platforms, we are able to provide companies with a fast, easy, and cost effective way to send money in situations such as insurance payouts or other disbursements,” said Dan Leberman, Senior Vice President of Partnerships, PayPal. “This integration is the next step in our long standing partnership with Fiserv and will provide substantial value to enterprises that need to send money directly to customers.”

    The announcement is good news for PayPal and Venmo users, and should help drive usage even more.

  • Microsoft Announces Microsoft Cloud for Retail

    Microsoft Announces Microsoft Cloud for Retail

    Microsoft has announced a new vertical cloud, Microsoft Cloud for Retail, aiming to be an end-to-end retail solution.

    Microsoft Azure has been gaining ground in the cloud market, with a recent report showing it one of the biggest winners during the current digital transformation. Microsoft Azure is increasingly seen as a viable alternative to AWS, especially among retailers who are leery of relying on a cloud offering from their biggest rival.

    Microsoft is capitalizing on this by offering a vertical cloud solution tailored to the specific needs of the retail market.

    The unmatched performance of Microsoft Azure allows our customers to intelligently manage secure workloads across multiple sites and domains, scale those workloads to process millions of requests per second, and improve the logistics to manage each order. Azure Data and AI services help retailers respond to market forces, improve decision-making, and put customers first by breaking down their data silos to manage, merge, shape, and analyze the data and, as a result, uncover actionable insights.

    With Azure, retailers get the best of at-scale cloud, data, and AI workloads including industry data models that enable data management, governance, and domain excellence in one cloud platform from a provider that does not compete with them. As a result, retailers can build better digital feedback loops—the connections between their customers, their people, their stores, their data, and the insights at the heart of each—on a platform from a trusted partner.

    Microsoft’s announcement does not include pricing. The company is confident, however, that its latest vertical cloud will help the retail industry deal with the challenges and opportunities it is currently facing.

  • Amazon Sellers Trade Positive Reviews for Massive Refunds

    Amazon Sellers Trade Positive Reviews for Massive Refunds

    Amazon sellers are encouraging users to delete negative reviews, even offering refunds above and beyond the sale price in exchange.

    Amazon has long-struggled with fake reviews, with an entire industrysprouting up to game the system. The problem has even received the attention of regulators, with Britain’s Competition and Market Authority investigating whether the company is doing enough to combat the issue.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, via Business Insider, some resellers on the platform are contacting individuals who have left negative reviews to offer refunds, in some cases more than double the initial price, in exchange for removing the negative reviews. In some cases, resellers have repeatedly contacted individuals until they get a response.

    Amazon’s policy prohibits sellers from contacting buyers outside of the company’s own platform, but that hasn’t stopped sellers from doing just that. The company has reiterated these types of interactions shouldn’t occur, and that it takes action against those responsible.

    “Amazon provides a great deal of help content, proactive coaching, warnings and other assistance to sellers to ensure they remain compliant with our clearly stated policies,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Journal. “We have clear policies for both reviewers and selling partners that prohibit abuse of our community features, and we suspend, ban and take legal action against those who violate these policies.” 

    In the meantime, as The Journal points out, customers leaving a review should be careful not to leave personal details in their reviews, thereby making it more difficult for sellers to contact them outside of Amazon’s system.