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Tag: Amazon

  • Amazon Sues “Fake Review” Providers

    Amazon Sues “Fake Review” Providers

    Amazon is taking a legal step to fight fake product reviews.

    The online retail giant has filed a lawsuit against a California man named Jay Gentile, whom the company identifies as the operator of a handful of sites including buyazonreviews.com, buyamazonreviews.com, bayreviews.net and buyreviewsnow.com.

    According to GeekWire, Amazon says those sites are part of an “unhealthy ecosystem” which has sprung up with the purpose of “supplying inauthentic reviews”.

    From the lawsuit:

    While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand. Amazon strictly prohibits any attempt to manipulate customer reviews and actively polices its website to remove false, misleading, and inauthentic reviews.

    Despite substantial efforts to stamp out the practice, an unhealthy ecosystem is developing outside of Amazon to supply inauthentic reviews. Defendants’ businesses consist entirely of selling such reviews.

    There appears to be a discrepancy on just who operates the aforementioned sites, however. The Seattle Times says that a guy named Mark Collins owns buyamazonreviews.com. He had this to say in a statement to the Times:

    “We are not selling fake reviews. however we do provide Unbiased and Honest reviews on all the products. And this is not illegal at all.”

    Here’s how that website describes its services:

    Are you tired of your products not being seen, tired of competitors leaving bad reviews? The solution is simple. Buy Amazon reviews. You can have unlimited 4 and 5 star reviews this week. Our skilled writers look at your product, look at your competitor’s products and then write state of the art reviews that will be sure to generate sales for you.

    “All of our accounts have buying history and review posting history. Rarely will we use a new account to post your reviews,” says the site.

    Amazon’s lawsuit alleges that these fake review sites allow sellers to simply ship them empty boxes, in order to fool Amazon into thinking the product has been purchased. Reviews reportedly go for around $20, give or take a few dollars.

    This is the first time Amazon has ever filed suit against these so-called “fake review” sites and their operators.

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Consumers Really Want Drone Delivery, Are Willing To Pay For It

    Consumers Really Want Drone Delivery, Are Willing To Pay For It

    Earlier, we looked at a report from Walker Sands, which looks at consumers’ online shopping habits, and bodes well for Amazon’s new Home Services offering.

    In a separate section of the report that we didn’t get into, they look at consumers’ attitudes toward the use of drones for product delivery, which may give us an idea of how people will respond to another project Amazon is trying to get off the ground (no pun intended…seriously).

    While acknowledging that the reality of drone-based delivery is likely still pretty far off, the report finds that two-thirds of consumers (66%) think they will receive their first drone-delivered package within the next five years, and that consumers embrace the concept.

    “Consumers want more than fast delivery –they now want it within the hour,” it says. “Drone-delivered packages may be an even bigger push toward a future where the majority of purchases are made online across multiple product categories. Four in five consumers say drone delivery to their doorsteps within an hour would make them more likely to purchase from a retailer.”

    “Consumers don’t just expect to receive online orders by drone – they are also willing to pay for it,” it adds. “Almost 80 percent of consumers are willing to pay for drone delivery if their order arrived within an hour, with nearly half (48 percent) saying they would pay at least $5. Only 23 percent of consumers say they aren’t willing to pay for drone delivery, suggesting rapid delivery by air is fertile ground for retailers like Amazon that plan to push the limits of fast delivery.”

    88% of consumers would trust drones with delivery of at least one type of product. Most say they would to so with books, clothing, and pet items. They’re not quite as eager to have drones deliver more expensive things. Only 15% would want to use drone delivery for luxury items.

    While most consumers are apparently ready for the world of drones flying around everywhere delivering packages, some are unsurprisingly concerned about safety. The report found that among the 12% of those who said they wouldn’t trust drone delivery for any items, 74% cited safety concerns. 69% cited cost concerns, while 64% cited privacy, and 58% cited theft concerns. 57% cited technology concerns.

    Of course drone delivery is not going to happen without clearance from the authorities. Last month, the FAA granted Amazon an “experimental airworthiness certificate,” which allows it to research and start training on its drones, but includes restrictions that prevent the company from sending the devices out of the pilot’s view.

    The certificate also requires Amazon to provide monthly data to the FAA.

    “The company must report the number of flights conducted, pilot duty time per flight, unusual hardware or software malfunctions, any deviations from air traffic controllers’ instructions, and any unintended loss of communication links. The FAA includes these reporting requirements in all UAS experimental airworthiness certificates,” said the FAA.

    In February, the FAA released its proposal for new regulations on commercial drones, which would make Amazon Prime Air pretty hard to execute as a service.

    The company said in a statement, “The FAA’s proposed rules for small UAS could take one or two years to be adopted and, based on the proposal, even then those rules wouldn’t allow Prime Air to operate in the United States. The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers. We are committed to realizing our vision for Prime Air and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need.”

    The offering is expected to be offered in Europe first.

    Meanwhile, Google has been working to redesign its delivery drones after the initial design for “Project Wing” didn’t quite work out.

    Images via Amazon, Walker Sands

  • Online Shopper Data Bodes Well For Amazon Home Services

    Online Shopper Data Bodes Well For Amazon Home Services

    Amazon recently announced the launch of Amazon Home Services, in which it handpicks local service businesses to include in a marketplace on Amazon.com, enabling customers to purchase services from those in the home improvement, computer & electronics, lawn & garden, automotive, and other categories.

    We first learned about the service last summer, but now it’s been launched, albeit, in a limited capacity. For now, it’s only available in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle, but it will expand in time.

    If new data from Walker Sands is any indication, the offering could be a big success for Amazon. It finds that 27% of consumers report already buying tools or home improvement products via Amazon. It also finds that consumers are making web purchases more frequently, and are spending more in a broader range of product categories.

    Things are looking pretty good for Amazon’s endeavor when you consider that it found that while four out of ten consumers are open to purchasing any type of product online from either retailers or third-party sites like Amazon, they trust Amazon more than other retailers in ten out of eleven product categories.

    A few more interesting findings from the study:

    – 68 percent of U.S. consumers shop online at least once per month, up from 62 percent a year ago, and 28 percent make web purchases at least once a week.

    – Consumers are buying more expensive items online, with 76 percent saying they would spend more than $100 on a product without seeing it first, up from 70 percent a year ago.

    – While free shipping continues to be the top reason consumers say they would shop online more (83 percent), free returns (65 percent) have surpassed one-day shipping (62 percent) for the No.2 spot.

    In fact, free shipping, or lack thereof, is one of the leading causes of shopping cart abandonment for ecommerce sites, so it’s no surprise to see it remain such a priority.

    “Online shopping has become so commonplace that retailers have to make the experience as easy and convenient as possible if they want to continue growing their e-commerce revenue,” the report says. “With consumers shopping online more frequently and spending more across an increasing number of product categories, retailers that remove as much friction from the online shopping experience as possible will capture the most additional sales.”

    Either way, it’s going to remain hard to compete with Amazon with everyone trusts them more than every other site.

  • Antitrust Prosecution Comes To E-Commerce

    Antitrust Prosecution Comes To E-Commerce

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has charged a former e-commerce executive with price fixing, in what would be the DoJ’s antitrust division’s first online marketplace prosecution. The defendant is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of $1 million for individuals.

    David Topkins, who sold posters and other art through Amazon Marketplace, is facing a one-count felony charge, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California in San Francisco. It alleges that Topkins and his “co-conspirators” fixed prices of certain posters sold from September 2013 through January 2014. The charge also alleges that Topkins and said co-conspirators adopted “specific pricing algorithms for the sale of certain posters with the goal of coordinating changes to their respective prices, and wrote computer code that instructed algorithm-based software to set prices.”

    The prosecution of Topkins came about from an investigation into price fixing in the online wall décor industry. The DoJ’s antitrust division is still conducting this with help from the FBI. Topkins agreed to plead guilty and pay a $20,000 criminal fine as well as cooperate with the ongoing investigation. The plea agreement is still subject to court approval. The maximum fine of $1 million can be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either amount is greater. It’s unclear what those figures are in this case.

    “Today’s announcement represents the division’s first criminal prosecution against a conspiracy specifically targeting e-commerce,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “We will not tolerate anticompetitive conduct, whether it occurs in a smoke-filled room or over the Internet using complex pricing algorithms. American consumers have the right to a free and fair marketplace online, as well as in brick and mortar businesses.”

    “These charges demonstrate our continued commitment to investigate and prosecute individuals and organizations seeking to victimize online consumers through illegal anticompetitive conduct,” said Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson of the FBI’s San Francisco Field Office. “The FBI is committed to investigating price fixing schemes and remains unwavering in our dedication to bring those responsible for theses illegal conspiracies to justice.”

    Amazon itself, which has not been implicated in the case, has so far remained silent on the news.

  • Silicon Valley Premieres Four Days Early on Twitch

    April 12th is going to be a good day, as both Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley return to HBO’s lineup. And if you’re really impatient, you can watch the season premiere of the latter a few days early.

    On April 8th at 3pm EST Amazon’s live-streaming gaming platform Twitch will host a Q&A with the cast and then show the season two premiere for free.

    From Variety:

    Show cast members Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, Martin Starr and Zach Woods will visit Twitch for a live gameplay and Q&A session followed by the free episode on Wednesday, April 8, starting at 12 p.m. PT. According to HBO, the event fits neatly with Twitch because several “Silicon Valley” characters are avid gamers, as are some of the actors on the show, including series star Middleditch, who is a Twitch streamer.

    “There is an authentic connection between ‘Silicon Valley’ and the Twitch audience, and this unique event is a great way to build upon that,” said Sabrina Caluori, VP of digital and social media at HBO. “Twitch offers a unique opportunity to provide exclusive content and a highly social experience to this influential community.”

    Ok nerds, have at it.

    You can watch the episode a few days early for free on Twitch’s official channel.

  • Amazon Dash Button Appears To Not Be A Joke

    Amazon Dash Button Appears To Not Be A Joke

    About a year ago, Amazon unveiled the Amazon Dash, a way for people to add items to their shopping lists from their homes by scanning them with the device or using the microphone to tell it what they need.

    Now, the company has announced an extension of Dash with the Amazon Dash Button. Given the timing of the announcement and the nature of the product, you might think Amazon was playing an April Fools’ joke on you, but it appears to be a real offering.

    Prime members can get branded buttons for products they use regularly (like coffee creamer, laundry detergent, diapers, etc.), and when they’re getting low on stock, they can just press the button to order more.

    “Dash Button comes with a reusable adhesive and a hook so you can hang, stick, or place it right where you need it,” says Amazon. “Keep Dash Button handy in the kitchen, bath, laundry, or anywhere you store your favorite products. When you’re running low, simply press Dash Button, and Amazon quickly delivers household favorites so you can skip the last-minute trip to the store.”

    You can get buttons for Cottonelle toilet paper, Boutny paper towels, Clorox wipes, Izze sparkling juice, Olay anti-aging moisturizer, Huggies diapers, Tide detergent, Glad trash bags, Kraft Easy Mac, and more. You can see the whole selection here.

    “Dash Button is simple to set up,” the company says. “Use the Amazon app on your smartphone to easily connect to your home Wi-Fi network and select the product you want to reorder with Dash Button. Once connected, a single press automatically places your order. Amazon sends an order alert to your phone, so it’s easy to cancel if you change your mind. Unless you elect otherwise, Dash Button responds only to your first press until your order is delivered.”

    Amazon lets developers and manufacturers integrate the Dash service into their products and services as well. Whirlpool is taking advantage with a smart washer. Brita is doing so with a connected water pitcher.

    Images via Amazon

  • Amazon Now Has a Store Focusing on STEM Toys

    Amazon Now Has a Store Focusing on STEM Toys

    Amazon wants your kids to grow up knowing more about the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. The online retailer has just launched a dedicated marketplace for STEM toys for kids of all ages.

    “STEM toys encourage kids to develop skills in the core disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math,” says Amazon on its new page. “We chose these toys because they have clear goals and encourage kids to learn STEM skill while having fun.”

    Some featured products include LEGO sets, Roominate systems, modular robotics kits, light circuit kits, LightUp Edison kits, a Solar System planetarium, and remote control machines. On the page, you can filter toys by age (Preschool, 5-7 year, 8-11 years, and 12+ years) or by Amazon’s own editor picks.

    Of course, promoting STEM values is a noble cause, but Amazon isn’t just doing this for the sake of young minds. According to TechCrunch, “the retailer notes that not only are STEM toys a ‘hot trend’ in education, but they were also the second-most visited section and the second highest in terms of sales volume on Amazon’s 2014 Holiday.”

    STEM is hot right now, in other words.

    In other Amazon-specific storefront news, the company just launched a dedicated destination for Shark Tank stuff and other “up-and-coming products” called Amazon Exclusives.

  • Amazon Might Buy Fashion Retailer Net-a-Porter in What Could Be Its Largest Acquisition Ever

    Amazon Might Buy Fashion Retailer Net-a-Porter in What Could Be Its Largest Acquisition Ever

    If Amazon is truly serious about getting into the world of high fashion, an acquisition like this would be a very strong move.

    According to a report from Women’s Wear Daily, Amazon is eyeing online fashion retailer Net-a–Porter. The price could be somewhere just under two billion euros. Net-a-Porter is owned by Richemont, a Swiss luxury good holding company. According to WWD, Net-a-Porter isn’t really a core part of “its hard luxury business,” so it might be looking to spin it off.

    From WWD:

    Asked generally about Net-a-porter’s future at Richemont, Luca Solca, managing director at Exane BNP Paribas, said a possible scenario is for the luxury group to monetize the value of the fashion e-tailer, and sell it to a company willing to invest in pure-play luxury retail in the long term.

    “One ideal candidate for that could potentially be Amazon,” Solca told WWD. “Amazon needs a separate mall to engage in luxury credibly, sort of what Tao Bao does with Tmall.” Earlier this year, Solca floated the idea of an initial public offering or divestment of Net-a-porter, and said it would be “a positive” for Richemont.

    If it happens, it would be Amazon’s biggest acquisition ever.

    Forbes says that the talks are in their early stages, and “could still fall apart.” Forbes says that if it goes through, the price will likely be a little less than what Women’s Wear Daily reported.

    Amazon has dabbled in fashion, of course, but high fashion has never been the focus of the retail giant. It acquired Shopbop in 2006, Zappos in 2009, and MyHabit in 2011 – but this acquisition would be the most substantial in more ways than one. Could it make Amazon a destination of luxury goods, instead of just lower cost deals? That’s no doubt what Amazon is looking to do, if it’s even considering this buy.

  • YouTube Is Going After Twitch with New Game Streaming Focus: Report

    YouTube Is Going After Twitch with New Game Streaming Focus: Report

    YouTube has been experimenting with live streaming for many years, finally letting any channel in good standing participate in live streaming in December of 2013, and the YouTube Live channel currently features livestreams of sporting events, music, news, and more. But if you take a look through the offerings you might come back uninspired. YouTube Live hasn’t really taken off as much as Google and YouTube would’ve liked it to.

    Apparently, the company thinks it needs a new focus.

    The Daily Dot is quoting sources in saying that YouTube plans to relaunch YouTube Live as a premier destination for game streaming – a move that would put it in direct competition with Amazon’s Twitch. When we say “game streaming,” we’re talking about the increasingly popular activity of watching other gamers play games live. This can be an amateur or a professional endeavor.

    Here’s what that source had to say:

    “Gaming and esports in particular are going to be a big driving force for the new-look YouTube Live. There’ll be huge opportunities for established streamers and organizations soon and I would say that the record numbers of esports viewers are only going to grow when Google start promoting and partnering with these events.”

    YouTube already has the framework in place to support this – it just needs the talent and promotion.

    Amazon completed its acquisition of Twitch in September of 2014. The price of that deal was $970 million. Before that, Google was in serious talks to acquire the game streaming platform itself, reportedly preparing a $1 billion offer. Reports indicated that Google backed out due to antitrust concerns.

    YouTube wouldn’t provide a comment on the report, but did send Ars Technica a cute gif of a girl shrugging, so there’s that.

  • Sell Products Directly To Amazon With Amazon Vendor Express

    Amazon has a new service called Amazon Vendor Express aimed at letting businesses sell their products directly to the company, who will resell them to customers. Amazon takes care of promoting, selling, and shipping the products, utilizing its network of fulfillment centers.

    Membership is free. Products become eligible for free two-day shipping for Prime members and free shipping on orders of $35 or more for everyone else.

    “With Amazon Vendor Express, you can start selling to Amazon and expose your products to hundreds of millions of customers worldwide,” the company says. “Amazon buys products directly from you and handles shipping costs, merchandising, customer service, and customer returns. Amazon Vendor Express works for you so you can focus on making great products.”

    Supported product categories include:

    Automotive Tools & Accessories
    Baby (excluding clothing and shoes)
    Beauty
    Camera, Photo & Video
    Car Electronics
    Electronics
    Grocery
    Health and Personal Care
    Home Decor
    Home Improvement
    Kitchen & Dining
    Kitchen Plumbing & Bath Fixture
    Lighting & Ceiling Fans
    Office & School Supplies
    Patio, Lawn & Garden
    Pet Supplies
    Portable Audio & Accessories
    Power & Hand Tools
    Sporting Goods (excluding clothing and shoes)
    Toys

    The following categories are excluded: Hazmat, Adult, Heavy products (over 20 pounds), Bulky products ( greater than 18” by 14” by 8”), and any product that has a selling price to Amazon of over $500.

    For each new product a business supplies to Amazon, the company requires a one-time shipment of some free units to sell on the site. There are no charges for shipping, handling, or storage.

    “It’s very easy to get started,” the company says. “You create a business account, add products, and send us a small order of free units for each of your products (or product variations), enabling us to quickly create your detail page, get your product online, and determine whether we can successfully sell it. You will only be required to send free units once for each product you sell on Amazon. If there is demand for your product based on the units you send, we may order more products from you and pay you for them.”

    Amazon issues payments within 60 days from the time they receive the products.

    There’s a form where you can sign up to be a vendor here. You can see an overview of the program here.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Drones Get FAA Go-ahead for Testing, but Don’t Get Too Excited

    The Federal Aviation Administration has granted Amazon an “experimental airworthiness certificate” that allows the company to begin research and training on its fleet of delivery drones, what the company calls Amazon Prime Air. Unfortunately for Amazon, the certificate comes with some of the same restrictions the FAA proposed in its comprehensive drone regulations back in February.

    “The Federal Aviation Administration today issued an experimental airworthiness certificate to an Amazon Logistics, Inc. unmanned aircraft (UAS) design that the company will use for research and development and crew training. The FAA typically issues experimental certificates to manufacturers and technology developers to operate a UAS that does not have a type certificate,” said the FAA in a release.

    The FAA says that the certificate only allows daylight drone flights with a 400-foot max height. Also, the drone pilot is required to have “at least a private pilot’s certificate and current medical certification.”

    But probably the most troublesome to Amazon’s drone purposes is the line-of-sight rule, which limits all drone flights to those in which the pilot can physically see the aircraft.

    “The certificate also requires Amazon to provide monthly data to the FAA. The company must report the number of flights conducted, pilot duty time per flight, unusual hardware or software malfunctions, any deviations from air traffic controllers’ instructions, and any unintended loss of communication links. The FAA includes these reporting requirements in all UAS experimental airworthiness certificates,” said the FAA.

    Last month, the FAA released its long-awaited proposal for new regulations on commercial drones. The proposed rules were not as restrictive as some feared, but they do limit drone flight enough to make Amazon’s dream of drone delivery pretty difficult to nearly impossible.

    Amazon wasn’t thrilled, saying,

    “The FAA’s proposed rules for small UAS could take one or two years to be adopted and, based on the proposal, even then those rules wouldn’t allow Prime Air to operate in the United States. The FAA needs to begin and expeditiously complete the formal process to address the needs of our business, and ultimately our customers. We are committed to realizing our vision for Prime Air and are prepared to deploy where we have the regulatory support we need.”

    In other words, we’re going overseas.

    The FAA’s new exemption may work for testing, and convince Amazon to stay here with that – but the rules the agency has proposed are in no way Amazon-friendly. Unless something changes, a future where your new pair of shoes is quietly dropped off by a quadcopter looks like a longshot.

  • ‘Bosch’ Season 2 Is a Go After Strong Performance

    Bosch, Amazon’s first original hour-long drama, has already been greenlit for a second season. That means it’s also the first drama series to be renewed at Amazon.

    The show, which premiered ten episodes back in February, is based on a series of Michael Connelly novels that follow LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch – played by Titus Welliver, who you may know from Lost. It also stars Jamie Hector, Amy Aquino, Lance Reddick, Annie Wersching, Sarah Clarke. and Jason Gedrick.

    “I am very excited about continuing the Bosch story with season two,” said Michael Connelly. “I love what we started with and I think our plans for the second season will make the show even better and more exploratory of the character of Harry Bosch. We have a great cast and crew and we are all going to be one year better at this. I can’t wait.”

    Amazon already has a season two synopsis up:

    In the second season of Bosch, the relentless LAPD detective will investigate the murder of a Hollywood producer who laundered money for the mob. He will also pursue serial killer Chilton Hardy and the investigations take Bosch from the Hollywood Hills down through the gritty back streets of L.A. and Las Vegas, threatening those closest to him—his teenage daughter and ex-wife

    “We’re delighted to see that Amazon customers have immediately embraced Bosch,” said Roy Price, Vice President, Amazon Studios. “Fans will soon be able to enjoy more of this inspired adaptation brought to life by a remarkably gifted cast.”

    According to Amazon, it would’ve been insane not to renew the show. The company says Bosch had biggest debut weekend of all Amazon originals (including the award-winning Transparent). And over the past month, it’s been the most-watched thing on all of Amazon Prime Instant Video.

  • Amazon Web Services Announces CloudFront Signed Cookies

    Amazon Web Services announced that Amazon CloudFront now gives users CloudFront signed HTTP cookies to secure private content. Whereas before, you’d control who could access CloudFront content using a custom signature for each objectURL, you can now include the signature in an HTTP cookie.

    According to the company, this enables you to restrict access to multiple objects (such as whole site authentication) or to a single object without having to change URLs.

    “Signed HTTP cookies make it easy to restrict viewer access to your streaming media content,” says senior product manager Omid Behzadian. “For example, if your media content is in HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) format, you can use Amazon Elastic Transcoder or your media server to generate the playlist and media segments. You then write your web application to authenticate each user and to send a Set-Cookie header that sets a cookie on the user’s device. When a user requests a restricted object, the browser forwards the signed cookie in the request, and CloudFront checks the cookie attributes to determine whether to allow or restrict access to the HLS stream. CloudFront checks for this cookie when the player requests the playlist and when the player requests each segment, which ensures that the end-to-end stream is secured.”

    “This is a nice addition to AWS’ growing portfolio of security features targeted for media delivery,” adds Behzadian. “You may remember that Amazon Elastic Transcoder released HLS Content Protection earlier this year. Also, be sure to check out a recording of the Secure Media Streaming and Delivery Session at re:Invent for tips on architecting an end-to-end secure media solution on AWS.”

    Using private content with CloudFront does not mean extra charges.

    The company will be providing a CloudFront office hours on March 26, where it will be demoing CloudFront Signed Cookies. You can sign up for that here if you like.

    In other Amazon Web Services news, the company confirmed that it has acquired 2lemetry, an Internet-of-Things startup that has a system for sending, receiving, and analyzing connected devices.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Launches New Store for Shark Tank Stuff

    Ok, not just Shark Tank stuff – Amazon wants to sell you all the hot new gadgets and gizmos.

    The company has just launched a new storefront called Amazon Exclusives, which “gives customers direct access to innovative new products from popular up-and-coming brands [including] electronics accessories, toys, sporting equipment and much more.”

    Amazon’s “exclusives” are products from companies that have chosen to sell their products only on Amazon and their own websites and physical stores, of course.

    And one of the big sources for these sorts of products is ABC’s hit reality show Shark Tank.

    Right now, the Exclusives stores is pretty bare bones, offering Jackery mobile charging products, standup paddleboards for Tower Paddle Boards, iPhone optic lensmaker Olloclip, and Zackees, an LED glove that lets bikers give turn signals.

    “Our mission on behalf of customers is to make Amazon the destination for brands and innovators to launch and sell their products, providing our customers early access to new products,” said Peter Faricy, VP of Amazon Marketplace. “We understand that helping brands gain exposure for their award-winning new products is beneficial to customers that desire to be the first to have the hot new item.”

    “New brands are popping up everywhere, and it can be difficult for consumers to find and evaluate new items online. The Amazon Exclusives store provides a great environment for customers to explore hot new items,” said Stephan Aarstol, founder and CEO for Tower Paddle Boards, based in the San Diego area. “For consumers, this new shopping experience is a big win because they get the confidence of shopping on Amazon plus early access to the style and innovation of these rising star brands.”

    Of course, Shark Tank products aren’t the only products that’ll appear in the Exclusives store. If Amazon wants to give virtual shelf space to new and up-and-coming products, it could be a good place for crowdsourced products to land.

  • Jay Carney Is Amazon’s New VP of Corporate Affairs

    Former White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has spent the last year as a contributor to CNN, but now he’s stepping back into the realm of PR.

    Politico reports that Amazon has tapped Carney to be the new Senior Vice President for Worldwide Corporate Affairs. It’s a new position – one that will put the company’s public relations and public policy divisions under one umbrella.

    From Politico:

    [Current VP of Public Policy] Paul Misener and PR chief Craig Berman will now report to Carney, who in turn will report directly to CEO Jeff Bezos. Carney will give up his post-White House perch as a senior political analyst on CNN to focus full time on Amazon.

    Carney served as Press Secretary for the Obama administration from February 11, 2011, to June 20, 2014. He replaced Robert Gibbs and was succeeded by Josh Earnest. Before heading to the White House, Carney was the Washington Bureau Chief for Time magazine.

    Image via Jay Carney, Twitter

  • Target Takes a Swipe at Amazon, Lowers Free Shipping Threshold to $25

    Target Takes a Swipe at Amazon, Lowers Free Shipping Threshold to $25

    Target saw record online sales during Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, and it looks like that strong performance made the company think about how to increase its online presence even more.

    Dropping free shipping thresholds to $25, $10 below online retail king Amazon, is a pretty good start.

    Target has just cut its minimum order price to qualify for free shipping in half. Orders that qualify for free shipping will arrive in 3-5 business days, and Target says that “most items” qualify (bigger items may require a handling fee). Expediting the shipping to one or two days will cost extra. And of course, there’s always the free in-store pickup option.

    “Lowering the free shipping threshold from $50 to $25 is one more way Target is putting guests first and making it easier for them to shop Target when and where they want,” said Jason Goldberger, president of Target.com and Mobile. “We saw an enthusiastic response to our free shipping offer over the holidays. Now, whether guests are stocking up or doing fill-in shopping, we’ve enhanced our year-round shipping offer to be one of the best in all of retail.”

    Amazon increased its free shipping threshold from $25 to $35 in October of 2013, the first time the company had done so in a decade. Shortly after that, Amazon increased the cost of an Amazon Prime subscription, citing shipping costs as one reason why.

    By comparison, Walmart’s free shipping order price point is $50, and even then it’s 6-8 day shipping.

  • FAA Drone Rules Open Door for Commercial Use, but Still Too Restrictive for Amazon

    The Federal Aviation Administration has finally released its long-awaited proposal for new regulations on commercial drones. The proposed rules are not as restrictive as some feared, but they do limit drone flight enough to render something like Amazon’s Prime Air delivery scheme virtually impossible.

    Up until now, it’s been illegal to fly drones for commercial purposes without a special exemption from the FAA. With the new rules, commercial drone use would be legal under certain guidelines. All of these rules apply to “small UAS” – 55 pounds and below.

    First of all, not just anyone can fly a drone. All drone “operators” must be at least 17 years old and must pass an aeronautical knowledge test and obtain an FAA UAS operator certificate. Not only that, but they must maintain certification by passing the knowledge test every two years.

    There are major restrictions on how these operators can fly their drones. This is what kills Amazon’s (and now many other companies’) drone delivery dreams:

    The proposed rule would require an operator to maintain visual line of sight of a small UAS. The rule would allow, but not require, an operator to work with a visual observer who would maintain constant visual contact with the aircraft. The operator would still need to be able to see the UAS with unaided vision (except for glasses). The FAA is asking for comments on whether the rules should permit operations beyond line of sight, and if so, what the appropriate limits should be.

    “We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules,” said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. “We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”

    Amazon, as you might expect, isn’t thrilled with the FAA’s new rules.

    The line of sight rule is the real killer, and many companies argue that the technology to safely operate drones outside the line of sight is available.

    The public comment period, which will surely include a lot of conversation about “stifling business innovation”, could take as long as two years.

  • Bosch, Amazon’s New Cop Drama, Is Now Available

    All ten episodes of Amazon’s first original hour-long drama, Bosch, are now available to stream on Amazon Prime Instant Video.

    Bosch is based on a series of Michael Connelly novels that follow Harry Bosch, a “relentless LAPD homicide detective who pursues the killer of a 13-year-old boy while standing trial in federal court on accusations that he murdered a suspected killer in cold blood.”

    From Amazon:

    Primarily based on elements from Connelly’s books City of Bones (2002), The Concrete Blonde (1994) and Echo Park (2006), Harry Bosch’s investigation takes on a life and death urgency when a killer who has confessed to a boy’s murder escapes custody and begins a murderous rampage across Los Angeles. Bosch and the killer are locked in a cat and mouse game, with the killer taunting Bosch as the investigation turns deeply personal. The case unearths Bosch’s buried past as well as entangling his ex-wife and 14-year-old daughter. The season takes the viewer through back streets and neighborhoods of Los Angeles rarely seen on-screen.

    Bosch stars Titus Welliver, who you may know from Lost. It also stars Jamie Hector, Amy Aquino, Lance Reddick, Annie Wersching, Sarah Clarke. and Jason Gedrick.

    The new show is receiving generally favorable reviews. Of course, it has a lot to live up to considering Amazon’s latest offering, Transparent, won a couple Golden Globes.

    Image via Amazon Studios, YouTube

  • Amazon Launches Self-Serve Giveaway Promotion Tool

    Amazon just launched a new tool for hosting giveaways. It can be used by pretty much anyone, including brands, bloggers, authors, artists, non-profits, etc. This pretty much sums it up:

    “The idea of running giveaway promotions is easy. They are a really effective way to attract attention and build engagement, but giveaways often come with hidden costs and complexities which makes the reality of running one hard,” said Steve Shure, Vice President Consumer Marketing at Amazon. “Amazon Giveaway is the first self-service tool that takes care of all the hard work of a giveaway, from setting up all of the rules to shipping prizes directly to winners.”

    To use the tool, just go to Amazon.com/giveaway or find an eligible item on Amazon and click “set up a giveaway” near the bottom of the product detail page. Hosts determine giveaway details, enter custom content, and decide if prizes will go to a bunch of people or just a few. As a host, you’ll get a unique link you can share with your audience however you like.

    According to Amazon, the word “giveaway” is mentioned over a million times every day across social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

    Image via Amazon

  • Amazon Prime Turns 10, Celebrates ‘Tens of Millions’ of Members

    Amazon Prime Turns 10, Celebrates ‘Tens of Millions’ of Members

    Wanna feel old?

    Amazon Prime, the company’s premium subscription service that offers customers free two-day shipping on millions of products, is now a decade old. Amazon debuted the service in February of 2005.

    The company is celebrating the birthday by releasing some stats about the service. Of course, Amazon is still tight-lipped on the most important stat – exactly how many total members Prime has.

    Amazon does tell us that there are over 20 million items available for Prime shipping, and that 221 different types of toothbrushes are delivered same-day. Also, Prime members could order 856 items every day for the rest of their lives a still not order every item available on Prime.

    According to Amazon, the most-watched program on Prime Instant Video is Downton Abbey.

    But the only stat that Amazon leaves purposefully vague is the total user base. Amazon will only say that Prime has “tens of millions of members”.

    Amazon recently revealed that Prime membership grew 53% last year (50% in the US), despite the fact the company jacked up the price in March of 2014.

    In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Amazon’s VP of Prime Greg Greely refused to reveal more specific user figures for Prime, saying only that,

    “We’re not letting out the numbers. Lots of competitors would love to know that. It’s continuing to be a very important part of our business.”

    Amazon finally turned a profit last quarter after multiple quarters of loss. It’s safe to say that Prime is an integral part of the business. Amazon doesn’t really make money on the Prime subscriptions itself – but Amazon has confirmed that Prime members spend way more than non-Prime members on the site.

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons

  • Amazon Prime Grew 53% Last Year Despite Price Hike

    Amazon Prime Grew 53% Last Year Despite Price Hike

    According to Amazon, membership to its premium subscription service, Amazon Prime, saw no ill-effects from the rather significant price hike it received last spring.

    Worldwide Prime membership grew 53% in 2014, and US membership grew 50%, said CEO Jeff Bezos in Thursday’s earnings call. Bezos wouldn’t reveal exactly how many subscribers Amazon Prime has, but did say that it was in the “tens of millions”.

    And Amazon invested a lot into Prime in 2014.

    “Prime is a one-of-a-kind, all-you-can-eat, physical-digital hybrid,” Bezos said in a statement. “In 2014 alone we paid billions of dollars for Prime shipping and invested $1.3 billion in Prime Instant Video. We’ll continue to work hard for our Prime members.”

    That $1.3 billion spent on its streaming video service is about a third of what Netflix recently reported spending ($3.8 billion).

    In March of 2014, Amazon increased the price of a year-long Prime membership to $99, up $20 from the $79 it cost for many years. Amazon cited rising costs for fuel and transportation, as well as increased usage among Prime members as the reason for the price change.

    For months before the price hike Amazon said it was considering the move, and even suggested that the price could go as high as $119 per year.

    But with a 50% increase in US membership, it appears that the price hike didn’t stop Amazon Prime’s growth in its tracks. Who knows what that growth would have been without the price increase, however?

    Amazon reported earnings of $214 for this past quarter, making it the first time in three quarters that the company turned a profit.

    Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons