WebProNews

Tag: Amazon

  • Amazon Goes on Another Hiring Spree

    Amazon Goes on Another Hiring Spree

    Amazon has announced it is hiring tens of thousands of new workers, across the US, Canada and the UK.

    Amazon has been one of the companies that has benefited most from the pandemic. During lockdowns and quarantine, the e-commerce giant went from luxury to necessity for many people, and its hiring has reflected that growth.

    Although many areas are easing restrictions, Amazon continues to benefit people’s newfound appreciation for the convenience of home shopping. In addition, the company is preparing for its upcoming Prime Day next month.

    As a result, Amazon has announced it is hiring an additional 75,000 employees across the US and Canada, with average starting pay of over $17 and $1,000 starting bonus.

    “We look forward to hiring 75,000 associates across our fulfillment and transportation network,” said Alicia Boler Davis, Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment at Amazon. “Working at Amazon also comes with an unwavering commitment to safety, especially as we continue to navigate a global pandemic. In addition to the great pay and robust benefits available to new hires starting on their first day, we’re offering a $100 benefit to new hires who come to Amazon already vaccinated for COVID-19.”

    The company is also hiring for 10,000 new permanent jobs in the UK, bringing its total UK workforce to more than 55,000.

    Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Amazon’s announcement today is fantastic news and a huge vote of confidence in the British economy, helping us deliver on our commitment to level up across the UK with a whopping 10,000 new permanent jobs. As we build back better from the pandemic, this is a prime investment in our retail sector.

    “Over the past year, Amazon’s workforce have pulled out all the stops to ensure consumers have had safe access to goods during this challenging time. Their latest investment will open up a wide range of opportunities for even more workers, helping to develop the skills needed to power tomorrow’s economy.”

  • Amazon Sues to Stop Fraudulent Text Scams

    Amazon Sues to Stop Fraudulent Text Scams

    Amazon has announced it is launching a lawsuit to tackle text scams that purport to be from the e-commerce giant.

    Countless individuals have received text messages claiming to be from Amazon, many of them requesting feedback in an online survey. Unfortunately, many of these messages are part of an illegal advertising scheme. The text messages promise rewards or gifts, but direct people to sites where they must purchase products that have no affiliation with Amazon.

    The company is taking the fight to the scammers, filling a federal lawsuit in the Western District of Washington against a number of yet-to-be-named participants. Amazon sees the lawsuit as a way of expanding its fraud-fighting efforts, holding the accountable parties responsible.

    “Amazon works hard to build a great, trusted experience for our customers and sellers,” said Kathy Sheehan, VP, Business Conduct & Ethics, Amazon. “These bad actors are misusing our brand to deceive the public and we will hold them accountable. We also want to remind consumers to be vigilant and learn how to recognize the signs of a scam so they are protected, no matter where they shop.”

    The company points to its history of successfully litigating these type of suits, having filed five previous lawsuits, winning multiple injunctions and forced seven parties to settle for more than $1.5 million in damages.

  • EU Loses Case to Force Amazon to Pay Back Taxes

    EU Loses Case to Force Amazon to Pay Back Taxes

    The European Union has lost a high-profile case in which it was trying to force Amazon to pay $300 million in back taxes.

    It’s not uncommon for corporations to make tax deals with individual EU states. Apple and Google have both made deals with Ireland, and Amazon had a deal with Luxembourg. In many cases, the deals are lucrative for individual states, making them eager to work with foreign companies.

    The EU isn’t always pleased with those deals, however, and has tried to end them in the past. The EU lost a court case trying to stop a deal between Apple and Ireland, and now it has lost a similar case over Amazon and Luxembourg.

    According to The Houston Chronicle, the EU’s executive branch had ordered Amazon to pay back taxes in the amount of $300 million. After challenging the ruling, the EU’s General Court overturned the European Commission’s ruling, saying it didn’t prove “to the requisite legal standard that there was an undue reduction of the tax burden of a European subsidiary of the Amazon group.”

    The decision is a big win for Amazon, as well as other foreign companies doing business within the EU.

  • Pentagon Weighs Cancelling JEDI Contract

    Pentagon Weighs Cancelling JEDI Contract

    The Pentagon is weighing abandoning the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract amid ongoing legal challenges from Amazon.

    Microsoft shocked the industry when it beat out Amazon for a coveted contract to provide cloud services to the Department of Defense (DOD). Amazon was widely considered the favorite, especially when factoring in its long history of working on sensitive government projects.

    Amazon immediately took the matter to court, and has effectivelykept the Pentagon from being able to move forward for a year and a half. Given the Pentagon’s need to move to a cloud-based solution, further legal fighting may simply not be a viable option. In February, the DOD warned Congress it may have to reevaluate the contract if Amazon’s legal challenges persisted.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, the time for that reevaluation may be now. A judge refused to dismiss much of Amazon’s case, guaranteeing the legal fight is far from over. With that prospect, the DOD is signaling it may change direction.

    “We’re going to have to assess where we are with regard to the ongoing litigation around JEDI and determine what the best path forward is for the department,” Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said.

    Throughout the process, Microsoft has maintained it won the bid based on its competitive solution, and that Amazon abused the process to get details on Microsoft’s bid and make adjustments accordingly. If the Pentagon goes for a mulligan, Microsoft may have the chance to prove just how competitive it claims to be.

  • Bill Gates, Fourth Richest Human, Announces Divorce

    Bill Gates, Fourth Richest Human, Announces Divorce

    Bill and Melinda Gates have announced their divorce, putting into question the fourth largest personal fortune.

    The iconic founder and former CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates has been married to his wife, Melinda, for 27 years. The two originally met in 1987, while working at Microsoft. In addition to three children, the two founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world.”

    Bill Gates released a statement on Twitter:

    After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. We ask for space and privacy for our family as we begin to navigate this new life.

    – Melinda Gates and Bill Gates

    Divorces are difficult under the best of circumstances but, add in a vast fortune, and things can become complicated very quickly. Despite being the richest man alive, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos would be substantially wealthier had the divorce settlement not cost him $36.8 billion.

    It remains to be seen how the Gates’ divorce will unfold, but it could have significant ramifications for the foundation they run.

  • FCC Approves Additional Starlink Satellites at Lower Altitudes

    FCC Approves Additional Starlink Satellites at Lower Altitudes

    The Federal Communications Commission has granted SpaceX permission to launch satellites at a lower altitude.

    SpaceX has been deploying its Starlink satellite constellation with the goal of providing high-speed internet access to underserved communities around the world. The company has received extra impetus as a result of the pandemic, as many individuals in remote areas have struggled with reliable broadband.

    The majority of the Starlink constellation operates in the 1,100 – 1,300 km range, but SpaceX is wanting to launch 2,814 satellites at a much lower range — 540 – 570 km. The FCC has agreed to the request.

    Specifically, we modify the license by reducing the number of satellites from 4,409 to 4,408; modifying the primary operational altitude specified for 2,814 satellites, to change it from the 1,100-1,300 km range to the 540-570 km range

    Deploying satellites in lower orbit will help improve the speed and latency of the internet access, as it shortens the distance data must travel to and from the satellite to Earth-bound base stations.

    As part of the agreement, SpaceX had to agree to accept interference from Amazon’s Kuiper satellite constellation, which already had permission to operate in the lower altitude.

    SpaceX has since agreed to accept interference from the Kuiper system as well with respect to its Ka-band uplinks, where operating SpaceX’s satellites at lower altitudes will potentially make SpaceX more susceptible to interference.

  • Senator Josh Hawley’s Antitrust Bill Would Hurt Startups More Than Big Tech

    Senator Josh Hawley’s Antitrust Bill Would Hurt Startups More Than Big Tech

    Senator Josh Hawley introduced a bill Monday aimed at addressing antitrust concerns, but it may do more harm than good.

    Antitrust has become a major concern for politicians on both sides of the aisle. Google and Facebook are both facing antitrust lawsuits, and officials are looking at various ways of addressing the overarching concerns about the tech industry in general.

    Senator Hawley’s bill would ban companies with a market cap over $100 billion from buying any startups. As Business Insider columnist Jason Aten writes, however, such a move would harm startups far more than it would hurt Big Tech.

    Acquisition is one of the main goals of many startup founders, providing an exit strategy and payday for successful founders and investors. For better or worse, large companies are an important part of that strategy. If they are blocked from acquiring companies, it could completely disrupt the startup scene.

    Another major downside is the disparity between large and small companies that may be over $100 billion. Aten uses the example of Shopify, a company large enough to fall under Hawley’s bill. Shopify would be prohibited from buying an up-and-coming app, service or platform that could help it better compete with much larger rivals, such as Amazon or Walmart. Such an outcome would only hurt Shopify, while protecting the larger company even more.

    Aten’s take on the situation well-illustrates the challenges of addressing antitrust issues without creating even more problems.

  • Amazon Workers Vote No to Unionization

    Amazon Workers Vote No to Unionization

    Amazon has scored a big win in Alabama, as workers voted not to unionize in the biggest unionization push the company has seen in the US.

    Workers at the company’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse began the process of setting up a union vote earlier this year. Amazon immediately began a full-court press initiative to discourage those efforts, including go so far as to put propaganda in bathroom stalls.

    It appears the company’s efforts were successful, as NPR is reporting the employees have voted not to unionize. The union is filing a legal challenge to the results, and wants a hearing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The union wants the NLRB “to determine if the results of the election should be set aside because conduct by the employer created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees’ freedom of choice.”

    In addition to the bathroom propaganda, Amazon bombarded workers with anti-union text messages and mandatory “information sessions.” A mailbox that was supposed to provide a “convenient, safe and private” place to vote was placed inside an Amazon tent, a move many felt was further intimidation. Similarly, the company asked the county to shorten the timing of the traffic light outside the warehouse. Pro-union organizers believed it was to prevent them from being able to talk to workers sitting in traffic, while Amazon says it was standard practice during holiday and peak season.

    Whatever the case, it appears Amazon’s fight over unionization is far from over. Given the company’s aggressive tactics, tactics that caused its own investors to tell it to back down, the company may have won this battle at the cost of the war.

  • Amazon Is the Number One US Apparel Retailer, Passing Walmart

    Amazon Is the Number One US Apparel Retailer, Passing Walmart

    What was years in the making has finally happened, with Amazon passing Walmart to become the largest apparel retailer in the US.

    Experts had been predicting Amazon would overtake Walmart for years. Like many other transformations, however, the pandemic is what finally pushed the online giant across the finish line. As individuals remained in lockdown and avoided crowded stores, Amazon’s business went into overdrive.

    According to Wells Fargo, via CNBC, that was enough to help it surpass Walmart in the apparel space, with its apparel and footwear growing an estimated 15% in 2020 to more than $41 billion. That gives it a solid 20% to 25% lead over Walmart.

    “This represents highly impressive 11%-12% share of all apparel sold in the U.S. and 34%-35% share of all apparel sold online,” wrote Wells Fargo analysts Ike Boruchow and Tom Nikic. “We now estimate Amazon will surpass $45 billion in apparel/footwear sales in 2021.”

    Interestingly, the outlook was not all roses for Amazon, as there are still some high-profile brands that refuse to sell on the online store. Much of this is due to the way Amazon approaches the business, focusing on sales over helping companies build their brand.

    “Until Amazon becomes a platform that works with companies to elevate brands, rather than viewing the relationship as transactional, companies who are fiercely protective of their brands (e.g. Nike), will not sell to Amazon,” said the analysts.

  • Twitch Updates Policy to Address Severe Off-Service Misconduct

    Twitch Updates Policy to Address Severe Off-Service Misconduct

    Twitch has announced it will start addressing severe cases of misconduct that impact its community, even if they occur off-service.

    Social media platforms are struggling to find the balance between free speech and cracking down on harassment, misinformation, racism, hateful content and more. Twitch began enforcing its updated Hateful Conduct and Harassment policy in January, but the platform is now expanding its policy to cover conduct that happens off-service.

    The company’s previous guidelines are highlighted below:

    Our current guidelines state that in some serious cases where there is available, verifiable evidence, we may take action against users for hateful conduct or harassment that occurs off Twitch services—meaning on social media, other online services, or even offline—when directed at members of the Twitch community.

    Under the new guidelines, the company outlines two categories of conduct that will be impacted. Category One involves when “someone is harassed on Twitch, as well as (italics theirs) off Twitch.”

    Category Two will involve “serious offenses that pose a substantial safety risk to the Twitch community, even if these actions occur entirely off Twitch (emphasis theirs).” Examples would include terrorist activities, deadly violence, violent extremism, credible and explicit threats of mass violence, membership or leadership in a known hate group, sexual exploitation of children, being involved in non-consensual sexual activities and/or assault, and anything that would explicitly threaten the physical safety of the Twitch community or Twitch staff.

    These behaviors represent some of the most egregious types of physical and psychological harm, but we understand that this list is not inclusive of all types of harassment and abuse.

    The company is also involving a third-party to help it navigate the challenges involved in moderating content and users.

    In order to be as thorough and efficient as possible in these situations, we’re bringing on a highly-regarded third party investigative partner to support our internal team with these investigations.

    Twitch is clearly taking its responsibilities seriously and is rolling out a comprehensive and measure approach to make sure it strikes the proper balance.

  • Jeff Bezos Throws His Weight Behind Increased Corporate Taxes

    Jeff Bezos Throws His Weight Behind Increased Corporate Taxes

    Jeff Bezos has come out in favor of increased corporate taxes to help pay for Biden’s infrastructure plan.

    Few things are more unpopular topics than raising taxes. With the administration’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, however, raising taxes on the rich and corporations is one of the proposed ways of paying for it.

    Jeff Bezos, as one of the most influential CEOs, has lent his support to the idea of raising corporate taxes, in a statement on Amazon’s website.

    We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American infrastructure. Both Democrats and Republicans have supported infrastructure in the past, and it’s the right time to work together to make this happen. We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides—both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate). We look forward to Congress and the Administration coming together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or enhances U.S. competitiveness.

    It remains to be seen if the infrastructure plan will pass, but it appears it is already gaining support from powerful allies.

  • Over One Third of Workers Will Quit if WFH Ends

    Over One Third of Workers Will Quit if WFH Ends

    A recent poll is bad news for employers wanting to resume in-office work post-pandemic, with 35% saying they’ll quit if work-from-home (WFH) ends.

    WFM has become the new normal for a large percentage of companies during the pandemic. What happens post-pandemic varies greatly from one company to another. Some companies have fully embraced remote work, and many others have committed to hybrid work options. Still others, however, are determined to bring employees back in-house as soon as possible.

    Employers in the latter category may be in for a rude awakening, according to a poll posted by a Blind user. Blind is an anonymous network of professionals, providing a safe way to exchange ideas, information, tips, and more.

    According to the poll, some 35% of users say they would quit if their employers get rid of WFH. Another 11% say they have already negotiated for WFH on a permanent basis. Only 54% said they would return to the office regardless.

    The poll breaks down the results by company, and it’s particularly bad news for Amazon. The company released a memo last week emphasizing its “office-centric culture,” and its intention to bring its employees back to the office by early fall. According to the Blind poll, 43% of Amazon employees will quit once WFM disappears.

    The poll also shows a rise over a LiveCareer poll in January, when 29% of employees said they would quit if WFH was off the table.

    With WFH increasing in popularity, employees would do well to take note and make adjustments.

  • Siri May Soon Whisper and Shout

    Siri May Soon Whisper and Shout

    Apple may be on the verge of a significant improvement to Siri, giving the virtual assistant the ability to whisper or shout depending on circumstances.

    Amazon clearly demonstrates the benefits of an adaptable virtual assistant in a commercial where a father is trying to impress his daughter with his knowledge of history. The father relies on Alexa’s ability to whisper information to him, which he then passes on to his daughter.

    Despite being the first major virtual assistant on the market, Siri still lacks this ability, although it appears Apple is preparing to address that. According to a patent application, first noticed by AppleInsider, Siri will soon have the ability to change its volume based on background noise, room layout and the volume of the person speaking to it.

    The decision component may select one or more speech synthesis parameters corresponding to the speech output mode. The decision component may also, or alternatively, select a playback volume. The one or more speech-synthesis parameters, when incorporated in a speech-synthesis model, can cause a speech mode of the synthesized speech to match the speech mode of the utterance.

    In other cases, the one or more speech-synthesis parameters, when incorporated in a speech-synthesis model, can cause a speech mode of the synthesized speech to differ from the speech mode of the utterance. In some cases, the decision component may select a speech synthesis model from a plurality of speech synthesis models corresponding to the speech output mode.

    This will be a welcome improvement to Siri, and hopefully help it close the gap with its newer rivals.

  • Amazon Wants ‘Office-Centric Culture’ as Its Baseline

    Amazon Wants ‘Office-Centric Culture’ as Its Baseline

    Amazon is bucking the trend among many tech companies, telling US employees they should expect to be back in the office by early fall.

    Many companies are making remote work part of their permanent culture. In many cases, with the majority of their workforce operating remotely, this has led to selling or renting out prime real estate. Even outside of the tech industry, companies are embracing the trend, with Ford recently announcing 30,000 of its employees would be able to work remotely on a permanent basis.

    Amazon appears to be going in the opposite direction, according to a memo to employees.

    Our plan is to return to an office-centric culture as our baseline. We believe it enables us to invent, collaborate, and learn together most effectively.

    The timelines for returning to the office will vary by country, depending on the infection and vaccination rates, and we expect our return to the office to be gradual. In many parts of Asia, our employees are already back in the office. In the U.S., as vaccines become broadly available in the next few months, we expect more people will start coming into the office through the summer, with most back in the office by early fall. In some countries in Europe, we expect in-person working to take longer given recent setbacks. As we get closer to the summer, we’ll develop more country-specific plans and post all updates to Inside Amazon under Local News.

  • Amazon Tries and Fails to Have Cameras Installed at Union Vote

    Amazon Tries and Fails to Have Cameras Installed at Union Vote

    As Amazon workers in Alabama vote on unionization, Amazon tried and failed to get approval to install cameras to watch ballot boxes.

    Amazon is notoriously anti-union, resorting to Pinkerton detectivesand illegal firings to discourage unionization efforts. When Alabama warehouse employees decided to vote on unionization, the company even put signs in bathroom stalls to pressure employees to vote no. Amazon’s efforts prompted investors to warn the company to back off its pressure campaign.

    In its latest effort, the company wanted to install cameras to watch the ballot boxes between counting. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) denied the company’s petition, according to CNBC.

    “Though the mail ballot election in this matter is large, it is not, as the Employer asserts, of a ‘special nature,’” said Lisa Henderson, acting regional director at the NLRB. “The Region will conduct the ballot count within view of observers participating via virtual platform as well as in-person observers, and in accordance with Agency procedures and protocols, including those for securing ballot boxes.”

    It remains to be seen if the vote will pass but, if it does, the Alabama facility will be the first US Amazon facility to unionize. Such a move would pave the way for other Amazon facilities to do the same, and likely have a significant impact on the company’s business operations.

  • Amazon Lookout for Metrics Now Available

    Amazon Lookout for Metrics Now Available

    Amazon has made Lookout for Metrics available to all its customers, providing a way to monitor and diagnose business anomalies.

    A preview version of Lookout for Metrics was first launched at re:Invent 2020. The service uses machine learning to analyze a business’ operations and automatically detect and diagnose anomalies. It could be a potential business opportunity, a technical issue or any one of the myriad challenges a data-driven business faces.

    “We’re excited to announce the general availability of Amazon Lookout for Metrics, a new service that uses machine learning (ML) to automatically monitor the metrics that are most important to businesses with greater speed and accuracy,” write Ankita Verma and Chris King for AWS. “The service also makes it easier to diagnose the root cause of anomalies like unexpected dips in revenue, high rates of abandoned shopping carts, spikes in payment transaction failures, increases in new user sign-ups, and many more. Lookout for Metrics goes beyond simple anomaly detection. It allows developers to set up autonomous monitoring for important metrics to detect anomalies and identify their root cause in a matter of few clicks, using the same technology used by Amazon internally to detect anomalies in its metrics—all with no ML experience required.”

    Lookout for Metrics connects to 19 of the most popular data sources, including Amazon Simple Storage Solution (Amazon S3), Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), Amazon Redshift, Amazon CloudWatch, Salesforce, Marketo and Zendesk.

  • Amazon’s Italy Workers Go On Strike

    Amazon’s Italy Workers Go On Strike

    Amazon’s workers in Italy are going on a 24-hour strike to protest working conditions.

    Workers in several warehouse facilities, including in Tuscany, Florence and Pisa, are going on a 24-hour strike, the first to impact Amazon’s logistics operations in Italy on a national level, according to CNBC.

    The strike comes at a time when Amazon’s importance to the global supply chain is greater than ever, and while the company is facing increased scrutiny and criticism for how it treats its workers. The company has taken aggressive measures to combat unionization, hiring Pinkerton detectives to monitor efforts and going full-court press against unionization in Alabama.

    Salvatore Pellecchia, general secretary of trade union FIT-CISL, told CNBC that 75% of Amazon workers in Italy joined the strike, despite many of them being temporary workers, at the most risk of being replaced.

    “If Amazon does not change its position, we will be forced to organize another strike,” Pellecchia said in a statement. “Amazon has registered a huge increase in turnover and profits thanks to the pandemic, and now must talk with us to give its employee what they are waiting for.”

    The strike is the latest setback for the company, and may encourage other unions to do the same.

  • Wikimedia Enterprise Seeks to Turn Big Tech Into Paying Customers

    Wikimedia Enterprise Seeks to Turn Big Tech Into Paying Customers

    Wikimedia is looking to turn Big Tech into paying Wikipedia customers with the creation of Wikimedia Enterprise.

    Wikipedia is the premier online encyclopedia, crowd-sourced and free for anyone to use. Many of the biggest names in tech, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google rely on the encyclopedia.

    Every couple of weeks, Wikipedia provides a snapshot of everything on the site to various tech companies, data the companies use in search and other products. The Wikimedia Foundation, responsible for Wikipedia, is now seeking to monetize that data feed.

    Wikimedia Enterprise is a new product from the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia Enterprise provides paid developer tools and services that make it easier for companies and organizations to consume and re-use Wikimedia data.

    According to Wired, the free data stream will still be available to all users, but Wikimedia Enterprise will offer a data stream that is more up-to-date and compatible with the client company’s formats. Given that many of the big tech companies have entire teams dedicated to managing the incoming Wikipedia data, licensing it from Wikimedia Enterprise could save significant time and money.

  • Tim Wu, the Man Who Coined ‘Net Neutrality,’ Joins Biden Administration

    Tim Wu, the Man Who Coined ‘Net Neutrality,’ Joins Biden Administration

    Tim Wu is joining the Biden administration, likely signaling increased scrutiny for Big Tech.

    Tim Wu, a Columbia law professor, famously coined the phrase “net neutrality” and has been a vocal critic of the tech industry. Wu has also been a proponent of more aggressive antitrust action against Amazon, Facebook and Google.

    He has been hired by the Biden administration specifically to work on Technology and Competition Policy.

    https://twitter.com/superwuster/status/1367814526159253506?s=20

    Big Tech has been in the spotlight more and more over antitrust concerns. While ominous, Wu’s appointment isn’t necessarily a bad thing for tech companies. Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO, said Big Tech should take a more proactive approach, embrace additional regulation and move forward with clear guidelines it can operate within.

    “If I’m in these guys’ shoes, I say, come on, let’s get down there and let’s regulate me and let’s get it over with so I know what I can do,” Ballmer said in a “Squawk Box” interview.

    “I’ll bet money that they will not be broken up,” Ballmer continued in his comments to CNBC.

    “I also don’t think the case of Apple is the same as Google is the same as Amazon,” Ballmer added. “In a sense putting them all together makes good theater but it doesn’t necessarily mean good policy.”

  • Best Buy Lays Off 5,000 Employees, Will Shutter More Stores

    Best Buy Lays Off 5,000 Employees, Will Shutter More Stores

    Best Buy has laid off some 5,000 employees and plans to close additional stores as customers turn to online shopping.

    American customers have increasingly been turning to Amazon and online stores for their electronics needs, putting pressure on traditional, brick and mortar stores. With the pandemic further changing consumers’ shopping habits, traditional stores have been under even more pressure. Fry’s Electronics announced it was closing Wednesday, illustrating the growing challenges traditional businesses are facing.

    Best Buy, in contrast, has fared relatively well during the pandemic. Much of this is due to the company’s online sales. According to CNN Business, the company expects 40% of its sales to come from online purchases in 2021, as opposed to 19% two years ago. The company has also been relatively successful with its physical stores, although it expects in-store business to slow this year.

    As a result, Best Buy has laid off 5,000 staff, mostly full-time employees. The company is also raising the bar for evaluating whether to renew store leases. The company already closed 20 stores a year for the past couple of years, and expects that number to go up this year.

  • Five-Star Review? Maybe Not as Amazon Grapples With Fake Reviews Industry

    Five-Star Review? Maybe Not as Amazon Grapples With Fake Reviews Industry

    Amazon is grappling with an entire industry aimed at providing fake reviews and gaming the system, according to new research.

    Which? is a UK-based company that reviews products and services and helps consumers make educated choices. The company has investigated the state of Amazon reviews and found that fake reviews are being sold in bulk.

    Customers rely on Amazon reviews to make decisions about their purchases. Even when customers ultimately end up purchasing elsewhere, Amazon product reviews often still impact customers’ decisions. Unfortunately, many of those reviews may be fake, according to Which?.

    “More people are shopping online than ever before due to the coronavirus crisis – yet our latest research shows that Amazon is facing an uphill struggle against a relentless and widespread fake reviews industry geared towards misleading consumers,” Natalie Hitchins, Head of Home Products and Services at Which?, said.

    Some companies charge as little as £5 per review, while others charge more, up to £8,000 for 1,000 reviews. Many of the companies provided incentives and rewards programs, along with guidelines to help their armies of reviews avoid detection by Amazon.

    All the sites Which? signed up to gave advice for how to write reviews so as not to arouse Amazon’s suspicion, and in many cases had criteria for reviewers to meet to qualify for rewards. These included leaving reviews that were at least two sentences long, posting an accompanying image or video and not posting reviews until at least four days after receiving a product. Some sites also had no return policies – as returned products are monitored by Amazon and high return rates can affect the chance of an Amazon’s Choice endorsement.

    Which? is calling on regulators to take action against these kind of schemes, in the interest of protecting customers that rely on such reviews to make informed decisions. The company is also calling on tech firms, such as Google and Facebook, to crack down on these companies, as many of them use search and social media platforms to gain reviewers.

    “The regulator must crack down on bad actors and hold sites to account if they fail to keep their users safe. If it is unable to do so, the government must urgently strengthen online consumer protections,” Hitchins added.

    “Amazon, and other online platforms, must do more to proactively prevent fake reviews infiltrating their sites so that consumers can trust the integrity of their reviews.”

    It remains to be seen what, if any, action will be taken. in the meantime, savvy purchasers would do well to take Amazon’s reviews with a grain of salt.