Amazon.com

Wal-Mart Ends ShippingPass, Launches Free Two-Day Shipping
January 31, 2017 at 11:44 am

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced today that it's ending its ShippingPass delivery subscription pilot and offering free two-day shipping on more than 2 million items without a membership program. The retailer is also lowering the minimum purchase required for free shipping to $35 from $50. Items shipped to stores have no minimum price threshold. Wal-Mart also offers same-day store…

Wal-Mart to Create 10,000 U.S. Jobs
January 17, 2017 at 12:08 pm

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it plans to create about 10,000 U.S. jobs this year, a sign that even the country’s largest private employer feels the need to tout American job growth ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The jobs will come from previously planned store openings, store expansions and new e-commerce services, the company said…

Wal-Mart's Jet.com Acquires ShoeBuy
January 6, 2017 at 10:43 am

Jet.com, the Amazon.com rival owned by retailing giant Wal-Mart, bought online footwear retailer ShoeBuy for $70 million, the company said Thursday. The move underscores Wal-Mart's continued push against Amazon, owner of online shoe store Zappos. The biggest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart made online expansion its priority last year, acquiring Jet.com for $3.3 billion and setting…

Run-DMC Sues Amazon, Wal-Mart for $50M
January 3, 2017 at 11:17 am

Members of the rap group Run-DMC are suing Amazon.com and Wal-Mart for $50 million for trademark infringement. The suit, filed last Thursday in federal court in New York, accuses the retailers of manufacturing, marketing and selling products with the group's trademarked name, including glasses, hats, T-shirts and wallets. Run-DMC says in the suit that it…

Amazon Secretly Working on ‘Uber for Trucking’ App
December 20, 2016 at 11:47 am

Amazon.com is building an app that matches truck drivers with shippers, a new service that would deepen its presence in the $800 billion trucking industry, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Business Insider. The app, scheduled to launch next summer, is designed to make it easier for truck drivers to find shippers that…

Amazon to Debut Checkout-Less Convenience Store
December 6, 2016 at 10:26 am

Amazon.com has built a convenience store in downtown Seattle that deploys a gaggle of technologies similar to those used in self-driving cars to allow shoppers to come in, grab items and walk out without going through a register. The 1,800-square-foot store, officially dubbed “Amazon Go,” is the latest brick-and-mortar initiative from the e-commerce giant, which already…

Amazon Launches Black Friday Deals Today
November 1, 2016 at 11:30 am

Amazon.com officially launched its Black Friday Deals Store, now through Dec. 22. In addition to offering new deals as often as every five minutes, Amazon is also featuring “holiday gift guides” to help shoppers find gifts without all the guesswork. Prime members are also eligible for additional deals, such as two-day shipping on more than 30 million…

Redefining Customer Service Through Trust and Rapport
October 26, 2016 at 9:21 am

For better or worse, e-commerce has truly transformed the traditional shopping experience at brick-and-mortar retail locations. Customers visiting a physical store have greater expectations for a product to be in stock and priced competitively with similar retailers or online shopping outlets such as Amazon.com. They expect stellar customer service, because it would be even easier, if not more convenient,…

Amazon Plans to Open Convenience Stores
October 11, 2016 at 11:20 am

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com plans to open convenience stores that sell milk, produce and other consumables, as well as drive-up destinations where shoppers can have their orders brought to their cars. People familiar with the strategy told the paper that shoppers could use their smartphones or screens scattered around the shops to place their…

Why Amazon Keeps Winning: A Third-Party Marketplace Analysis
October 10, 2016 at 10:43 am

For any business, the ultimate goal is to intertwine profit, growth and customer satisfaction. However, growth and customer satisfaction often come at the expense of profit. For many years, this tradeoff was the norm at Amazon.com — the company achieved amazing growth, but spent what would be profits on business experiments (e.g., fulfillment centers). Recently though, Amazon has strung…