Amazon.com

Today’s consumers have near-limitless options when it comes to researching and purchasing products. E-commerce giants like Amazon.com — equipped with a variety of products, ratings and reviews, and competitive shipping rates matched by few — have wide appeal for information-hungry consumers. However, smaller merchants shouldn’t give up hope. By leveraging user-generated content (UGC), including ratings…

Amazon.com is speeding up delivery times for small items such as USB cables and smartphone protectors. Merchants were notified earlier this week that these smaller, flat items would now be delivered to Amazon Prime members within five business days — down from eight previously. Other marketplaces, including Alibaba and eBay, can take anywhere from two weeks to…

After a roller coaster of a week last week, Amazon.com is providing some clarification on "brand-gating" and what it means for merchants. As a quick refresh, Amazon implemented new rules last week requiring merchants to supply dozens of invoices and pay up to a $1,500 fee to sell certain popular (and frequently counterfeited) brands, such…

Just as we reported last week on retailers breaking up with Amazon.com, Lands’ End flips the script. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Lands’ End will make a limited number of items available on Amazon by the end of the month. The omnichannel retailer, known for outdoorsy apparel, will make items available from its…

Amazon.com is addressing its counterfeiting problem, but it's going to cost sellers a pretty penny. CNBC reports online stores on Amazon that sell name brands, such as Adidas and Nike, are being told they have to pay a one-time, nonrefundable fee of $1,500 per brand. In addition, online sellers are being asked to give invoices from…

The massive growth of Chinese sellers on Amazon.com's marketplace has caused all sorts of problems with U.S. merchants, who see counterfeits and manipulative tactics creeping into their listings. Sometimes things just turn weird. Last week, Amazon sent emails to a number of U.S. sellers, whose accounts were suspended for one reason or another, telling them they…

Amazon.com will soon launch a program to experiment with a 30-hour workweek for select technical teams in the human resources division of the company. Those employees will receive the same benefits as traditional 40-hour workers, but only 75 percent of the pay full-time workers earn. Currently, the company employs part-time workers that share the same…

Amazon.com is launching a new feature called Amazon Vehicles today. This is a destination on the website that will house car specifications and reviews to help shoppers research, but Amazon won't be selling cars. Amazon also won’t link to special deals or offers from dealerships. The online retailer did try to sell cars once before — in 2000,…

Seemingly overnight, consumer packaged goods (CPG) shopping is no longer confined to certain places (e.g., stores — offline or online) or certain hours of the day. Shoppers are expecting products to replenish themselves as they're used, and to be able to summon needed products to their homes within hours, if not minutes. This is shopping…

Amazon.com is planning to open a drive-up grocery store in Seattle, newly discovered planning documents suggest. Permit filings uncovered by GeekWire show plans to renovate a former restaurant in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood into a 9,759 square foot retail space where customers can pick up groceries that they’ve ordered online, in what the project team calls “a new model of grocery shopping.” Amazon appears…