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☆ Amazon hired an ex-Trader Joe's employee to access company secrets and replicate products from the grocer: WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

According to the Journal, Amazon appeared to have a model it wanted to replicate for Wickedly Prime: Trader Joe's. AdvertisementAccording to the report, Amazon wanted to replicate the top 200 items sold at Trader Joe's. The Amazon manager also pressed the ex-Trader Joe's employee for data on the margins for each product. The former Trader Joe's employee's experience gives an inside look at Amazon's broader, aggressive efforts to compete with other grocers. Trader Joe's established a cult following with its customers partly by developing snacks and foods through its private label.

Persons: —, Joe's, Nakia Rohde Organizations: Service, Street Journal, Amazon, Business, Wickedly Prime, The, Foods

☆ I visited a 'bin store' that sells Amazon returns for as little as 25 cents. It made me rethink my shopping habits.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Gloria Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

After two trips to my local Where Ya Bin store, I've seen enough returned Amazon items to last a lifetime. (Amazon would not answer specific questions about its relationship with bin stores and why certain products end up there. Gloria Dawson / Business Insider"People generally love it or hate it," Jason Carrick, the owner of Where Ya Bin, told me. What to expect when bin shoppingHours and prices at Where Ya Bin Gloria Dawson / Business InsiderI visited a Where Ya Bin store in Columbus, Ohio, on a Saturday and Wednesday in December. Despite my hesitations, I bought a few items and can see the benefits of bin store shopping.

Persons: —, Gloria Dawson, I've, I'm, Jason Carrick, It's, Carrick, Bin Gloria Dawson, Kamala Harris, Hightower, Gloria Organizations: Service, Business, National Retail Federation, Bed, Amazon Locations: Local, Ohio , Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Columbus , Ohio, Bed Bath

☆ 'Dupes' clothing, perfume craze lures holiday shoppers as major brands fret
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Katherine Masters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Hashtag searches for dupes of major brands - including Skims underwear and Deckers' (DECK.N) Ugg boots - have been viewed millions of times on TikTok. Graphic shows pictures of four original products and their original prices under named brands compared with the prices of their 'dupe' counterparts. Newer technologies like the Google Lens app allow people to take photos of items they like and find similar products for sale. In other cases, dupe sellers opt to replicate the look of higher-priced originals with cheaper materials to maximize profit. However, experts say dupe sellers have grown increasingly skilled at avoiding brand logos and other design features that could infringe existing patents or copyrights.

Persons: Lauren Maginness, Shannon Stapleton, Maginness, Estee, Tom Ford, Dupes, “, ”, Penny Pincher, Leslie Ghize, Doneger Tobe, Calvin McDonald, Ian Taplin, Juozas Kaziukenas, Kaziukenas, Maria Boschetti, Mike Scheschuk, Birkenstock, Katherine Masters, Dorothy Kam, Vanessa O'Connell, Rod Nickel, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Abercrombie, Fitch, Scout, Walmart, Department, Nordstrom, Circana Inc, COMMERCE, Wake Forest University, eBay, Google, HK, Amazon, New, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Hong Kong, TikTok, Los Angeles, Zara, Italy, New York

☆ Apple asked Amazon to block rival ads. Insider found evidence of this special treatment, while others suffer from 'junk ads'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Other companies's product pages are cluttered with a mix of ads and product recommendations from competitors or sometimes irrelevant brands. The latest Apple product pages on Amazon have none of this extra marketing. In contrast, Amazon search results for other brands, such as Samsung and Sony, show at least two or three sponsored ads from rivals. At the time, Apple also asked Amazon to make its product pages clean, without any non-Apple product recommendations. By providing "accurate, relevant and qualitative content on Apple Product pages," Apple has been able to address much of the counterfeit issues on Amazon, the iPhone maker said.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Apple, Jeff Wilke, Kaziukenas, Amazon's, Wilke, Bose, it's, I'm, —, Bezos, Amazon Organizations: Amazon, Federal Trade Commission, Samsung Galaxy, Microsoft, Samsung, Apple, Sony, House, Committee, LG, Galaxy, FTC, Adidas

☆ I tried paying with my palm at Whole Foods using Amazon's futuristic scanners. It was scarily convenient.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Kylie Kirschner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In July, Amazon announced all US Whole Foods stores would have palm payment tech by the end of 2023. The system, called Amazon One, links a user's payment information and account with their palm print. I decided to try it out, and while I was initially skeptical of scanning a body part, I can't deny it's convenient. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can also link it with your Prime account — no need to fumble in the Amazon app looking for your in-store code any longer.

Persons: — Organizations: Amazon, Foods, Service, New, Coors Field Locations: Seattle, New York, Colorado

However, the fall Prime event might have better prices for home goods. In fact, the best prices happened on days that were not key shopping event days. Regardless, the July Prime event offered a deeper discount to shoppers when compared to last year's October Prime sale and Super Saturday. The product did go on sale during last October's Prime member event and this past July's Prime sale, but the discounts were not as deep. Downloads of Amazon's shopping app have declined steadily during each subsequent Prime member shopping event since Amazon's Prime Days in July 2021, according to data intelligence platform Apptopia, which tracks mobile app usage for brands like Amazon.

Persons: Tom Williams, Nick Handrinos, Julie Ramhold, it's, Ramhold, iRobot's, Keurig, AF101, fryer, The Bissell Organizations: Washington , D.C, Cq, Inc, Getty, Adobe, Amazon Prime, Gallup, Finance, Deloitte, CNBC, Electronics, Deal, CoreSight Research, NBC, Scout, Amazon, Sony, Black, Health, Revlon, Philips, July's Locations: Washington ,, Research's U.S

☆ Amazon sent an email that sounded like a gift card scam to warn about gift card scams, confusing customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-01 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon customers flooded social media, confused about an email telling them they bought gift cards. The email warned the recipients about gift card scams, but the email itself sounded like a scam. Social media users said they received the email even though they never bought gift cards. "My wife received three emails from Amazon regarding recently purchased Amazon gift cards," one user wrote. Scammers often use retail gift cards to buy third-party cards, such as Google Play, which can be resold on the black market.

Persons: —, fraudsters, Reddit, I'm Organizations: Service, Google, Mastercard

☆ Here are Wednesday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Tesla, FedEx, Match, Ford, Amazon, Microsoft and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's standing by its overweight rating after Apple's iPhone event Tuesday. F (Buy) earnings more resilient than appreciated driven by Pro business." Morgan Stanley reiterates Darden as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's bullish heading into the owner of Red Lobster's earnings next week. Morgan Stanley reiterates Tesla as overweight Morgan Stanley said it's standing by its recent upgrade of the stock despite investor pushback. TD Cowen reiterates FedEx as outperform TD Cowen said it's cautiously optimistic heading into FedEx earnings next week.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Apple, it's, BEV, Darden, Red, Commerce Max, Tesla, pushback, Michael Kors, Guggenheim, TD Cowen, Hershey, Cowen, Bernstein, Roth, Roth MKM, BTIG, Lennar, F3Q, Needham Organizations: JPMorgan, UBS, Ford, General Motors, Pro, Citi, Commerce, JPMorgan downgrades Oracle, WWE, UFC, Holdings, NYSE, Microsoft, FedEx, " Bank of America, Garden Entertainment, Bank of America, YouTube Locations: China, Capri, Lennar, GOOGL

☆ Amazon used 6 friendly 'tenets' to woo its rival Shopify into a partnership such as 'better together,' leaked document shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Amazon and Shopify launched a new Buy with Prime app for Shopify last week. This was true for its partnership with Shopify, a company that Amazon views as a major ecommerce rival. The Amazon "Prime bar" shoppers expect from Amazon.com is maintained on Shopify. We believe we can build a "better together" shopper and merchant experience with Shopify. We lean in to the key differentiators each company has to offer (e.g., Prime, MCF, Amazon App, Shop App) to "grow the pie."

Persons: Shopify, Jeff Bezos Organizations: Shopify, Amazon, Prime, Amazon.com Locations: Santos

☆ Inside the clash between Amazon and Shopify over Buy with Prime
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Amazon and Shopify announced a new Buy with Prime app for Shopify on Wednesday. Buy with Prime let merchants offer Prime benefits, such as fast shipping and free delivery, on websites beyond Amazon.com. Amazon had no choice but to let Shopify merchants view Buy with Prime-related metrics on its own backend console, not within the unified Shopify Admin tool, according to the internal Amazon document from April. If Buy with Prime data wasn't smoothly integrated into Shopify Admin, Shopify merchants might not use the Amazon feature much. Constant delaysThe internal Amazon document described a Shopify-native Buy with Prime app as a "flagship" goal for Amazon's top leadership because it would make Buy with Prime more appealing to Shopify merchants.

Persons: Shopify, Santos Jeff Bezos Kevin Mazur, Jeff Bezos, Tobi Lütke David Fitzgerald, Sportsfile, Harley Finkelstein, Finkelstein, Mark William Lewis, Andy Jassy, they've Organizations: Amazon, Amazon.com, Prime, Project Santos, Getty, Amazon Logistics, Netalico Commerce, Web, Associated

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Tilray, Salesforce, CrowdStrike, Dollar General and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce — The cloud software company saw its stock jump 3% after it announced quarterly results and guidance that surpassed Wall Street's expectations. Dollar General — The discount retail chain plunged 12.2% Thursday after reporting second-quarter earnings per share of $2.13, which was lower than the StreetAccount consensus estimate of $2.47. Ciena — The network equipment stock surged nearly 16% after topping Wall Street's fiscal third-quarter earnings expectations on the top and bottom lines. Okta — Okta shares surged 13.5% after the access management company topped analysts' second-quarter earnings expectation and issued a strong full-year outlook. Victoria's Secret — The intimate apparel stock popped nearly 7% even after missing second-quarter earnings expectations on both the top and bottom lines.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, CrowdStrike, Ciena, Morgan Stanley, Shopify, StreetAccount, Chewy, UGI, Raymond James, —, Macheel, Sarah Min, Yun Li, Alex Harring, Michelle Fox, Pia Singh, Jesse Pound Organizations: Aphria Inc, U.S . Department of Health, Human Services, Tilray Brands, Cronos, Revenue, Technologies, Arista Networks, Citi, Refinitiv, StreetAccount, Signet, UBS — U.S, Suisse Locations: Leamington , Ontario, Switzerland

☆ Rising labor costs are making AI stocks even more attractive
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

AI stocks are soaring — the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is up by about 33% this year. Around two thirds of Americans are worried about artificial intelligence taking their jobs, according to a recent Morning Consult poll. The rule essentially seeks to shift the risk of a bank failure to bondholders rather than depositors. But to get bondholders to bear the cost of banks’ potential failure, the banks would likely have to pay high interest rates. The rule unveiled Tuesday comes on the heels of a separate capital-bolstering rule the three agencies introduced in July.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Jenny Ma, ” Goldman, Elisabeth Buchwald, Greg Baer, ” Baer, Andy Jassy, Jassy, Brian Fung Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Nvidia, Microsoft, Pew, Federal Reserve, Labor, Nike, Netflix, Apple, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bank Policy Institute, Amazon, CNN Locations: New York, United States

☆ Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warns employees of return-to-office mandate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees to get on board with the company’s return-to-office plan or to consider employment elsewhere, the company confirmed to CNN, after a report by Insider highlighted Jassy’s remarks from a recent internal event. He also predicted that for those who could not accept the policy, their prospects for remaining at Amazon appeared grim. According to the remarks Amazon shared with CNN, Jassy responded by saying that the return-to-office policy was more the result of a judgment call based on an assessment of various factors including business results. The remarks also showed that Insider accurately reported Jassy’s predictions regarding employees who do not comply with the return-to-office mandate. Amazon’s signal to workers that it is tracking their attendance comes after more than 1,000 of its corporate employees staged a walkout in May to protest the office policy.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Jassy, Reddit, “ It’s, Jassy’s Organizations: CNN, Amazon

☆ Ecuador votes in historic referendum that could democratize climate policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Hannah Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The people of Ecuador are heading to the polls – but they’re voting for more than just a new president. Among the species found in the Yasuní National Park, is the harpy eagle, the second largest bird of prey in the world. Aerial picture of the Tiputini Processing Center of state-owned Petroecuador in Yasuni National Park, June 21, 2023. A crude oil sample taken from an oil well in Yasuní National Park, where the referendum vote could mean leaving the crude oil in the ground indefinitely. Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images“This referendum presents a huge opportunity for us to create change in a tangible way,” she told CNN.

Persons: Carl De Souza, ”, Pedro Bermo, It’s, Rafael Correa, Correa, Rodrigo Buendia, “, Fernando Santos, Alberto Acosta, Helena Gualinga, Antonia Juhasz Organizations: CNN, Getty, Tiputini Processing, ” Energy, “, Twitter, Ecuadorian Amazon, Human Locations: Ecuador, Ecuadorian, Europe, North America, Ecuador’s, AFP, Yasuní, “

☆ Amazon appeals to French court to scrap planned 3 euro book delivery fee
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, June 27 (Reuters) - Online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN.O) has appealed to France's highest administrative court to overturn part of a law seeking to charge a minimum 3-euro ($3.3) delivery fee for books purchased online, it said on Tuesday. The law is due to come into effect in October and represents an increase to Amazon's previous charge of a single euro cent on book deliveries in France. Previous French governments have issued similar legislation, which has been aimed at protecting local, independent bookstores in the face of competition from Amazon. Amazon says such measures will hit lower-income people who may live in rural areas without any bookshops. Guillaume Husson, who heads the Syndicat de la Librairie Francaise bookshops union, criticised Amazon's move and said it showed how the giant online retailer wanted to have a monopoly on the online book market.

Persons: Frederic Duval, Guillaume Husson, Amazon's, Elizabeth Pineau, Emelia Sithole Organizations: Amazon.com, Amazon, French Ministry of Culture, Librairie Francaise, Thomson Locations: Amazon France, France

Tons of great Lightning Deals are popping up now as part of Amazon Prime Day. AmazonIf you want to shop Amazon Prime Day Lightning Deals, remember that you have to be an Amazon Prime member first. During Amazon Prime Day and the Prime Early Access Sale, however, they are Prime-member exclusive. Along with Amazon Prime Day access, members get tons of other Amazon Prime benefits like two-day and same-day shipping, Prime Video, Prime Music, and much more. Amazon Prime Day 2023 is expected to take place sometime in mid-July, based on previous year trends, though no official date has been given yet.

Persons: we've, they've, there's, it's, you'll, Amazon's Organizations: Amazon, Amazon Prime, Prime

Raoul Sreenivasan, who joined Amazon in 2016 and currently oversees planning, performance and cargo for Amazon Global Air, will take over most of Rhoads' Amazon Air responsibilities, Felton said. As part of an effort to handle and deliver more of its own packages, Amazon launched an air cargo business. Rhoads joined Amazon Air in its early days and has overseen much of the unit's growth, including the opening of a $1.5 billion air hub in Kentucky. Air cargo rates have plunged from record highs hit during late 2021, when port snarls and a dearth of international flights pinched capacity and drove up prices. Correction: Sarah Rhoads joined Amazon in 2011.

Persons: Mark Makela Sarah Rhoads, John Felton, Amazon's, Rhoads, Felton, Raoul Sreenivasan, Sreenivasan, Andy Jassy, Becky Gansert, Heather MacDougall, Pam Greer, Sarah Rhoads Organizations: Lehigh Valley International, Amazon, CNBC, Amazon Global Air, Amazon Global, DHL, TNT Express, FedEx, U.S . Navy, UPS, Amazon Air, Atlas, Boeing, Hawaiian Airlines, Airbus, Air, U.S, Bloomberg ., Amazon Logistics Locations: Allentown , Pennsylvania, U.S, Kentucky

☆ Amazon's 100 drone deliveries puts Prime Air far behind Alphabet's Wing and Walmart partner Zipline
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Wing CEO Adam Woodworth shows the Alphabet company's delivery drone to CNBC's Katie Tarasov on April 25, 2023, in Hollister, California. Walmart said it made more than 6,000 drone deliveries across seven states in 2022 with DroneUp, Zipline and a third partner, Flytrex. Amazon's VP of Prime Air David Carbon showcased the current MK27-2 drone in Westborough, Massachusetts, on Nov. 10, 2022. Prime Air drones, along with most other delivery drones, operate with a number of federal exemptions that greatly restrict where and how they can fly. Prime Air drones are not expected to exceed 58 decibels, according to an FAA assessment, about the noise level of an outdoor air conditioning unit.

☆ Newmont’s $19 bln gold deal lacks investor sparkle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, May 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Newmont (NEM.N) boss Tom Palmer has finally dug out a deal with rival Newcrest Mining (NCM.AX). After months of discussions the two sides on Sunday agreed to an all-share transaction that values the Australian target’s enterprise at A$28.8 billion ($19.3 bln). The logic is that absorbing Newcrest will boost the Canadian buyer’s output of gold and copper. In return, the U.S. group is paying a punchy 27% premium to its prey’s stock price before their merger haggling went public. That implies an after-tax return on Newmont’s investment of around 7%, roughly in line with its cost of capital.

☆ Disney boss races to hold back the dam
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

How that unfolds is in the hands of Comcast (CMCSA.O) boss Brian Roberts, whose cable operator owns the studio behind the cinematic video game hit as well as one-third of Hulu. The shift is understandable, however, considering what Disney is up against. In the quarter ended April 1, the division that houses Disney+ narrowed its operating loss from a year earlier, but subscribers also fell 2% to 158 million compared to the previous quarter. A rare bright spot was the theme parks, particularly overseas, but Iger has a growing number of holes to plug to ensure the dam holds. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Swedish drugmaker finds alluring poison pill
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, May 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Sweden’s rare disease drug maker is experiencing unfortunate deal side effects. On Wednesday, shares in Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (SOBI) (SOBIV.ST) fell 15% after it announced a plan to buy CTI BioPharma (CTIC.O), a specialist in rare blood cancers, for $1.7 billion. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker refused to tender its shares amid a squabble over the U.S. rights for a respiratory drug. But SOBI’s new deal, which will be funded by a rights issue backed by main shareholder Investor AB (INVEb.ST), suggests Oelkers has support for a solo future. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Italian corporate activism has a long way to go
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MILAN, May 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Fighting opaque governance at Italy’s state-backed companies is proving a tough nut to crack. That’s a victory for the Italian Treasury – the utility’s top investor with 23.6% – which managed to install oil and gas veteran Paolo Scaroni as chairman, along with other board members. The Italian state is in dire need of improving the way it picks its corporate representatives. But to confront Rome, investors will need to make a good case. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Amazon applies therapy to retail
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Rising costs and customers battered by inflation are hampering Amazon’s efforts to get its retail division on a path to sustainable profitability. While the rate of sales growth has outstripped growth in costs of distribution, the retail business over the past 12 months has lost $8 billion. More important, investors haven’t loved the idea of subsidizing delivery costs at the expense of profit. Applying therapy to its retailing business won’t change its consumers’ co-dependency. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Codename Burnham: Amazon has a secret new home robot with ChatGPT-like features that understands a lot more of its surroundings.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon is working on an upgraded version of its home robot Astro, powered by 'Burnham' technology. The robot has ChatGPT-like features, using large language models and other advanced AI. This is a new phase for Astro and the latest example of Amazon adding AI models to existing products. In one of these documents related to Burnham, Amazon describes an Astro product that costs $995. As LLMs were growing in scale, they started demonstrating "emergent skills in both inference and problem-solving," one of the Amazon documents stated.

☆ CEO of fitness band maker Whoop mocks the demise of Amazon's Halo health device
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The CEO of Whoop, a fitness band favored by athletes, is claiming victory over Amazon after the e-retailer pulled the plug on its line of Halo devices. Amazon said last week it will discontinue its Halo health and fitness devices, and shut down the Halo program, resulting in some employees being let go. Whoop CEO Will Ahmed said he views the demise of Halo as a win for his startup. He claimed the Halo wristband, which tracks users' physical activity, sleep and mood, was a knockoff of Whoop's own device. Whoop launched its first product, the Whoop 1.0, in 2015.

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