Amy Gesenhues says, “According to eDataSource, an email marketing and e-commerce analytics platform, Amazon’s email marketing efforts have outperformed seven other retailers so far this month. Tracking campaigns sent between November 29 (the day after Cyber Monday) through December 10, the e-commerce giant sent 1,691 email campaigns – earning 96.6 percent inbox placement and a 19.8 percent read rate. Looking at email marketing efforts for Amazon, Toys R Us, Macy’s, Dicks Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Walmart, Kohl’s and Target, eDataSource tracked the total campaigns sent, read rates... [...]

Mark Daoust says, “Amazon stores are very hot at the moment. It makes sense, given that they are the biggest marketplace on the internet with a huge in-built customer base. Just on Cyber Monday 2015 alone, there were 23 million orders. If you are an online seller, it makes perfect sense for you to have a presence there. But anytime you place your revenues in the hands of another company, you subject yourself to both the positive and negative consequences of their actions. Ecommerce store owners who rely on strong rankings in Google could one day find that Google no longer favors their website.... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Amazon might be your first port of call for a new book or a kitchen blender – but what about clothes? According to analysis by Cowen & Co, more people than ever are shopping for fashion on the site. In fact, it has even been predicted that Amazon will overtake Macy’s to become the biggest clothing seller in the US next year. So what does this mean for the future of fashion retail? Here’s a bit more on the story. Amazon takes on apparel Like a lot of people, I had been vaguely aware of Amazon selling clothing and accessories, however, I had always assumed... [...]

Cliff Condon says, “Wall Street followers found much to be concerned about in Amazon’s quarterly earnings. Shipping costs went up 43%, operating costs are up 29% overall and the company’s operating margin fell to a ghastly 1.8% (down from 4.2% the quarter previous). In light of all this, the stock is down 6% in after-hours trading. Which makes the stock a buy, in my book. (Disclosure: I’m not a financial analyst, I’m a consumer market analyst, so don’t take my investment advice. Oh, and I don’t own any Amazon stock outside of mutual funds.) Amazon’s... [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “Amazon released its Q3 2016 earnings report today, announcing $32.7 billion in sales for the quarter – a 29 percent year-over-year increase compared to the $25.4 billion it generated in Q3 2015. Among the highlights listed for the last three months, the e-commerce company referenced the expansion of Amazon Fresh – it’s online grocery delivery service; the launch of Handmade at Amazon in the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain; and the new version of its Echo Dot home assistant device, along with the launch of its Alexa, Echo, and Echo Dot devices in Germany and... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “An analysis by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) reports that Amazon Prime has 65 million US members. That’s up from 63 million Prime members in July. According to the firm, 52 percent of US Amazon customers are Prime members. That number remains unchanged from figures released by CIRP in July. The firm also points out that Prime membership growth has slowed to three percent sequentially vs. seven percent last year. A year ago, Amazon had roughly 47 million Prime members, according to CIRP”. Amazon should generate more than $78 billion from Prime members... [...]

James McQuivey says, “In 2010, I wrote: “There’s a critical lesson to learn from the most recent changes in the media industry. … while most have been distracted by the form, price, and user experience of their new digital products, a few companies have quietly overhauled the media business by focusing on something else entirely; instead of digitizing the product, these companies have digitized the customer relationship, creating a relationship that can survive the transition from traditional analog media to digital.” I was talking about Netflix, which in 2010... [...]

Matt McGee says, “Amazon is telling online retailers that are new to its Fulfilled By Amazon shipping service that they won’t be able to send their inventory to Amazon warehouses until December 19. One merchant affected by the new policy posted the text of Amazon’s notification in the seller forums: Hey everyone, I got my amazon account and I got all the items I had for sale up into their system, and I wanted to send in my first FBA shipment, and I get this message: “We are restricting shipments from new-to-FBA sellers to ensure we have the capacity necessary to receive and store inventory... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “A consumer survey recently conducted on behalf of retail personalization platform BloomReach found that Amazon has increased its lead as the product search engine of choice for US consumers. Last year, 44 percent reported starting their search for products on Amazon; this year, it’s 55 percent. The “State of Amazon” study polled 2,000 US consumers in September. A survey released earlier this year by PowerReviews (n=1,000 consumers) found a narrower lead for Amazon (38 percent) vs. Google (35 percent) as the starting point for products. Amazon is utilized as a starting... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “Amazon announced its Q2 2016 earnings, reporting $30.4 billion for the quarter – a 31% jump over its Q2 2015 revenue. As reported earlier this month, this year’s Amazon Prime Day was the biggest day ever for Amazon, with Prime Day worldwide orders up more then 60 percent over last year’s Prime Day. Other highlights from Amazon’s earnings report included the launch of Amazon Prime in India, more than 1,900 third-party skills for Alexa, 50 new Dash Buttons and AmazonFresh, the e-commerce giant’s grocery delivery service, now available in London. “It’s been... [...]