Annie Pilon says, “These days, it seems like just about every offline business is working on creating some kind of online presence. But the biggest name in ecommerce is now trying to do the exact opposite. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), the ecommerce giant that originally gained notoriety from selling books online, is now breaking into the brick-and-mortar bookstore business. It’s not exactly a booming industry — big names like Borders have had to close up shop in recent years. But Amazon has brought some unique elements into its retail store. Located in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, the... [...]

John Lincoln says, “Want to ask a question and get a fast answer? There’s a skill for that. In this case, skill is the term for “app” in Amazon Alexa’s voice ecosystem. In case you missed the news, Alexa is Amazon’s digital assistant. It’s capable of voice interaction, offering reminders, playing music, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks and providing up-to-the-minute news. Alexa is also open to a variety of solutions that have yet to be created. To foster their invention, Amazon recently launched an online hub that can help brands get started with creating skills for... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Don’t look now: while PayPal continues to be the dominant online payments service, Amazon’s Pay with Amazon is growing rapidly. In a press release last week, the ecommerce giant revealed that 33m of its customers have now used Amazon Payments to make a purchase, and last year Pay with Amazon transaction volume doubled. All told, Amazon customers in more than 170 countries used Amazon Payments last year and Amazon says that more than 50% of them are Prime members. The average purchase for Pay with Amazon transactions was $80, and the largest purchase... [...]

Matt McGee says, “Amazon wants more brands and marketers in its Alexa voice ecosystem. The company has launched an online hub to help them get started with creating “skills” (Amazon’s word for apps) for the Echo device family. The hub currently lists 20 agencies “with expertise in designing, developing and optimizing Alexa skills,” including Razorfish, Mobiquity, VaynerMedia and others. For brands wanting to build their own Alexa skills, the hub connects them to the Alexa Skills Kit and three other development frameworks. There’s also a section listing three voice analytics providers... [...]

Allison Enright says, “The e-retailer generated $136.0 billion in 2016 revenue and its net income grows by nearly 300%. Strong growth of 22% in Q4 contributed to the gains, and 49% of units sold in Q4 were by sellers on its marketplace. It was a good year for Amazon.com Inc., which today reported its 2016 full-year and fourth quarter financial results. The e-retailer generated $136.00 billion in revenue in 2016, up 27.1% from $107.01 billion in 2015. Its net income also grew nearly 300% to $2.37 billion from $596 million in 2015. Excluding revenue from service sales, such as computing power... [...]

Shira Ovide and Leila Abboud say, “Advertising tools and deep insight into consumers’ buying and browsing habits put Amazon in position to expand its reach. (Bloomberg Gadfly)—From Amazon.com Inc.’s origins as a virtual bookstore, it became an online mall for every product imaginable. Then the company stealthily built a computing utility business that now generates the majority of its profit, and it seemingly has ambitions to do much, much more. Without much fanfare, CEO Jeff Bezos has set his sights on yet another market: the $200 billion online advertising industry that is dominated... [...]

Jason Del Rey says, “Some deals are too good to be true. And, for Amazon, they will cost the company. A Canadian enforcement agency announced today that Amazon Canada will pay a $1 million fine for what could be construed as misleading pricing practices. The investigation centered on the practice of Amazon displaying its prices compared to higher “list prices” — suggested manufacturer prices (MSRPs) designed as marketing gimmicks to make people think they are getting a deal, even though it’s often the case that no shopper ever pays that price. “The Bureau’s investigation concluded... [...]

Nash Riggins says, “Handling the delivery side of an eCommerce operation can be a nightmare for small business owners. Between scrambling to generate leads, stocking popular products and fulfilling new web orders, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stay on the ball all the time. That’s why more and more small eCommerce businesses are turning to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Selling on Amazon If you’re operating in the retail space and not selling your products on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), you’re probably missing a trick. Over the past couple of decades, the behemoth site has risen... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Last December, Amazon unveiled its first ever bricks-and-mortar grocery store. Amazon Go is not just your average supermarket of course, but a cashier-free shop that allows customers to pick up their items and walk out without queuing or paying (sort of). Shoppers are simply required to scan smartphones as they enter, leaving Amazon’s “just walk out” technology to detect exactly what’s being taken and charge it to their Prime accounts. It’s one of the first ever examples of a truly seamless customer experience – a trend that’s predicted to be big... [...]

Matt McGee says, “Amazon already told the world that the 2016 holidays were its “best-ever season,” and new data from retail analytics company Slice Intelligence is adding some perspective to the claim. Based on a panel of more than 1.3 million US online shoppers, Amazon claimed 38 percent of all online revenue during the just-completed holidays. That’s a slight gain over its 37.9 percent share during the 2015 holidays. But it’s also another sign of the company’s ownership of US e-commerce dollars. According to Slice’s panel, Best Buy was again the No. 2 e-commerce site during... [...]