The FTC got more than 34,000 online shopping complaints from consumers in April and May, the agency reported Wednesday. “More than 18,000 of those complaints related to items that were ordered but never delivered,” the FTC said. “The most common item reported not delivered was facemasks, with other reports including sanitizer, toilet paper, thermometers, and gloves as not received.” Reports of unreceived items in May were near double those of December, which is peak holiday shopping season. The agency sent warning letters in June to marketing companies to remove and address online and social media posts claiming their products can treat or prevent COVID-19 (see 2006050059).

The number of U.S. households that bought consumer tech during the 12th week of the COVID-19 pandemic was down slightly from June 12-14, said CTA’s COVID-19 tracker Wednesday. Use of streaming video services (52% of U.S. households), live TV services (22%) and gaming livestream services (13%) fell. “With the start of summer, the dip we are seeing in tech purchase and content consumption is likely due to people getting outside more and families” vacationing, said CTA. “Households with people under the age of 35 are driving purchases of tech.” More than half had bought at least one device in the past week, it said after asking 1,000 homes online, June 26-28.

LED lighting company Brightline joined a Logitech collaboration, combining Brightline professional LED lighting with Logitech videoconferencing for Zoom Rooms, Microsoft Teams Rooms and Google Meet. As businesses embrace videoconferencing as employees shelter in place, “many of them have realized employees are unprepared for presenting a professional appearance on video,” said Sudeep Trivedi, Logitech Video Collaboration head-global alliance and go-to-market.

Warehouse staffing, consumer expectations for delivery and the Trade Act Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods are among challenges Sonos is juggling as the company ratchets up e-commerce amid the novel coronavirus, said John Hills, senior manager-logistics, America. Hills told a webinar hosted by freight logistics company Flexport that during the pandemic, which slammed brick-and-mortar sales worldwide, Sonos is “not only dealing with the impact of COVID, we’re still navigating some of the waters with these 301 tariffs” imposed last year by the Trump administration on goods imported from China. Higher tariffs led Sonos to steer production of most U.S.-bound goods to Malaysia. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence highlighted a spike in direct-to-consumer sales (D2C) in April when consumers turned to e-commerce to buy goods they couldn’t get when stores temporarily closed. More people are required to move 1,500 units in a D2C model vs. a “handful” of pallets destined for one retailer, Hills said Wednesday. Forecasting D2C sales fluctuations can be unpredictable, said the executive: “It’s much more challenging to capture spikes in demand for D2C than it is for B2B.” An online article or blog can drive a surge, or a successful promotion can produce an unexpected order spike, he said. Sonos is also competing with big box retailers that have bigger warehouse staffing needs due to the pandemic-fueled jump in e-commerce business. FedEx also is getting more e-commerce consumer interest (see 2007010052).

The next two to three years will be tough for the satellite communications industry, with COVID-19 stalling the aeronautical connectivity market and interrupting the growth curve of the backhaul market, Northern Sky Research analyst Lluc Palerm blogged Wednesday. There's still much long-term value in satcom, with opportunities in "extraordinarily large" addressable markets like mobility, backhaul and consumer broadband, he said. Various bankruptcies were bound to occur even without the pandemic, and the convergence of such issues as cheaper capacity, small cells and better performing ground systems will unlock markets, it said.

Global shipments of smartphone battery cells were $1.5 billion in Q1, up 5% from the same 2019 quarter, reported Strategy Analytics Tuesday. TDK-owned Amperex held the top revenue share at 36.5%, with LG Chem at 28.4% and Samsung SDI at 17.5%. SA expects demand for smartphone battery cells to diminish this year with the slowdown in smartphone shipments amid the pandemic.

Calendar 2020 estimates for “end-unit” sales of smartphones are “meaningfully lower” than pre-COVID-19, “even though estimates for enterprise laptops and Chromebooks have increased,” said Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “Reduced level of global economic activity has also curtailed near-term demand.” The pandemic's impact on Micron’s production early in Q3, which ended May 28, was limited to two “back-end assembly and test sites” in Malaysia, he told investors Monday. See here for Q3 details.

The FCC Wireline Bureau could use $198 million in past unused funds as needed to satisfy funding year 2020 demand up to $802.7 million for its Rural Health Care program, a record amount that's up from the previous $604.76 million cap for this year, said a public notice Tuesday. Chairman Ajit Pai said the carryover funding ability is fortuitous because "telehealth is proving to be critical in our fight against COVID-19."

During the FCC's packing and moving to its new headquarters, access to the 12th Street NW building will be limited to 60 people per day, said in an agency memo Monday that we obtained. The memo, sent by Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, "strongly encouraged" employees to sign up for building access to move their possessions on a different day from other staffers whose workspaces are close by. The memo said staffers who are in the building to get their belongings will be required to wear a face covering and use designated one-way staircases. Berry said the agency will provide each staffer with "three three-ply washable face coverings, as well as a pen/stylus combo that can be used to limit the need to physically touch certain high-touch surfaces like elevator call buttons and the Xerox multi-function devices." Those can be reused, the CoS said. The FCC told employees telework will continue at least until Aug. 27, when the move to the new HQ is to be complete (see 2006290053).

The Mississippi legislature cleared $150 million for rural broadband, responding to COVID-19, with the Senate voting 52-0 Monday to concur with House amendments to SB-3046. The House voted 109-0 Sunday for the bill supported by Mississippi Public Service Commissioner and NARUC President Brandon Presley (see 2006260059). “In the past three days, the state flag has been changed and $150,000,000 in broadband funding has been approved,” the Democratic commissioner tweeted. “Not a bad few days for Mississippi’s future.” Gov. Tate Reeves (R) still must sign the bill; he didn’t comment Tuesday.