Amazon plans to expand its Boston Tech Hub, creating 3,000-plus corporate and technology jobs over several years. They will support Alexa, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Robotics and Amazon Pharmacy, it said Tuesday. The positions include technology roles in software development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, along with non-technology corporate roles. Amazon employs over 3,700 people there.
Consumers are shopping online more than ever but finding the service experience increasingly “inadequate,” a Northridge Group survey found. Two-thirds of the roughly 1,000 canvassed consumers plan to continue their escalated rate of e-commerce shopping post-pandemic, but shoppers “are increasingly frustrated at the level of effort required to reach companies to get the help they need,” said the management consultant Thursday. With 42% of consumers reporting resolution of such headaches on “first contact,” that’s a sure sign that brands are “missing the mark,” it said. And 73% report “long wait times to reach a live agent” as their biggest gripe, with 69% also reporting difficulty finding website answers and 60% complaining they had to provide information “over and over again” when they finally did reach a live rep, said Northridge: “Despite the global pandemic, consumers continue to be unforgiving when it comes to poor customer experience. An alarming 73% of consumers report they are likely to switch to a competitive brand after just one negative experience.”
Prime members accounted for about 68% of Amazon shoppers in Q4, said Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Tuesday, estimating U.S. Prime member count at 142 million. Amazon had strong growth in Prime memberships -- at a 2016 rate -- due partly to COVID-19, said analyst Josh Lowitz, projecting 30 million additional shoppers used Amazon in 2020. Amazon experienced an unusual shift in how members pay for Prime, which “suggests the boost in membership will last into 2021 and beyond," he said. For the first time in four years, the percentage of annual memberships increased in the holiday shopping quarter vs. just monthly memberships. In the December quarter, “new and renewing members took advantage of the lower annualized cost of a yearly membership, and with that made a longer commitment to Amazon Prime,” said analyst Mike Levin. Amazon didn't comment.
The process for canceling Amazon Prime potentially constitutes unfair and deceptive practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act, Public Citizen wrote the agency Thursday. Users have to click through several pages to cancel memberships, and it’s a confusing process with numerous links in an effort to get the user to maintain the subscription, the organization wrote: “Amazon Prime’s subscription model is a ‘roach motel,’ where getting in is almost effortless, but escape is an ordeal. As a general rule, it should not be more difficult to unsubscribe than to subscribe from a digital service.” The agency received the letter, a spokesperson emailed. “Amazon makes it clear and easy for Prime members to cancel their subscription at any time, whether through a few clicks online, with a quick phone call, or by turning off auto renew in their membership options,” emailed a spokesperson. “Customer trust is at the heart of all of our products and services and we strongly disagree with any claim that our cancellation process creates uncertainty.”
Google temporarily suspended all political advertisements, including those referencing impeachment, inauguration or the Capitol protests, the company said Wednesday, citing the deadly riot at the Capitol (see 2101130074). “We regularly pause ads over unpredictable, ‘sensitive’ events when ads can be used to exploit the event or amplify misleading information,” a spokesperson emailed. “Beyond this, we have long-standing policies blocking content that incites violence or promotes hate and we will be extremely vigilant about enforcing on any ads that cross this line.” This includes ads for Google Ads, DV360, YouTube and AdX Authorized Buyer, the platform wrote advertisers.
The Patent and Trademark Office reopened the comment period that expired Dec. 28 to provide more time for input on applying “the traditional doctrines of trademark infringement to the e-commerce setting,” said Monday’s Federal Register. Comments are now due Jan. 25 in docket PTO-T-2020-0035 on “the effectiveness of the traditional doctrines of secondary trademark infringement” in e-commerce. PTO seeks recommendations “for resolving any shortcomings in the application of these doctrines.”
President Donald Trump's executive order Tuesday bans transactions with eight popular Chinese payment apps, citing national security concerns. In effect in 45 days, the EO bans transactions with Alipay, QQ Wallet, WeChat Pay, Tencent QQ, CamScanner, SHAREit, VMate and WPS Office. Certain Chinese apps “continue to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” it said. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross supported Trump’s “commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.” A Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson called the EO another example of the U.S. “wantonly bullying foreign companies by abusing state power on the untenable ground of national security.” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said “China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy explicitly aims to co-opt or coerce civilian enterprises into assisting the People’s Liberation Army.” The apps’ parent companies didn’t comment Wednesday.
With a full holiday shopping season wrap slated for Tuesday, Adobe Analytics reported the November-December period had a total online spend of $188.2 billion, up 32% over 2019, to a record. Cyber Week sales were slower compared with the overall season, with Thanksgiving-Cyber Monday growing 21% year on year, Adobe emailed Wednesday. For the first time, more than half of online spending came from smartphones Christmas Day. Average daily online revenue topped $3.1 billion during the season vs. $2.3 billion in 2019, and for the first time, every day of the two-month season exceeded $1 billion in sales. Fifty days had revenue over $2 billion, nine days passed $4 billion, and Thanksgiving Day sales exceeded $5 billion. Curbside pickup orders were up 36% overall but dropped to 26% in the seven days leading up to Christmas. Smartphones were 40% of the season’s e-commerce growth.
Amazon bought 11 Boeing 767-300 aircraft -- seven from Delta and four from WestJet -- that will join its leased air cargo network by 2022, it said Tuesday. The goal is to continue delivering goods to customers “in the way that they expect from Amazon, and purchasing our own aircraft is a natural next step,” said Sarah Rhoads, vice president-Amazon Global Air. The company will continue to rely on third-party carriers to operate its fleet, it said.
Medigus closed on previously announced deals to buy controlling interests in Amazon third-party sellers Smart Repair Pro and Purex, said the Israeli tech company Monday. Medigus now owns about 50.01% of the capital in each. Smart Repair Pro plans to rebrand its product line on Amazon and will launch an independent direct-to-consumer sales channel by opening a new online store, said Medigus.