Retailers and consumer products companies aren’t capable of meeting consumers’ expectations for fast home delivery, said a Tuesday report from the CMO Council and Business Performance Innovation Network, saying 97% of survey respondents would consider new joint venture approaches to rebuilding supply and fulfillment. Some 42% already expect adoption of shared models to counter outdated supply delivery chains, a lack of order fulfillment centers near customers and the high cost of fixing order fulfillment issues. Better automation of picking, packing and sorting; closer proximity of fulfillment centers to customers; and more-efficient last-mile delivery are considered the top requirements for supply chain transformation, the report said. “Efficient delivery is now the key to winning and keeping customers in the era of ecommerce," said Dave Murray, BPI Network director-thought leadership: "The increasing dominance of Amazon and [a] very short list of other retail ecommerce giants is placing intense pressure on retailers and consumer products companies to find profitable and effective solutions to the home delivery dilemma." Same- and next-day home delivery is “attainable for retailers and consumer brands of all types and sizes,” said Julien Seret, Attabotics vice president-network supply chain, saying a new system of shared, multi-tenant micro-fulfillment centers in key population centers can make that happen.

CE e-commerce retailer Adorama announced Monday a new three-tier loyalty program that rewards customers with credit toward future purchases and member-only deals. At the free VIP level, members earn one point per dollar spent that can be redeemed for future purchases. Customers who spend $1,500 at Adorama within a membership year are upgraded to VIP Perks, where they earn 1.25 points per dollar spent and two points per $1 spent on purchases made the first Tuesday of every month. VIP Pro, $49 per year, gives two points per dollar spent and three points on the first Tuesday of the month, plus free two-day shipping, free 60-day returns, a one-year damage protection plan and one-on-one service and support, Adorama said. Points are redeemable at 400 ($5), 1,000 ($10) and up to 20,000 ($200).

A day after Walmart cut the price of a Walmart+ membership to $49 for three days (see 2211010069) in a holiday promotion, Amazon trumpeted its delivery and returns perks for Prime members. Amazon is “making returns easy” this holiday season, blogged John Felton, senior vice president-global delivery services, Wednesday, saying Amazon is enabling returns direct from retail stores including PacSun, GNC and Diesel in about 10 metro areas. Amazon plans to expand the return service to more retailers and cities in coming months. Customers should look for the “FREE Returns badge” under the price at the e-commerce site “to confirm it’s a qualifying item,” Felton said. Customers can also make returns with no packaging or label at Whole Foods, Kohl’s, UPS stores and Amazon’s Go, Fresh, Style, Counter and Locker+ locations, he said. Some 20 million items are available to U.S. Prime members for free one-day delivery with no minimum purchase, he said, and “hundreds of thousands” of items are available for free same-day delivery, “within hours,” in over 90 metro areas. Felton noted Amazon plans to hire 150,000 full-time seasonal workers over the holiday season with wages up to $19 per hour based on position and geography.

Amazon began rolling out a new cash advance program Tuesday for its small-to-medium (SMB) third-party sellers that’s said to help them grow their businesses. The financing option, provided by Parafin, ties payment on a cash advance to a portion of sellers’ future sales for a fixed fee and gives eligible sellers quick access to $500-$10 million of capital “when they need it, paired with flexible payment plans,” the e-commerce company said. Sellers can access capital “in a matter of days” with capped rates, no fixed term, personal guarantee, credit checks, “excessive fees” or late fees, it said. The cash advance allows SMBs to develop new products, protect margins, grow inventory and “efficiently manage cash flow,” Amazon said. A payment schedule is determined by a fixed percentage of the seller’s gross merchandise sales until the funding is paid off, with no minimum payments or interest -- but a fixed capital fee -- and no collateral required, Amazon said. Payments are required only during periods that a seller has made sales, and the fixed payment rate protects them during periods of slow or no sales, it said. Sellers must have been selling on Amazon for at least three months to be eligible for the program that Amazon said will be available to hundreds of thousands of sellers by early next year.

Amazon’s Q3 revenue could fall at the low end of guidance due to currency translation and macroeconomic challenges, when the company reports earnings Thursday, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Monday. Amazon's guidance on its July earnings call was for revenue of $125 billion-$130 billion, including about $5.2 billion of negative impact from foreign currency exchange rates. The dollar strengthened in the quarter, “likely causing a more substantial headwind than management expected,” which Wedbush believes could take foreign currency translation losses above $1 billion for the quarter. The analyst expects about $4.5 billion in additional revenue from the July Prime Day event, though that could be dampened by currency exchange impact and macroeconomic challenges. Amazon’s Prime subscription hike -- from $119 to $139 annually, or $12.99 to $14.99 monthly -- is expected to add $500 million in subscription revenue growth for Q3, while Wedbush expects Amazon Web Services to post $1 billion growth. Looking to Q4, the stronger dollar could have a favorable impact on import pricing, and high employment will keep consumer discretionary spending strong into the holiday season, Pachter predicted, offsetting negative impacts. Wedbush expects Amazon to give Q4 sequential revenue growth guidance in the “mid- to high-teens,” vs. the typical rate of 20% or more.

Some 54% of consumers are concerned about fraud this holiday season, up 17% from a year ago, said a Thursday TransUnion report. Higher fears about fraud and the desire for security were top themes in an online survey of 3,000 adults fielded Aug. 11-18, said the credit reporting company. The highest rated feature for shopping on a mobile device was two-factor authentication, with 80% of consumers saying the security feature was moderately or very important. The survey found “consumers increasingly expect online retailers to deliver safe and seamless shopping experiences as they have less patience for errors and inconvenience,” said Cecilia Seiden, TransUnion vice president-retail. Respondents indicated they would abandon their virtual shopping carts if retailers didn’t meet expectations, Seiden said. Fraud concerns topped the list of top reasons consumers would abandon an online cart at 72%, followed by not enough security on the website (40%), shipping costs (26%), a poor website experience (17%) and payment issues (11%). The minimum discount that makes a deal "great" this year is 30%, said the report, and “quick delivery” was defined as two days. Some 26% of shoppers plan to spend more this year, led by millennials and Generation Z customers (44%). While some consumers may end up spending more on their holiday shopping due to inflation, “there’s good evidence that consumer optimism is intact,” said Mark Rose, TransUnion senior director-retail, citing higher incomes and a continued strong job market.

Cowen projected Amazon’s Q3 e-commerce revenue growth at 14% year on year, driven by July Prime Day sales, analyst John Blackledge wrote investors Monday. The analyst estimated $6.8 billion in revenue for the July 12-13 event, which would be $5 billion above what it estimated Amazon brought in in the 2021 period. Prime Day 2022 benefited from faster delivery speeds year on year and improved in-stock levels that drove higher conversion, Blackledge said. For Q4, Cowen forecasts Amazon revenue at $129.7 billion, a 17.1% increase, driven by Amazon Web Services, advertising and third-party fulfillment services, plus a “recovery in Online Store sales.” Cowen tweaked its Q4 forecast for Amazon, raising gross merchandise value estimates by 0.3% but lowering revenue by 0.4%. It now forecasts revenue at $157.9 billion, a 14.9% bump year on year, while lowering the stock price target from $215 to $195. Amazon reports Q3 earnings Oct. 27.

Prices for electronics, the largest category in e-commerce with 18.6% share of spend last year, dropped 11.3% year on year in September, faster than pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels and 1.2% down from August, Adobe reported Wednesday. Electronics prices have fallen consistently since December when they decreased 2.6% year on year, and cuts accelerated in recent months, posting year-on-year declines of 10% in August and 9.3% in July. Computer prices fell “significantly” at 14.1% year on year, having their biggest drop since March 2020, said the analytics firm. Computer prices have fallen online for 21 consecutive months, now outpacing pre-pandemic levels of an average 9.2% decline 2015-2019; they fell 12.6% year on year in August, and September prices were 1.9% down from August, it said. September price decreases for electronics and computers were record lows for the categories this year. Overall, online prices slipped 0.2% year on year in September but rose 0.8% from August, Adobe said. Food prices have remained high, with September grocery prices jumping 14.3% year on year.

Newegg’s in-house video production team is hosting a 24-hour livestream beginning 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday to mark the North American release of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. Livestream hosts will also highlight offers and deals from the e-commerce site’s FantasTech Sale II. The livestream will be viewable on Newegg's website and app, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Whatnot.

Mastercard announced Wednesday a fraud solution developed with fraud platform Ravelin using digital identity verification capabilities from Ekata and real-time fraud insights from Ethoca. Online grocery orders rose by over 50% during the pandemic and are expected to rise more this year, Mastercard said, and as people open new accounts and make faster purchases, "merchants are challenged to verify identities and manage evolving fraud threats in real time,” it said. The solution is designed to help merchants validate a consumer’s identity without adding friction to the process, it said.