Amazon announced its first fulfillment center in Arkansas, a 825,000-square-foot site in the Port of Little Rock area that's expected to create 1,000 full-time jobs when it opens next year. It's about 220 miles southeast of Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville. Recode said Walmart is planning to roll out a service this month rivaling Amazon Prime with same-day delivery for groceries and general merchandise, discounts and early access to deals. The retailer scrapped its $49-per-year ShippingPass subscription service in 2017 (1701310045) when free two-day shipping became table stakes for retailers. Walmart didn't comment. Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) noted the Amazon location’s proximity to interstate highways, rail and “navigable waterways.” In the new facility, employees will work alongside robotics to pick, pack and ship small items including books, electronics and toys, Amazon said Tuesday. Amazon also plans a new 85,000-square-foot delivery station for opening late this year, providing the “last mile” of Amazon’s order fulfillment process. That's expected to create “hundreds” of permanent, full- and part-time jobs, it said.
Amazon has “not made any announcements regarding Prime Day,” emailed a spokesperson Thursday about reports it's pushing this year’s event to October from July. Last year's Prime Day, July 15-16, was stretched to 48 hours from 36.
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).
Amazon created a global counterfeit crimes division to thwart the availability of fake products on its platform, it said Wednesday: This lets Amazon "more effectively pursue civil litigation against suspected criminals, work with brands in joint or independent investigations, and aid law enforcement officials worldwide in criminal actions against counterfeiters." Former federal prosecutors, "experienced investigators" and data analysts will staff the division, it said.
Tribe bowed a tech tool that helps consumers identify products sold on Amazon by small businesses, it said Tuesday. After consumers add the company’s free Small Business Browser Extension to a Chrome, Safari or Firefox browser, the tool alerts the shopper to similar products offered by a small business, Tribe said.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., is worried the participation of “so many countries” at the World Trade Organization in e-commerce talks -- including China -- will mean the result won't be a high-standard agreement. The House Ways and Means Committee member who also leads on trade in the New Democrat Coalition, DelBene represents a western Washington district that includes Microsoft headquarters. During a Washington International Trade Association interview Wednesday, she agreed tax policy should be rethought, and no longer so focused on physical goods, but said digital services taxes proposed in Europe are discriminatory. She said negotiations at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development need to be given time to work. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer testifies next week in virtual hearings by the Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee.
Instacart began offering same-day delivery of nonfood merchandise, including small electronics, sold at 1,400 Big Lots stores in the 47 states where the discount retailer operates, said the online grocery purveyor Monday. The launch introduces Instacart customers for the first time to a “wide variety of home goods and decor that go beyond grocery,” it said. Big Lots offers a selection of Bluetooth speakers, headphones and accessories, but doesn’t sell TVs or other large electronics.
Two Senate Democrats and two Republicans introduced legislation Wednesday that would require clear country-of-origin labeling for products sold online. S-3707 is directed at thwarting listings of imported goods that misleadingly say or suggest the products are domestic. Sponsors are Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; and Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga.
More than half of consumers in smart homes with garages find the idea of in-garage or in-home delivery extremely or very appealing, said Strategy Analytics Monday. A survey of smart home consumers in France, Germany, the U.K. and U.S. indicated the alternative delivery solutions are attractive as they increase online shopping in the COVID-19 era. Last year, a quarter of respondents had a package stolen after it was delivered, it said.
The House Judiciary Committee expects Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify about company data collection and competition concerns, a bipartisan group wrote the e-commerce giant Friday. Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., signed the letter with House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., and subcommittee ranking member Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo.; Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.; Joe Neguse, D-Colo.; and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also signed. The group cited recent reports the company allegedly uses seller data to build products that compete with third-party sellers on the platform (see 2004300054) and contradictory testimony from Amazon Associate General Counsel Nate Sutton. The letter threatens subpoena authority if Bezos doesn’t testify voluntarily. Amazon must be accountable for its “record of dishonesty before Congress,” Cicilline said. "As we told the Wall Street Journal and explained in our testimony, we strictly prohibit employees from using nonpublic, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch," an Amazon spokesperson said. "While we don’t believe these claims made in the Journal story are accurate, we take these allegations very seriously and have launched an internal investigation."