An e-commerce company president pleaded guilty to “conspiring to fix prices for customized promotional products sold” to online U.S. customers, DOJ said Thursday. Gennex Media President Akil Kurji and co-conspirators agreed to fix prices as early as May 2014 until at least June 2016, Justice said. He faces 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine, and 11 defendants have been charged for illegal activity associated with products like wristbands, lanyards, temporary tattoos and buttons. “Kurji and his co-conspirators used social media platforms and encrypted messaging applications, such as Facebook, Skype, and Whats[A]pp, to reach and implement their illegal agreement,” Justice said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., led refiling Wednesday of the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act. The bill, repeatedly filed in recent Congresses, would prevent multiple taxation of digital goods by setting sourcing rules for digital goods and services purchases, implementing the Internet Tax Freedom Act’s ban on multiple taxes on e-commerce sales (see 1506010037). Texas' Rep. John Ratcliffe is lead GOP sponsor of the House version, and Oregon's Sen. Ron Wyden lead Democratic sponsor of Senate version S-765. The online marketplace is “a sometimes challenging environment for those who provide these services, particularly as it relates to how they are taxed by state and local governments,” Thune said. “Our bill modernizes existing laws to prevent multiple taxation and ensure these goods and services aren’t taxed at higher rates than what they would be if purchased in a brick-and-mortar store.” Digital goods and services “have become a driving force in our national economy,” Cohen said. “We should make sure consumers are treated fairly and are not taxed unfairly.”

Industry representatives voiced frustration about e-commerce, seeking a more-streamlined filing system and crackdown on foreign sellers. A common complaint was lack of transparency from foreign companies when they sell through online markets, a Customs and Border Protection event was told Friday. The foreign e-commerce sellers bypass U.S. safety and testing regulations, disproportionately placing the “burden of enforcement” on the brand owners of the items, said Rebecca Mond, Toy Association vice president-federal government affairs. That leads to lapses in enforcement, she said. Cornelia Steinert, Canon Virginia senior manager-international trade, said there's “simply no visibility” for importers of e-commerce products, especially small shipments. “How do you know what they’re ordering?” she said. “A lot of times, you can’t tell where the products are being shipped from.” She wants improvements to CBP manifest filings. Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America CEO Matt Priest said one of the footwear industry’s biggest issues is “unauthorized third-party sellers” online. Priest suggested more communication between CBP and industry. “The prevalence of e-commerce has just been so difficult for our members to get their hands around” on enforcement issues, he said. That multiple filings are made to CBP and each foreign government agency involved in selling a product online is problematic, said Cindy Allen, FedEx Trade Network vice president-regulatory affairs and compliance.

Amazon is plumbing its Woot! e-commerce site for additional Prime members through Prime Member Appreciation Week. Prime members will have access through Saturday to special Woot! discounts, including unannounced deals called Woot-Offs, it said Monday. They could score what Woot! calls “bags of crap,” described as a “random collection of stuff shoved into a box." Amazon is offering a 30-day free trial membership for Woot! members who link their accounts to Prime.

Walmart continues to expand its U.S. share in e-commerce, eMarketer reported Friday. It overtook Apple in 2017 to become No. 3, and it widened the gap last year, 4.6 percent vs. Apple’s 3.8 percent. Walmart is expected to increase its e-commerce business 33 percent this year, “exhibiting a digital prowess that it just didn’t possess a couple of years ago,” said analyst Andrew Lipsman, citing heavy investment in distribution infrastructure. The retailer still trails eBay, at 6.1 percent, and they’re eclipsed by Amazon’s 47 percent. Best Buy is ninth at 1.3 percent share. The research firm cut its outlook for Apple’s e-commerce business after the “disappointing” Q4 earnings report. It predicts the iPhone maker’s e-commerce sales will grow just over 15 percent to $22.93 billion, giving it 3.8 percent share of the domestic e-commerce market, “unchanged since 2017.” Retailers’ website sales are dwarfed by total retail sales, eMarketer noted: Amazon has 5.1 percent of total retail sales, followed by eBay (0.7 percent), Walmart (0.5 percent), Apple (0.4 percent) and Best Buy (0.1 percent).

Dozens of global tech groups want “rapid action” on the World Trade Organization’s “ambitious” trade-related e-commerce “framework,” they said in an open letter Friday to WTO trade ministers. Seventy-six ministers signed a statement Friday vowing to start WTO negotiations on trade-related aspects of e-commerce aimed at achieving “a high standard outcome that builds on existing WTO agreements,” with participation of as many members as possible. “The ability of businesses and individuals to participate effectively in the global economy today requires a modern e-commerce framework that facilitates customs clearance, digital transactions, transparency, trust, movement of information, and access to a variety of e-commerce platforms, payments technologies, communications, social media and marketing tools, productivity software, and shipping and logistics services,” said the letter, whose signers included BSA|The Software Alliance, CTA, CompTIA, the Information Technology Industry Council and Internet Association. “Improving the enabling environment for digital trade and global e-commerce is particularly critical for micro, small and early-stage businesses.”

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners projected Amazon has 101 million Prime customers in the U.S., or 62 percent of its customers nationwide, up from 26 million in December 2013. Prime members spend on average about $1,400 a year, compared with $600 for non-Prime members, CRP said Thursday. Though membership growth has slowed to about 10 percent annually, it continued steadily in the holiday quarter and is “still significant on a huge base and after years of rapid growth,” said analyst Josh Lowitz. Breaking out Prime membership, Lowitz said 58 percent pay annually, 36 percent pay a monthly fee and 7 percent have a free trial, are members on some other basis such as sharing a membership or don’t know the fee structure. Flattening Prime membership growth is changing the nature of membership, said analyst Mike Levin, saying the third of members who pay monthly can leave and rejoin at any time, even though the $119 annual fee is less than the monthly fee total for 12 months ($156). The more transient members “obviously don’t have the same commitment to Amazon shopping and the suite of Prime member services,” he noted. Findings were based on surveys of 500 U.S. customers who made a purchase at Amazon October-December.

More online consumers are demanding free shipping and “embracing new options” like picking up their e-commerce purchases at a physical store, the National Retail Federation found. NRF canvassed 3,000 adults in November and found 75 percent expect delivery to be free even on orders under $50, up from 68 percent in a comparable survey a year earlier. Baby boomers are the biggest fans of free shipping, with 88 percent expecting it. That compares with 77 percent for Generation X consumers, 61 percent for millennials and 76 percent for Generation Z shoppers. Sixty-five percent of consumers consider shipping costs even before getting to the checkout page, said NRF Tuesday. Consumers also want their products fast, with 39 percent expecting two-day shipping to be free, and 29 percent claiming to have backed out of a purchase because two-day shipping carried a service charge. More than 70 percent were aware of buying online and picking up in store had tried the option and their top reason for doing so was to avoid shipping charges. “Consumers want free delivery, and they’re willing to meet retailers halfway to get it,” said NRF. “If we can get their purchase to the store, they’ll come pick it up if that’s what it takes to avoid a delivery charge. And once they’re in the store, they are very open to seeing what else the retailer has to offer.”

FedEx shares closed down 12 percent at $162.51 Wednesday after the shipper downgraded its fiscal-year profit forecast by about $2 a share on weaknesses in its European and Chinese businesses. The company expects to spend up to $575 million in severance and other costs for a “voluntary buyout” offer to eligible U.S. employees that ultimately will reap $275 million in annual savings. The new FedEx Extra Hours service offering expands “e-commerce delivery options” for retailers, said Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Raj Subramaniam on a Tuesday evening call on Q2 ended Nov. 30. The service enables participating retailers to fill e-commerce orders well “into the evening” and receive late FedEx Express pickups for next-day local delivery and two-day delivery to “any address” in the continental U.S., said Subramaniam, who becomes FedEx Express CEO Jan. 1. “Retailers can extend evening order cutoff time by five to eight hours, with some as late as midnight.” The company recently launched the service with Best Buy in “multiple” U.S. markets, he said.

The U.S. Postal Service should seize on e-commerce growth and charge market-based prices for mail and package items not deemed “essential postal services,” the Treasury Department said Tuesday. The long-awaited report was prompted by President Donald Trump’s criticism of Amazon (see 1804130059). Between 2010 and 2018, USPS package volume doubled from 3.1 billion pieces to 6.2 billion pieces, and revenue grew from $10.3 billion to $21.5 billion, said Treasury. The increase in package revenue hasn’t allowed the USPS to make up for dramatic declines in mail delivery. “Packages have not been priced with profitability in mind,” the report said. Charging market prices for package delivery will “allow the USPS to optimize its income in order to fund its operations, capital expenditures, and long-term liabilities,” the department said.