Declining growth on China’s Singles’ Day shopping holiday doesn’t necessarily reflect declining enthusiasm for the event or online shopping generally, Coresight Research reported Wednesday. Total transacted gross merchandise value across several e-commerce platforms on the Nov. 11 shopping day was $45.2 billion, says data services firm Syntun, a 24 percent sales growth vs. 44 percent growth last year. Coresight attributed slower growth to an overall trend in China, where 2018 retail sales growth is the weakest in 15 years. Singles’ Day remains the largest cyber shopping festival, though a growing number of other festivals with discounts present shoppers with other options once a quarter, it said. “Consumers have become familiar with the promotion cadence of the various e-commerce platforms and appear to be adjusting their plans to take advantage.” The Singles’ Day effect has extended offline. “Some brick-and-mortar stores, whether they have an online presence or not, joined the festival to take advantage of the immense consumer interest," said Coresight: The day helped accelerate the pace of online-offline retail integration and it promoted the concept of “retailtainment.”

Echo, Fire TV and Fire tablets headline Amazon Cyber Monday Deals Week specials running through Thursday, said Amazon in a Friday email. Along with single-item discounts including $26 off an Echo Dot (to $24) and $40 off an Echo Spot to $89, Amazon is offering bundles across its various brands: a Fire HD 8 tablet with an Alexa hands-free Show Mode dock for $79 ($39 off) and $120 off the purchase of two Echo Show devices to $339. It showed savings of $50 off an Insignia 24-inch 720p smart Fire TV for $99. Amazon customers can get a Ring video doorbell ($99 value) with the purchase of a Ring floodlight camera, and they save $30 on an Amazon key smart lock kit combining a cloud cam and Schlage Connect lock, it said. Other electronics on sale through Thursday at Amazon with some prices given: monitors and laptops, Netgear networking products, Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) noise-canceling headphones with Alexa and the SoundLink Bluetooth speaker; Sonos Beam and Sub; Polaroid 43- and 55-inch 4K smart TVs for $129 and $199; more than 15 percent off select Samsung QLED and SU8 series TVs; and up to 15 percent on LG smart 4K TVs. Sony's XBR55X900F, an Amazon Choice TV, will be tagged $1,098, it said.

A glitch that led to Amazon exposing customer email addresses wasn’t a breach of its website or its systems, an Amazon spokesman emailed us Wednesday. “We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted,” he said. A technical error caused the website to inadvertently disclose email addresses and names, he said, and Amazon emailed those customers Tuesday informing them of the issue, advising caution. The spokesman didn’t respond to our questions on the number of addresses affected or the cause of the error. Meanwhile, Amazon scrambled to recover from a Nov. 2 tornado that tore through an Amazon facility, interrupting deliveries in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area. The Washington Post reported last week Prime members were offered delivery dates well beyond the membership’s standard two-day pledge, even for items in stock. One Prime member tweeted he was offered a delivery date of Nov. 19 under the two-day free shipping program for an order placed on Nov. 12, but he could order the item for delivery on Nov. 14 for an $11.63 shipping fee. An Amazon spokesperson told us Wednesday it works “very hard to deliver on our fast, free Prime shipping promise” but natural disasters "are out of our control.” Amazon replaced the capacity it lost from the Baltimore facility shutdown and said this week the metro area was “back to matching the speed for the rest of the country.” The company opened an interim sorting plant and redistributed capacity to surrounding Amazon facilities, the spokesperson said.

The conversion rate to long-term Amazon Prime memberships from a 30-day free trial has steadily declined, reported Consumer Intelligence Research Partners Friday. Some 67 percent went on to pay in September vs. 84 percent in September 2015. Long-term retention rates improved to 93 percent of paid members staying after one year and 98 percent renewing after 24 months, during a five-year period beginning September 2013. Amazon “has to work harder to recruit new members who see a value in paid Prime,” said analyst Mike Levin, saying it likely snared “the most attractive members in the earlier years.” The company now offers a by-the-month option for membership vs. full-year only, he noted. Customers who could choose between a full-year membership and letting one lapse now can turn on a membership for a month or two “when they are most likely to enjoy the benefits,” he said. Findings are based on quarterly surveys of 500 U.S. consumers who shopped at Amazon.

Amazon will get $1.5 billion from New York State and $550 million from Virginia in “performance-based direct incentives” over the next decade to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, Queens, and Crystal City, Virginia, said Amazon Tuesday. The incentives will reach full potential when Amazon fulfills its agreement to hire 25,000 employees at each location with an average salary of more than $150,000, it said. Crystal City’s high-skilled workforce and easy access to Washington make it “the perfect match for Amazon's mission and goals,” said CTA Chief Financial Officer Glenda MacMullin, who chairs the Crystal City Business Improvement District. CTA “has been one of the few building owners” there for the past 12 years, she said. Amazon in Queens will occupy an 8 million-square-foot "campus" on Long Island City's waterfront, said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) at a Tuesday news conference. "In many ways, this is a perfect location, and there's a lot happening in Queens." The site is "proximate" to LaGuardia and JFK airports, which are undergoing reconstruction, and will be near a 10-minute water taxi to Manhattan, said Cuomo. Amazon's "initial buildout" will be at the Citibank building at 1 Court Square, next to three existing subway lines, said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).

Election Day doesn’t appear to have affected online holiday retail growth projections, with sales on track for a record season that began Nov. 1, said Adobe Analytics Wednesday. Total online sales Election Day were $1.48 billion, up 13.2 percent vs. 2017, in line with growth through the first few days in November, said Adobe. Retail sales growth Tuesday was 13.2 percent, in line with trends, despite long waits at polling stations. Sales via smartphones were higher as consumers logged in remotely while researching their vote or using it as a “search-and-shop device,” it said. Just over 25 percent of all sales Tuesday came from smartphones, a 28 percent increase from last year. Sales this holiday season are off to a “strong start,” said Adobe, with all six November days topping $1 billion in online spending, though growth is slightly below forecasts at 12.7 percent, it said. Mobile device shoppers drove 52 percent of e-commerce visits on Election Day, accounting for 33 percent of revenue, it said, led by smartphones with 44 percent of online visits and 25 percent of revenue. Average order value was up 4 percent year on year on Election Day to $139, with paid search shown as the top promotion driver at 22 percent, followed by Election Day (18 percent), shopper help sites (5.4 percent) and social media-driven networks (1.7 percent). Adobe predicts U.S. online sales will rise 14.8 percent to $124.1 billion this holiday season vs. last year, and offline retail spending will grow 2.7 percent.

A Philippines-based company is looking to establish itself as the blockchain-based loyalty program for the crypto generation, Appsolutely CEO Patrick Palacios told us Monday. Palacios, in New York to meet with journalists and potential partners, is targeting fledgling cryptocurrency and blockchain student organizations at universities, hoping to establish its Loyal Wallet app as the loyalty reward program provider for small- to medium-sized businesses looking to create a millennial following. Appsolutely is also partnering with gift card company CashStar, he said. “We want to globalize loyalty points,” said Palacios, saying the borderless ecosystem allows users to accrue and use points in participating countries using its LoyalCoin cryptocurrency. “There should be one coalition program where you can earn and redeem points anytime, anywhere and everywhere in any country in the world.” Customers download the Loyal Wallet app for Android or iOS devices to receive a discount or free item from a participating merchant. They can redeem points for goods or services or hold LoyalCoin with the hope the value grows, he said. Partners include 7-Eleven, Philippine Air Lines, FamilyMart and bubble tea company Gong Cha. Though crypto and blockchain won’t be mainstream for a number of years, the company hopes to get in on the ground floor of an emerging trend. Retailers join the loyalty program as part of a free trial; once the company sees a sales uptick that it can tag to a Loyal Wallet purchase -- at least 10 percent of transactions -- it charges the retailer per transaction. The company is building its U.S. business development operation in Santa Monica, California, Palacios said. A primary challenge is overcoming companies’ concern over blockchain and cryptocurrency, said Palacios, saying regulations protect the process. He cited Know Your Customer regulatory requirements that "you are who you say you are" where banks obtain information about the identity and address of their customers along with the use of two-factor authentication to prevent fraud. Palacios said he funded his company with $12 million raised over three months in an initial coin offering of LoyalCoin.

Amazon, which raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour Thursday in time for the holiday season (see 1810170050), cut back on workers it hired this year, said Citi analyst Mark May Friday on CNBC. Amazon adds seasonal workers for warehouses and last-mile delivery to handle increased holiday traffic, but it has bumped up the number of robots in fulfillment centers while scaling back on human workers, said May. Last year was the first when Citi saw no increase in the number of temporary workers it hired -- 120,000 -- and this year, Amazon will hire 100,000 workers. It’s the first time on record Amazon will hire fewer seasonal employees than the previous year, and “that corresponds very closely with the use of robotics and automation within their facilities,” said the analyst.

Amazon said Wednesday it’s filling more than 100,000 seasonal jobs in customer fulfillment and delivery facilities for the holiday shopping season at its new $15 per hour minimum wage (see 1810020023). The company received 70,000 applications in the first 48 hours after the wage rate hike from $7.25 an hour, it said, and traffic to AmazonDelivers.Jobs grew 180 percent. “Tens of thousands” of job applicants picked preferred shifts and attended hiring events across the country, it said. Fulfillment needs are biggest in California, Illinois, Washington, Kentucky, New Jersey and Florida, it said.

Mobile shopping activity gained 6 percentage points over the past two years, with 45 percent of smartphone users reporting they shop online via their device, NPD reported Monday, through Aug 31. The activity is being driven by smartphone owners ages 18-34, as shopping via tablet declined 3 percentage points over the past year, with just over a third of consumers saying they use a tablet for e-commerce, said NPD. Larger smartphone screen sizes are partly responsible for the increase in mobile commerce, along with market penetration: Some 100 million consumers shop online via smartphone, said analyst John Buffone. Online CE sales grew 13 percent in the 12 months ending August 2018 vs. the prior year, said NPD, with shoppers making nearly one additional tech purchase in the period. The U.S. online buying population making at least one CE purchase reached 45 percent, led by mobile phone accessories, portable audio and mobile power products, NPD said. “Consumers are leveraging their smartphones to purchase ‘grab and go’ items, as these purchases can be made conveniently, without investing the time to examine product reviews or visit multiple sites for price comparisons,” analyst Stephen Baker said. PCs remain the leading source for e-commerce: Sixty-five percent used a computer for some online shopping, down 2 percentage points from the year before.