Amazon cut the price of the Tap Alexa-based portable speaker to $115 from $130, but the Wednesday price was above discounted prices offered recently by retailers including Bed Bath & Beyond and B&H Photo Video (see 1608080011). Amazon called the Tap price cut a limited-time move while the Echo Dot remains unavailable. The Echo, meanwhile, continues to sell for $179 at Amazon new, and for $149 refurbished. The entry-level Kindle was discounted by 25 percent to $59 and the Paperwhite, was dropped to $99 from $119, said the Amazon deals page.

Klipsch followed an errant email meant for dealers Thursday with a discount offer to its consumer customer list that received the email by mistake. “We noticed you might have received a message from Klipsch that was directed for our dealers. To say sorry, please use promo code Gear10 on our Gear Store to receive 10% off,” it said. The email for dealers was marked “IMPORTANT: New MAP List and Exceptions.” Customers weren’t able to access the price list without a dealer account.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is creating a Digital Trade Working Group to target digital trade barriers and promote policies to advance digital trade efforts worldwide, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said. Deputy USTR Robert Holleyman will head the group, which includes USTR experts in e-commerce, telecom, services, intellectual property, innovation and industrial competitiveness, USTR said. “The Digital Trade Working Group is an important resource to help the United States maintain its 'digital trade surplus,' and allow companies and workers in every sector of the U.S. economy to use the Internet to deliver innovative, American-made products and services abroad,” Froman said. The group will focus on barriers to cloud computing, platform services and digital products trade, and will coordinate the negotiation and implementation of digital trade provisions in various bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, and the Trade in Services Agreement, USTR said. Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman called for lawmakers to work with industry and USTR to create a chief digital trade negotiator position within USTR last week during a House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee hearing (see 1607130066).

Asia Pacific continued to lead global e-commerce in 2015, after taking over the top spot in 2013, said a Euromonitor report Tuesday. Mobile e-commerce sales for the region, comprising 14 economies, grew 113 percent to $200 billion, it said. The report cited increasing demand for convenience in Asia, driven by urbanization, smaller households and an “on-demand culture.” Overall retail sales for the top 500 retailers in the region slipped 5 percent in 2015 to $964 billion, due to the strong U.S. dollar, Euromonitor said.

Amazon, which failed with the Fire Phone to find a market for its company-branded smartphone, is taking a different route to market through its Prime program. The company said Wednesday Prime members can buy unlocked Android smartphones at discounted prices in exchange for being pitched personalized offers on the phone’s lock screen. Amazon began taking pre-orders Wednesday for the 5-inch BLU R1 HD ($99; $49 to Prime members) with a quad-core processor and the 5.5-inch Moto G ($199; $149 to Prime members) with an octa-core processor, 2 GB RAM and 4G LTE -- with no contract commitment. Amazon is supporting the discount pricing through personalized offers and advertisements, including deals and product recommendations for products sold through its e-commerce site. When a user sees an offer she likes, she can tap to learn more or unlock the phone to dismiss the ad, Amazon said. The concept has been successful with tablets and e-readers, said Laura Orvidas, vice president-consumer electronics, saying most Fire and Kindle users have chosen the ad-supported lower priced version over the no-ad option when buying devices.

Digital matching firms like Uber provide potential benefits to consumers, workers and the economy, said a Commerce Department issue brief released Friday. The report by the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) defines digital matching firms as “entities that provide online platforms (or marketplaces) that enable the matching of service providers with customers,” with Uber and Airbnb as examples. The firms typically rely on user-based rating systems for quality control, and provide flexible hours to workers, who bring their own tools to the job, the report said. “Relatively little economic research on digital matching firms exists, and teasing out data about the size and value of these firms is difficult.” But studies by the likes of PricewaterhouseCoopers, MBO Partners and others “suggest that digital matching firms are quickly growing in size, yet remain a relatively small part of the greater U.S. economy,” it said. Potential benefits of the firms include: (1) lower prices for consumers from reduced transaction and overhead costs; (2) flexible employment schedules and extra income for workers; (3) the ability to take advantage of underutilized assets, such as houses that are vacant most of the year; (4) greater economic consumption; (5) an enhanced consumer experience; and (6) increased trust between consumers and individual service providers. Possible downsides include: (1) potential income instability since demand and service prices may vary; (2) fewer job benefits and protections that might come with traditional employment; (3) no training for service providers because they’re not technically employees; (4) a requirement that workers buy and maintain their own assets, such as a car for Uber; (5) consumer privacy and security are in firms’ hands; and (6) Internet and smartphone access is usually required. The report noted it may take time to determine how to fit digital matching firms into the regulatory framework, with many unsettled issues including worker classification, taxation and compliance, accessibility for people with disabilities, and consumer safety and service provider certification.

Walmart is making progress “against several of the necessary capabilities we need to win in e-commerce, but we're still working on a few others,” CEO Doug McMillon said on a Thursday earnings call. “We need them all to come together to see stronger growth,” McMillon said. For example, “it takes time to build the assortment” at Walmart’s online store “to the point where customers realize the depth of assortment,” he said. There are now more than 10 million SKUs available in all product categories at Walmart.com, “and we're growing that number through a combination of first-party and third-party items,” he said. “It makes sense that perception will trail reality, and we will work on both during the course of this year.” In all, Walmart is pleased with its e-commerce operating system, and is “happy to have our new e-commerce fulfillment centers operational,” McMillon said. “Those are necessary building blocks. I'm excited about the ways we're using technology to deepen our relationship with customers.”

An eBay-led group of the company’s sellers used their annual meetings Wednesday and Thursday on Capitol Hill partially to lobby against the Marketplace Fairness Act (S-698) and the Remote Transactions Parity Act (HR-2775) because both bills would be harmful to small businesses, eBay said in a statement. EBay said it isn’t opposed to all online sales tax legislation but has qualms with HR-2775 and S-698. Both HR-2775 and S-698 would allow states to collect sales taxes from companies without a physical presence in the state, though HR-2775 also includes additional pro-seller exemptions and protections. The Senate passed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (HR-644) in February with language from the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act intact after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., promised to allow Senate consideration of S-698 this year (see 1602100061 and 1602110056). The eBay sellers said via Twitter that their meetings included ones with Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., who have both opposed S-698.

Amazon stirred things up in the subscription video world, breaking out a separate Prime Video membership in an offering that competes against Hulu and Netflix. A Prime membership “does not need to be one size fits all,” said a company backgrounder Monday referring to the company’s $99 umbrella Prime membership that includes free two-day shipping, access to 1 million-plus songs along with playlists and stations on Prime Music, and tens of thousands movies and TV episodes on Prime Video. With Amazon’s new $8.99-per-month Prime Video-only membership, subscribers pay $1 less per month than Netflix’s standard rate, which will kick in next month for long-term subscribers who had been enjoying a grandfathered $7.99 rate for the past two years. Hulu is $7.99 monthly with commercials, $11.99 without. The move gives Amazon customers a video option that doesn’t require a full-year commitment to Amazon Prime. Customers have been asking for “flexibility and an easy, low upfront cost to join Prime,” said Amazon, which ultimately wants video-only subscribers to go full Prime. “For just two dollars more, members can also receive unlimited fast, free shipping, unlimited access to more than a million songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with Prime Music, unlimited secure photos storage with Prime Photos, and so much more.” Amazon also will make full Prime available on a monthly basis for $10.99, versus the $8.25 per month subscribers pay under the annual plan. The company didn’t address the possibility of a music-only version of Prime. The New York Post called Amazon a potential “Spotify killer” (see 1602040052) in an article earlier this year speculating about a music-only service from Amazon.

E-commerce website Woot announced Friday a prepaid shipping deal for April. Customers who pay $5 shipping on an April order get all other shipping free for the month, Woot said. The promotion applies to all items except wine, it said. “No matter how many times you buy. So come back every day, or multiple times a day, or multiple times per second.” The deal is good through 11:59 p.m. CDT April 30.