What Did Amazon Do This Week? - 21-07-2022

August 21, 2022

TIKTOK: ET TU AMAZON?

In the seemingly never-ending bizarro world we’re currently living through, every app’s user interface is suddenly terrible and should be abandoned. People apparently will only watch short videos of people dancing, faking emotions and pranking one another. As a result, Amazon is,

like so many others, trialling a TikTok-esque feed, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Called ‘Inspire’ the feature is more of a separate feed and; “appears as a diamond widget on the home page of Amazon’s app, according to Israeli-based artificial intelligence firm Watchful Technologies Ltd., which has tracked the feature’s use. The widget brings shoppers to a feed that shows a stream of images and videos of products, with shoppers able to like, share and ultimately purchase items. While most of the feed now appears as still pictures, Watchful researchers said the portal also features video content.”

SO WHAT?

This is a test, not the final product. Like other platforms, Amazon doesn’t want TikTok to eat its lunch, and Amazon knows that the Chinese array of apps is good at moving units. While other platforms have scaled back live-selling plans, Amazon has the budget, logistics and time to explore this faster and more efficiently than any other platform out there. ‘Inspire’ is a good test to see whether Amazon can move people from functional shopping to more serendipitous purchases.

Amazon’s NFL coverage went live. /Deadline 

‘Making The Cut’ began its third season. /THR 

Amazon announced the winners of the $10k scholarship competition. /Amazon

‘Modern Love’ is getting an Amsterdam version. /Variety

‘A League of their Own’ has had a second season approved. /Variety

Twitch was fined $33,000 by Russia because of a 31-second ‘fake’ news video. /Reuters

Amazon approved ‘Dr. Seuss Baking Challenge’, Tamera Mowry-Housley As Host. /Deadline 

Amazon’s podcasts are doing well. /Verge

Twitch is pulling streamers over into gambling sites. /Bloomberg 

Amazon confirmed Nielsen will report viewing numbers for ‘Thursday Night Football’ - a first for streaming. /WSJ

Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ money pit had multiple red carpets. /Deadline

AWS announced India’s largest tyre manufacturer is now using AWS. /Amazon 

Amazon fixed a major Ring vulnerability. /Mashable 

Amazon plans to test retail robots underneath the old Macy’s in New York. /MyNorthwest

Amazon moves physical retail tech teams into cloud division. /Geekwire

Amazon Japan and istyle announced a collaboration to improve customer shopping experience in the cosmetics and beauty industries. /Amazon 

Amazon is talking up voice commerce again… /PYMNTS

Amazon will charge an extra fee to certain sellers during the holiday season. /Reuters 

Amazon launched a climate-pledge-friendly home line. /Apartment Therapy

Amazon is experimenting with Sellers using UPS for returns. /ECB

Amazon confirmed details of the annual ‘Book Friday’ event. /Amazon

Amazon Australia launched interactive tours. /Amazon

Amazon is testing a feature in its app, called ‘Inspire’, which would show users a TikTok-style feed of product photos and videos. /WSJ 

Amazon told Fulfillment by Amazon merchants to pay a fee of 35¢ per item sold in the US and Canada from October 15 to January 22, citing rising expenses. /CNBC

Amazon announced it will introduce ‘Unsuitable Inventory Investigations’ program policy from Sept 2. /Channelx

Amazon Fashion launched a new Virtual Try-On service in Europe. /Channelx

Amazon launched and new FBA page design. /Amazon 

Amazon launched Products Reconciliation, a new tool that helps you compare your product listing with existing products in the Amazon catalogue. /Amazon 

Amazon listed more product exemptions for automated return authorisations. /Amazon 

Amazon announced that the European Fulfilment Network (EFN) between the UK and the EU is now fully reactivated. /Amazon

Amazon confirmed the FTC is investigating sign-up and cancellation processes for its Prime. /Reuters 

Amazon kicked off a month of volunteering. /Amazon

Amazon opened another delivery station in Brooklyn, New York. /Cleveland

Amazon Air workers walked out over pay and conditions this week. /CNN

Six ex-Amazon Care employees criticised the company's fast and frugal ways, including prioritising pleasing patients over providing the best standard of care. /WaPo 

Amazon and United Launch Alliance have partnered and will bring 250 jobs to Decatur. /WAFF

A coalition of 70 TikTok stars, with a combined 51M+ followers, pledges to cease work with Amazon until the company meets the demands of the Amazon Labor Union. /WaPo

Albany Amazon workers wish to unionise. /Reuters

Walmart is exploring a matchmaker marketplace for influencers. /Reuters 

What advertisers can expect from Amazon’s NFL offering. /ModernRetail

Walmart entered a deal with Paramount+ to compete with Amazon. /Reuters 

Over 65 yo’s watch 7x more TV than Gen-Z. /Bloomberg 

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