Retail news roundup — 6 April 2018
UK retailers have reported the worst slump since 2008, so e-comm and cross-border are definitely helpful, but there are other alternatives — in the US, Kohl’s has decided to open up 81 of its stores for Amazon returns to leverage Amazon to drive foot traffic into its stores.
Amazon
Trump is taking a “very serious look” on Amazon’s policies. (If imagining Trump taking a very serious look at something didn’t make you giggle, I can’t help you.) It’s worth keeping in mind that other than Amazon being Amazon, it underpins most websites we use thanks to AWS, so this is an interesting move.
Customers now can only leave feedback on Amazon products for 3 months after the purchase. (It used to be a year.)
Amazon’s fashion brand launched a spring/summer collection, which probably means that “Amazon’s Choise” for “women’s jacket” and everything else will go to that brand, which might make selling other brand’s items on Amazon more challenging.
Now there are 10,000 merchants on Amazon Australia.
There will be a new Amazon UK fulfilment center in Leicestershire from April 2019.
And Amazon might get into the bid to buy Flipkart, the Indian e-comm market leader. (It’ll probably go to Walmart, but shows how keen e-comm giants are to get in to India.)
eBay
eBay is surveying sellers about potential fulfilment service — Fulfilled by eBay might be coming.
Both eBay and Amazon will start sharing their data with HM Revenue & Customs to help stop tax evasion.
Random
Tamebay wrote up how ChannelAdvisor helped Lingerie Outlet Store live it’s best life during Easter weekend and sell a bunch of lingerie.
Fast drone delivery is fast, will change e-commerce, etc.
This article goes pretty deep into how selling on Instagram works — IG could be the next MAP. It makes sense that Facebook chooses to concentrate on building up IG as a cash cow now — “few” advertisers have stopped advertising on Facebook because of Cambridge Analytica.
Secondhand apparel shopping online is growing really, really fast. There are a number of dedicated MAPs worth checking out.
And I’ll just leave this headline here as a sign of times: Cannabis Sales May Surpass Soda by 2030
