Welcome to RepricerExpress’ weekly round-up of the top five stories from the world of Amazon and ecommerce.
Amazon breaks Premier League hold of Sky and BT with Prime streaming deal: Mary Sweney at The Guardian reports that Amazon has broken Sky and BT’s stranglehold on Premier League football by striking a groundbreaking deal to live stream exclusive coverage of 20 matches a season online. The US company will exclusively show all 10 matches over one bank holiday and another 10 during one midweek fixture programme, for three seasons from 2019. Amazon said the matches would be available to UK Prime Video members at no extra cost to their existing subscription. Continue reading…
Union sues Amazon delivery firms over driver rights: Mary-Ann Russon at BBC News reports that legal action is being taken against three delivery firms used by Amazon in another challenge to what has been called “bogus” self-employment. The GMB union wants its drivers to be given guaranteed hours and the minimum wage as well as sick and holiday pay. The union said drivers should be classed as full-time employees rather than self-employed workers. Continue reading…
Amazon is reportedly upping its investment in India by $2 billion: Sara Salinas at CNBC reports that Amazon is set to up its investment in India by $2 billion. The e-retailer had previously committed $5 billion to the emerging market. Any extra capital would help stave off a threat from Walmart, which last month took a majority stake in Indian ecommerce giant Flipkart. Amazon was also reportedly eyeing a bid for Flipkart to bolster its already sizable India business. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Citi Research last month estimated Amazon’s India market to be worth $16 billion. Continue reading…
Amazon’s Echo Look fashion camera is now available to everyone in the US: Chris Welch at The Verge reports that Amazon’s Echo Look camera, which analyses your clothing style and makes fashionable recommendations through machine learning, can now be purchased by customers in the United States. Until now, the $200 device had been available only through invites. But if you want to buy the so-called “style assistant” camera (which also has full support for Alexa), all it takes as of today is adding it to your cart. The Echo Looks features a camera that can snap a shot or video of your current outfit with hands-free voice commands. Continue reading…
Couple who conned Amazon out of $1.2 million sent behind bars: Charlie Osborne at ZDNet reports that A couple from Muncie, Indiana, pleaded guilty last year to stealing over $1.2 million from e-retailer Amazon in electronic devices. Erin Joseph Finan and Leah Jeanette Finan admitted to judges at the US District Court in Indianapolis to operating a scheme based on Amazon’s open-hand return policy. Between 2014 and 2016, the 38-year-olds purchased over 2,700 electronics and gadgets including gaming consoles, smartwatches, laptops, and cameras through Amazon using hundreds of fake accounts. Continue reading…
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