Another Prime Day is in the books, with Amazon reporting that third-party sellers rang up $3.5 billion in sales over the two days, up 60% from $2.2 billion in 2019, and once again Amazon devices were big winners. eMarketer pegged the worldwide total for Prime Day at a shade under $10 billion, up a hefty 43% from $6.93 billion in 2019.
With Prime Day hitting Oct. 13-14, the unofficial kickoff of a very different holiday season, sellers are geared up to take advantage of the massive shopping event, but the proximity to other mega events from Thanksgiving on may lead shoppers and sellers to choose one or the other vs. both. Still Prime Day 2020 is expected to break records.
eBay has struck a deal with UPS to provide its sellers with discounted shipping, after telling them last month it was aware of service delays with primary carrier the U.S. Postal Service and complaints from sellers. The major marketplace said the discounts would be available to all of its sellers by the end of September.
Amazon is warning ecommerce shippers using Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) that late shipments to an FBA facility on the part of their carrier could result in suspension of their FBA shipping privileges, even if the shippers themselves aren’t responsible for the delays. The new policy went into effect on Aug. 25, 2020.
First it was Facebook Shops, now it’s Facebook Shop live in the app, as the social media giant continues to roll out new features to support ecommerce and draw in sellers more familiar with established competitor marketplaces like Amazon or eBay.
Walmart said its ecommerce sales nearly doubled in the second quarter, rising 97% to over $10 billion as it reaped the benefits of major digital investments and initiatives over the past several years amid a massive surge in pandemic-influenced online buying.
Kroger plans to launch a marketplace this fall through a partnership with French platform provider Mirakl, adding 50,000 items from sellers initially to its assortment, including toys and household goods in addition to specialty foods, international foods and natural and organic items. The marketplace is an expansion of Kroger Ship.
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Google has been busy on the ecommerce front lately, announcing a plan to drop commission fees for sellers who use its Buy on Google checkout service, while making its pilot-tested product recommendation engine publicly available to let sellers display more personalized offers.
Amazon as of Sept. 1 will require third-party sellers in the U.S. to provide their business name and address in their seller profile, a requirement that has been in place for some time in Europe, Japan and Mexico based on government regulations. The benefits to consumers are not entirely clear, ditto the impact on counterfeiting.