Jet.com, a disruptive startup based in Montclair, NJ, is going after Amazon by taking a new approach that allows sellers to undercut the ecommerce giant on price by using a system that finds and exploits cost efficiencies in the ecommerce fulfillment process.
By lifting a restriction that required all items in an order to come from the same seller to qualify for free shipping, Amazon has more than tripled the number of items that qualify for the benefit.
Sellers on Amazon from more than 100 countries around the world fulfilled orders to customers in 185 countries using the Fulfillment By Amazon service.
Amazon’s 20th holiday season brought record growth to the company’s fast, free shipping program Amazon Prime – more than 10 million new members worldwide tried Prime for the first time.
Google is seeing gains in its Google Express same-day delivery service this holiday season, as it looks to claw back ecommerce search traffic lost to Amazon.com because more consumers are going there for product research.
According to Google, as cited in an article by Bloomberg, Google Express handled 50% more toys in the two weeks after the Thanksgiving holiday, while sales of books rose more than 30%.
eBay said 83 businesses – including online merchants as well as retailers with physical stores – have joined its eBay Local pilot program in Brooklyn, NY., offering a range of delivery options, including $5 same-day and in-store pickup, to consumers through eBay’s website and mobile apps.
The Brooklyn trial is taking place as the company shifts the focus of Amazon Local more toward its core marketplace sellers, with less emphasis on major retailers.
Continuing on its juggernaut of instant fulfillment of all kinds of stuff from “the anything store,” Amazon today announced Prime Now, a service that will allow Prime members in New York to receive household items like paper towels and laundry soap in as little as an hour via a mobile app.
The app, which is available in iOs and Android versions, give Prime members in select New York neighborhoods free two-hour delivery; the one-hour version costs $7.99 per order. The company’s much-touted facility on West 34th St. in Manhattan will serve as the fulfillment hub.
Amazon announces it is extending its holiday shipping deadlines allowing customers to order immediately before Christmas. See the plans Amazon has in place for the holidays.
Just as ecommerce once disrupted the time-honored tradition of brick and mortar retail, pop-up stores are seemingly the new, trendy must-haves for ecommerce retailers themselves.
From Amazon to Kate Spade, retailers globally have hopped on the pop-up store hype train.
On Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, Amazon revealed its newest generation fulfillment center using robotics, vision systems and high-end technology to speed up order delivery times for customers. Take a look at the Kiva Robots in action.