Popular grocery chain Kroger has announced a new partnership with Instacart to offer its customers grocery deliveries within half an hour. The new service is called Kroger Delivery Now, leveraging the Instacart online shopping platform with Kroger grocery stores across the US serving as fulfillment centers. Grocery deliveries and pick-up services have become more popular amid the pandemic.
E-commerce and online shopping platforms have opened a whole new world of products for buyers that would have never been available to them previously, but that power doesn't come without some drawbacks. Although items sold through Amazon carry more weight than those on custom or smaller online shipping sites, it isn't an assurance that those products actually work as advertised. Taking an important step forward to assure its users, Amazon is making the bold announcement that it is willing to compensate buyers who experience harm or damage from defective products sold through its platform.
This week Amazon announced two new Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) programs meant to improve the dirty business of unsold and returned products. One is an "FBA Liquidations" program, the other is the "FBA Grade and Resell" program. Amazon is still a long way away from solving issues created by the immense amount of waste created by their shipping programs*, but making moves to acknowledge and deal with returned and unsold products is a step in the right direction.
Netflix opened their first online shop this week, powered by Shopify. They've teamed up with a few radical designers to release their first bits of clothing, all with inspiration from some of Netflix's own IP. Shows like Yasuke and Eden lead the way, with collaboration and production power from the streetwear brand Hypland as well as clothing and product maker EDEN.
Amazon plans to hold its Prime Day 2021 over a 48-hour period starting June 21 at midnight Pacific Time. Competitors Walmart and Target are gearing up to compete with the online retailer with their own sales, both of which will take place on the same dates as Prime Day. Target is calling its June sale 'Deal Days,' while Walmart is referring to its own Prime Day alternative as 'Deals for Days.'
Here in June of 2021, Amazon Prime Day will take place near the end of the month, jam packed full of products. Like other Amazon Prime Day events, this newest Amazon Prime Day 2021 will contain a whole bunch of products with prices slightly lower than they would otherwise be. As with other Amazon Prime Day events, it's important to keep track of the standard prices of products NOW, before the event, so you're able to see if the "sale" prices are actually worth the effort.
Instacart has announced a new Priority Delivery option that will enable customers in eligible regions to get their orders in as fast as half an hour. The company describes this new option as akin to the 'express lane' checkout in a grocery store, though it will only be available in some of the largest cities in the US to start.
As part of its I/O 2021 keynote today, Google talked about online shopping and the ways it is boosting this experience for both merchants and shoppers. Among other things, the company introduced its Shopping Graph, a dataset 'enhanced' using artificial intelligence to monitor a variety of constantly changing parameters, ensuring shoppers can find products they're looking for in real-time.
By now, most of us probably suspect that fake reviews on internet shopping sites are a real thing. Whether being offering so-called "free product trials" after buying something or encountering a review that makes the product a little too good to be true, it's easy to assume that fake reviews are a thing that happens. Today, however, a new security breach is giving us a better idea of just how widespread this might be.
Amazon is reportedly set to trial a new home assembly service for larger items, where delivery drivers would also put together furniture, appliances, or other larger items. The move, which is said to be planned for just a handful of markets as the online retail behemoth gauges popularity and feasibility, could make home shopping even easier, though there are concerns that delivery drivers themselves may face impractical expectations.
Amazon really turned the retail industry on its head and even until now big shot competitors from brick and mortar businesses are still trying to catch up to it. One of Amazon's biggest weapons is Prime membership and its perks and rivals are still trying their hand at offering their customers something similar. After Walmart's own Walmart+, Best Buy is now testing its own paid subscription program but with a more "human" spin to set it apart from Amazon Prime.
Social networks have always been a great channel for getting the word out on a new product but, save for a few, they haven't exactly been great for actually buying said product. Over the years, social networks, especially Facebook, have been working to bridge that gap and make it easy, perhaps too easy, to just jump in and buy something. Unsurprisingly, Twitter won't be left behind and is already testing a big "SHOP" button on some of its tweets.