amazon news and archive

Amazon suffers UK website glitches

Online shoppers faced a digital drama when Amazon’s UK website went down this week, leaving many unable to access its online store, login or make purchases on Thursday and Friday. Frustrated customers and shoppers took to social media to complain of extremely slow connections or being unable to access the site entirely. The #AmazonDown hashtag...

15 Jan 2021

Business

Tech and retail giants face growing scrutiny

Accelerating the transition to an ever more digital existence, the coronavirus pandemic has tightened tech giants' grip on billions of customers' lives. Governments and users are belatedly coming to terms with the power held by the likes of Apple and Amazon, particularly in focus this year thanks to their role in everything from setting up video...

28 Dec 2020

Fashion

Is Amazon about to disrupt the customised clothing market?

As far as global disruptors go, Amazon is at the top of the list. It has shaken up entire industries with its functional yet aesthetically bland e-commerce platform, disrupting – if not bulldozing - brick-and-mortar retail, groceries, even insurance and fashion. While the online behemoth firmly has its eyes on fashion’s luxury sector, it also...

22 Dec 2020

People

Billionaire retail magnates see fortunes soar during pandemic

A new report by Americans for Tax Fairness shows the collective wealth of America’s 651 billionaires has soared to over 4 trillion dollars since the beginning of the pandemic. To put that into perspective, their increase in fortunes since March is greater than the 908 billion dollars of pandemic relief proposed by the U.S. government. Retail...

20 Dec 2020

Business

Reining in tech giants: EU and US efforts

Tech giants have changed our daily lives but governments around the world are worried they are out of control. Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft -- dubbed the GAFAM -- are accused of not paying enough taxes, unfair competition, stealing media content and threatening democracy by spreading false information. As the European Union...

18 Dec 2020

Fashion

Big tech investor tells fashion industry not to trust Amazon

The pandemic ups and downs of Amazon have been well-documented. There were accusations of the ill-treatment of workers in its fulfillment centers. According to a report by theWall Street Journal, the retailer has gathered data from sales of third party vendors to create competing products, despite its representatives having long denied engaging...

16 Dec 2020

Fashion

Amazon introduces custom fit, made-to-order T-shirts

Amazon Fashion has begun offering custom fit T-shirts, made using 3D technology to determine each customer's right fit. Customers simply need to provide height, weight, body shape and two photos of themselves to determine the fit, then they may select pick from two fabric types and eight options, and finally select their preferred length, fit,...

15 Dec 2020

Business

France's new digital tax directed at 'big tech' and online retail giants

France’s new digital tax will see big tech and retail giants including Amazon be forced to pay taxes for its French sales and operations. Despite a looming threat of an American retaliation on French products including handbags and cosmetics, the French government confirmed to the Financial Times “the companies subject to this tax have received...

1 Dec 2020

Retail

Amazon to give 500 million dollars in holiday bonuses

Amazon has announced it is giving a total of 500 million dollars to its front-line employees through a special recognition bonus. Full-time US operations staff who are employed by Amazon from December 1 to December 31 will receive a bonus of 300 dollars, while those working part-time will receive 150 dollars, according to Amazon’s blog. Along...

27 Nov 2020

Business

Plans to convert retail space into logistics centres struggle to take off

With hundreds of stores closing their doors to customers for good at a pace never seen before, the retail space available has reached uncharted levels. While this wave of retail stores closures started over a year ago, the unstoppable advance of coronavirus has proven the deadly kiss to commercial property worldwide. In the past few months,...

17 Nov 2020

People

Amazon hires former Vogue editor Sally Singer

Former Vogue digital creative director Sally Singer has a new job. The fashion industry veteran has been named head of fashion direction at Amazon. Singer joins the company as Amazon is seeking to boost its position as a luxury fashion player. In her new role, Singer will report to Amazon Fashion president Christine Beauchamp. The tech industry...

16 Nov 2020

Fashion

Amazon sues influencers for selling fake luxury fashion

Amazon is suing two influencers who allegedly sold counterfeit luxury fashion on the behemoth’s platform. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. district court in Washington Kelly Fitzpatrick and Sabrina Kelly-Krejci are accused of linking up with a number of third-party sellers to advertise, promote, and facilitate the sale of fake goods of brands...

16 Nov 2020