Happy Sunday,
Here’s a quick roundup of last week’s news :
Chart of the Week
In ‘Amazon Fees Only Go Up’ Marketplace Pulse looks at the recent fee developments — an effect that is a result of Amazon, and merchants, leaning more into ads as well as the introduction of new fees. It weights the growing % in sales against Amazon’s role in providing a flourishing marketplace.
Study of the Week: Pricing
Harvard Business Review published ‘Lessons from More Than 1,000 E-Commerce Pricing Tests’ this week.
An analysis of 1,000 A/B price tests across 300 eCommerce sites found that the experimental condition proved more profitable than the existing pricing 54% of the time.
Among the cases where the experimental pricing won, in 68% of the cases the winning outcome was a lower price — indicating that with a set-and-forget approach many retailers keep their prices too high.
Movers & Shakers 🙌
An unconventional breakdown of Unybrands latest investment round with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s investment firm AP Investments gaining full control of the firm [Linkedin]
Strategy 🦈
Lifestyle images & product search merging? “Project Theia: Amazon's secret AI for online shopping inspiration” [Business Insider]
Italian fake review website shut down after Amazon wins first civil case of its kind in Italy [Amazon]
The FCC is investigating Amazon over the alleged marketing and sale of outlawed products [NBC]
MrBeast Strikes Amazon Deal For Biggest Competition Series in TV History [Hollywood Reporter]
Amazon’s New Focus: Fending Off Rivals Temu and Shein [Wall Street Journal]
Amazon to Open Beauty & Physical Care Store in Milan [The Information]
Amazon and FedEx Weighed Reuniting Again [Tip Ranks]
How Walmart, Target and the White House are tracking consumer demand and inflation in real time [CNBC]
Chinese brands, e-commerce firms targeted by French fast fashion bill [Global Times]
Events 🎤
Pattern Accelerate, May 9-10 in Salt Lake City
Shoptalk Europe, Jun 3-5 in Barcelona
Amazon Accelerate, Sep 17-19 in Seattle
Make this week count 🙌
Christian