“Amazon didn’t tout this year’s Prime Day as its biggest for the first time ever — even though it was” (Source: Business Insider)
Amazon’s 2020 Prime Day was the biggest sales event ever for the company (with over two-thirds of sales by Amazon alone), but Amazon didn’t promote this for the first time in the history of Prime Day.
Instead, Amazon touted success for third-party sellers during Prime Day. Saying that small businesses exceeded $3.5 billion in sales, which is a 60% increase from last year.
Amazon Prime Day began in 2015 and each year from 2016 through 2019, Amazon boasted that Prime Day had beaten out the previous year to become the biggest sales day in company history.
After facing antitrust scrutiny over third-party sellers on the platform this year, the company didn’t disclose total Prime Day figures but said third-party sellers’ sales grew more year over year than Amazon’s retail business.
“Amazon Fake Reviews Reach Holiday Season Levels During Pandemic” (Source: Bloomberg)
Fake reviews on Amazon.com during the pandemic have reached levels typically seen during the holiday shopping season.
About 42% of 720 million reviews assessed by the monitoring service Fakespot Inc. from March through September were unreliable, which is up from about 36% for the same period last year.
The rise in fake reviews corresponded with the rise of millions of virus-avoiding shoppers moving online, but this issue has plagued Amazon and other online marketplaces for years.
The perpetrators, sometimes paid, either hype the virtues of a product or sabotage it to tank sales.
And the volume of fake reviews is only expected to worsen as Amazon heads into the holiday shopping season with more people shopping online due to the uptick in Covid-19 cases.
“Shop Black Friday-worthy deals during Amazon’s Holiday Dash event” (Source: Amazon)
Amazon is already kickstarting holiday shopping with the “Holiday Dash Event” that started right after Prime Day.
From October 26 to November 19, Prime members can save 10% or more on select unique products from small brands on Amazon Launchpad.
All Amazon customers in the U.S. and Canada can secure Black Friday-worthy deals during Amazon’s Holiday Dash deals event, through December.
New deals will drop daily at amazon.com/holidaydash, across the most giftable categories available on Amazon this holiday season. From toys to fashion, electronics, home, kitchen, beauty, and more.
Amazon will have more than a million deals worldwide throughout this season, which is gearing to be the biggest one yet.
Most items shipped now through December 31, 2020, can be returned until January 31, 2021. The deals will be available on various dates and times, while supplies last.
“Amazon Earnings: What to Watch on Thursday, Oct. 29” (Source: The Motley Fool)
Amazon is slated to report its third-quarter 2020 results after the market close on Thursday, Oct. 29.
In the second quarter, the company trounced Wall Street’s estimates for both the top and bottom lines and they are barreling toward this report on a strong note.
As with both the first and second quarters, investors can expect that the COVID-19 pandemic boosted the third quarter’s revenue while having the opposite effect on profits.
Amazon shares have soared 77.1% in 2020 through Oct. 16, while the S&P 500 has returned 9.5% over this period.
Management expects third-quarter operating income to range from $2 billion to $5 billion. This guidance assumes more than $2 billion of costs related to COVID.
