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Amazon waves goodbye to its one-click purchase patent
Way back in 1999, Amazon patented a feature that soon became iconic: One-click purchasing. Who knows how impulse buys were committed thanks to this innovation bypassing the normal online checkout procedure when our better angels typically step in? Regardless, Amazon's iron reign over this particular feature is over: On Tuesday, the company's patent for one-click buying expired.
Alibaba reportedly expanding its empire with physical shopping mall
According to reports, ecommerce giant Alibaba is building a five-floor shopping mall near the company's headquarters in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Aptly called "More Mall," the location is built on 40,000 square meters of land and is slated to open in April.
Dick's Sporting Goods is the latest retailer to price match Amazon
In what's yet another sign of the shifting retail landscape, Dick's Sporting Goods is now matching prices from Amazon and other competitors online. The new program, aptly named "Best Price Guarantee," is a necessary move by the company to compete with ecommerce giant Amazon and retailers like FinishLine, Footlocker, Target and Walmart. In addition to that, Dick's will also start price-matching sportswear brands, most of which are clients, including Adidas, Nike and Under Armour.
The world of high fashion finally has its answer to Amazon
To give you an idea of the kind of customer LVMH is after, all you need to look at is Louis Vuitton's new $2,900 Android Wear smartwatch. The French company, which owns brands like Dior, Fendi, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs in addition to LV, is the epitome of luxury. And now, with 24 Sèvres, LVMH has what it hopes can become the main online destination for high-fashion shoppers. CEO Eric Goguey says the site is designed to be the web version of Le Bon Marché, an iconic retail space often described as the most selective department store in Paris.
Amazon is the latest to offer clothes-by-mail to try on at home
Amazon just announced its latest service -- Prime Wardrobe. Adding to its growing list of fashion-focused offerings, the service makes shopping for clothes online a commitment-free experience, one of the few advantages brick-and-mortar stores still had on online retailers.
Amazon has the tech to thwart comparison shoppers in its stores
Amazon's low prices, exclusive discounts and quick delivery have lured customers away from traditional brick and mortar stores for years, but their reach has been mostly limited to the online sphere. Until now, that is. Amazon has just been granted a patent to control what you see (and what you don't) on your phone when you're inside one of their physical stores.
Walmart recruits its employees to deliver your packages
Walmart has been struggling to compete with shipping perks offered by companies like Amazon. And in its latest attempt to contend,it has turned to employees -- asking them to deliver packages on their way home.
Amazon's iOS app inexplicably adds photo stickers
Back in February, Amazon added its product- and barcode-recognition technology, "Flow," to its iOS shopping app. The feature had its own standalone app, but bringing it to the main one let users scan items using their smartphone's camera and add to their account's lists. The latest version, updated yesterday, added something a little extra: Stickers. You know, the ones all the messaging services and social mediums are adding. Except these are stickers of actual products that you can click on to buy.
Recommended Reading: What if there were a PBS of social networks?
The Case for a Taxpayer-Supported Version of Facebook Ethan Zuckerman, The Atlantic What if there were a publicly-funded social network open to all that provided a diverse world view rather than an echo chamber catered to one's deeply-held principles? Sounds like a great idea. The Atlantic makes the case for the PBS of social networks, including why it's needed and what it might look like.
Amazon quietly drops its free-shipping minimum back to $25
Slowly but surely, Amazon is bringing its free-shipping-threshold back to amount we collectively remember it being. Now, in an apparent bid to undercut the likes of Walmart and Target, Jeff Bezos' online-shopping juggernaut has dropped the cart total for free shipping (for folks who aren't Prime members) to $25 from the $35 amount set in February.
eBay takes on Amazon with guaranteed 3-day shipping
In an effort to deal with formidable rival Amazon, eBay has launched a new program giving shoppers guaranteed three-day shipping on 20 million products. Called "Guaranteed Delivery," it also includes free shipping on "millions" of those items, according to eBay, and will roll out in the US starting this summer. The online marketplace also revamped its home page today to provide a more personalized experience for shoppers.
Amazon adds virtual Dash buttons to its website
It's already extremely easy to purchase stuff from Amazon's website, but now you won't even have to search for every day items you tend to re-order. Amazon has launched digital versions of its Dash buttons and has added them to its homepage, according to Recode. The digital Dash buttons, which enable one-click buying, reportedly started popping up on Amazon.com and on its app's home screen on Thursday night. Amazon will auto-generate buttons for your most recent purchases, but a spokesperson told Recode that you can also create your own. So long as you're a Prime member, you can use the new "Add to your Dash buttons" option that's now in all eligible products' pages.
Amazon goes a step further to battle counterfeit goods
Amazon is getting even more serious about preventing the sale of counterfeit goods on its site. According to Bloomberg, the online retail giant is organizing teams in the US and Europe that will work with major brands to establish a registry of recognized sellers. It has also made fighting fakes a major goal for 2017, said Bloomberg's source. We've reached out to Amazon for confirmation, and have yet to hear back.
Google slams EU's antitrust claims against AdSense and Shopping
Back in April, the European Commission started its Google antitrust inquiry looking into Android development. But a few months later it broadened the probe into investigating whether the search giant abused its control of AdSense and comparison shopping results to push its own products over others. Today, Google firmly rejected the allegations as lacking evidence, stating that the EU's vision of online shopping just doesn't mesh with reality.
Walmart buys Jet.com to better fight Amazon
Walmart has officially acquired Jet.com for $3 billion, a purchase that will significantly enhance its online retail presence. The US retailer didn't pitch it as such, but the deal -- leaked on Friday -- will help it compete with its fiercest online rival, Amazon. "Walmart.com will grow faster, the seamless shopping experience we're pursuing will happen quicker, and we'll enable the Jet brand to be even more successful in a shorter period of time," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement.
Adidas tries to make buying Yeezys fair but misses the mark
Buying Yeezy Boost sneakers online is tough. It comes down to this: Supply cannot meet demand. The shortage is so acute that if you don't buy them at launch for retail price -- between $200 and $350, depending on the model -- you'll have to pay upwards of $2,000 on eBay or another site to get your hands on a pair. Reselling Yeezys has become a business, and both Adidas and Nike (with its retro Jordans) are turning to tech to make the shopping experience fair and safe for everyone.
Etsy launches curated local shopping guides for four cities
Online marketplace Etsy has put a lot of effort into helping its users find local places to buy its goods, whether online or offline -- the company added local listings to its mobile app and launched a same-day delivery service in NYC. Now the company is launching some new curated local buying guides for four cities: Chicago, Austin, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. (New York City is coming soon.) The content in these guides was pulled together by the Etsy Wholesale team, a part of the site that connects retailers with craftspeople who can produce goods at a higher scale. However, these local shops appear to stock items by a number of craftsmakers who also sell their wares on the standard Etsy site.
China smashes sales records during its version of Black Friday
In the US there's Black Friday, but in China, they get all their big online shopping discounts on November 11 aka "Singles Day" instead. As of 4:28am ET today, Alibaba's Tmall, the Chinese equivalent of Amazon, has already made over $11 billion which broke last year's record of $8.97 billion. As reminded by our friends over at TechCrunch, both numbers from that platform alone beat the entire US' online sales of last year's Thanksgiving and Black Friday combined. It's no wonder Alibaba could afford to hire Frank Underwood Kevin Spacey and James Bond Daniel Craig to kick off this year's party.
Pinterest's visual search tool can identify items in a pin
Lots of people turn to Pinterest for inspiration, but it can be a hassle to figure out who makes that whiskey barrel table. Now that the site has buyable pins and shopping pins, it has launched a visual search tool to make it easier to find (and buy) that thing you saw. The tool is dead simple to use -- when you see an object in a scene, like the light fixture shown above, you just select the search tool and draw a box around it. If it's in Pinterest's database, it'll show you the name and where to find it, then let you buy it directly from retailers like Neiman Marcus or Macy's, if available.
Pinterest's shopping pins arrive on Android for the holiday frenzy
After launching its Buyable Pins on iOS earlier this summer, Pinterest is looking to let the Google faithful in on the goods, too. As of today, the online repository is rolling out the feature to Android users. This means that you'll be able to purchase goods from retailers large and small without having to leave the app. We're talking stuff from the likes of Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus and more. In fact, the tally of Buyable Pins now numbers 60 million and a new Pinterest Shop curates trends for easy access. Just like regular ol' pins, you can search for the shopping items and filter them based on price and other criteria to find the exact items you're after. While today's news means Buyable Pins are available on both Android and iOS, they remain absent from the web for now, but Pinterest plans to employ them in your browser "in the future."
