[Crew Review] Amazon is out on a shopping spree

Add to cart

After having its biggest Prime Day ever, Amazon is set to go out on a spending spree. The e-commerce giant will buy Roomba maker iRobot for $1.7 billion and health clinic chain One Medical for $3.9 billion. With Amazon venturing into other industries, this might divide its attention and resources and ultimately affect third-party sellers.

What's Amazon planning?

Amazon Top Terms

We’re looking back to find out the latest terms that have surged up in popularity from July 24th to August 6th. Get to know why these keywords are trending and how much sales they’re getting on Amazon.

Taking the no. 10 slot in today’s top 10 is “the children’s place.” The Children's apparel retailer launched on Amazon.com last week for its 2022 back-to-school campaign after announcing its partnership with actor and comedian Kevin Hart.

Products related to this keyword have gone from selling 122 units per day to 323 units per day in the last few days.

Bureau of Privacy

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been the main federal agency in the United States that deals with privacy since the 1970s. The FTC has a whole division dedicated to it, but Congress wants to push this further—by creating a Bureau of Privacy.

This new bureau will be introduced if the bill for the American Data Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA) ripens into law. When this happens, the FTC will have more control over consumer privacy, and we’re expecting its eyes will be fixed on Big Tech.

This proposal will potentially affect consumer data collection and digital ads, particularly targeted marketing. Third-party Amazon sellers may see some changes with PPC because with Amazon’s ad revenue growing consistently, the FTC is sure to keep a close eye on the giant.

This has the same feeling as when Apple introduced iOS 15, which had Facebook reacting defensively. With stricter regulations on data collection and greater control given to consumers about the data they wish to share, advertisers might be having a hard time getting products in front of the right audience.

Tricked Into Signing Up for Prime?

While Amazon is waiting on whether it has to deal with the Bureau of Privacy, the FTC is looking more closely into the site’s sign-up and cancellation processes for Amazon Prime.

Some employees have been subpoenaed to get to the bottom of whether or not customers are being duped into signing up for Prime. In particular, the FTC is studying so-called “dark patterns,” an interface designed to trick users into doing something against their best interests. These dark patterns consist of allegedly vague wordings and misleading imagery.

In addition, the Commission is also studying how difficult it is for Prime members to cancel their subscription after they sign up. Because while it’s easy to commit to recurring payments through Prime, it takes a couple of confirmations to cancel completely.

Drop Shipping Dum Dums

The family behind Dum Dums is losing millions on Amazon because drop shippers are selling their products for lower prices. They’ve asked the company to act on this, but as soon as they do, another reseller comes into the picture, and the process has to be repeated.

The popular lollipops are being drop shipped from Sam’s Club. Resellers have no problem selling Dum Dums cheaper than the actual manufacturer because they got it at a super discounted price from their Sam’s Club membership.
 

This “business idea” comes from online gurus on social media platforms like TikTok and Youtube, and it seems like the company’s pleas are falling on deaf Amazon ears. 

Dropshipping isn’t completely prohibited on Amazon. However, there are a couple of rules resellers need to follow. For example, you must be the seller of record. It’s prohibited to purchase products from another retailer who then ships them directly to customers without identifying the reseller as the seller of record.

To know more about Amazon’s dropshipping policies, check out our comprehensive guide.

Etc.

We’re outta here. Across the UK, Amazon workers are walking out of their job or slowing down their work to protest for better pay.

Klaviyo’s data breach. Because of a successful phishing attack on one of its employees, hackers gained access to Klaviyo’s internal systems.

Pure f*ckery. Watch this Amazon driver take his frustrations to TikTok