[Crew Review] Amazon continues to struggle despite “Prime Day 2.0”

Unflattering results from its recently concluded Prime Early Access Sale has seemingly forced Amazon into a wave of frugality—shutting down more warehouses, halting key programs, and imposing a corporate hiring freeze.

How does all this affect Amazon sellers?

Amazon Top Terms

EcomCrew has run the calculations and churned out the top 10 trendiest terms that have jumped up in popularity between September 28th and October 8th.

Amazon is facing two lawsuits related to the deaths of young people who died by suicide after purchasing concentrated sodium nitrite. This chemical is a food preservative that can be lethal at a high dosage.

For this reason, this term is taking our #1 spot in this week’s top movers and products related to this keyword have gone from selling 0 units per day to 21 units per day in the last few days.

Other lawsuits have been filed before, and in February, Congress sent a letter to Amazon asking about the retailer's sales of this chemical.

TikTok Eyes US Ecommerce

Chinese short-form video hosting service TikTok is reportedly hiring logistics and ecommerce experts in Seattle and Los Angeles to oversee its proprietary ecommerce network in the US.

TikTok, which currently offers ecommerce features in Southeast Asia and the UK, has a massive following of more than 1 billion users, which it seeks to leverage as it chases after Amazon for US ecommerce market share.

Along with other popular social media platforms, TikTok can be used as an effective off-Amazon marketing tool for third-party Amazon sellers.

Amazon Ramps Up for the Holidays

Amazon last week announced plans to hire over 150,000 more workers over the holidays in anticipation of the holiday shopping rush. This announcement follows its inaugural Prime Early Access Sale that took place last October 11-12.

Not too long before that, Amazon formally announced that it’s raising pay for warehouse workers and delivery personnel by $1 per hour, incurring over $1 billion in pay changes over the next year.

Walmart Upgrades Its Fulfillment Capability with Robots

Walmart is set to acquire Alert Innovation, a robotics automation company tailored to automating fulfillment in retail supply chains. This is a huge step forward to streamlining the brick-and-mortar giant’s supply chain and fulfillment services.

The retail giant said its investments will enable it to leverage its massive footprint of physical store locations—90% of US families live within 10 miles of a Walmart. The company is in a constant battle in the ecommerce and logistics spaces with Amazon, which itself has made massive investments in logistics over the past few years.

Lawsuit Accuses Amazon of Selling “Suicide Kits’

A recent lawsuit against Amazon is accusing the ecommerce giant of selling “suicide kits” that contain sodium nitrite, a food preservative which is fatal at high levels of purity. According to the Missouri Poison Center, if a person ingests enough of the said substance, it can interfere with red blood cells’ ability to transport oxygen throughout the body.

Back in August, an investigation by consumer watchdog Which? revealed that illegal weapons are being sold on online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Wish.

Etc.

2022 eCommerce Trends Report. eCommerceFuel’s annual report examines which trends are shaping the ecommerce industry. Check out Episode 471 of the EcomCrew Podcast for a breakdown of its key insights, and check out the full report here.

The tale of empty packages. Households across the US have been receiving mysterious, empty packages in the mail, and many are blaming Amazon sellers.

Amazon Scout scrapped. Amazon has halted its home delivery robot service after failing to meet customers’ needs, affecting 400 employees who worked on the project.