[Crew Review] Amazon stopped 800k “bad sellers” in 2022—but did it really?

Amazon’s Annual Brand Protection Report contains many impressive claims about its efforts to protect honest sellers and their brands from counterfeiters. But a lot of fluff and exaggerations usually accompany reports like this, so there’s a need to separate the truth from the BS.

Amazon Top Terms

Today, we’re looking back in time to find out which Amazon Top Terms had a drastic increase in search history from March 19th to April 1st. So strap in and let’s find out what happened on Amazon last week!

Amazon’s #1 Best Seller badge in the books category is currently held by Kat Timpf. 

This week's top #7 is "kat timpf book". In Amazon, the amount sold has grown in just a few days, going from selling only 28 units to 426 units. 

Kat Timpf's latest book has been generating buzz on Amazon this week, and if you're an aspiring author, you may be wondering how to get your book out there. If you're ready to take the leap into self-publishing, check out these Top Sites to Self-Publish Ebooks for Free.

Is This the New TikTok?

While Shou Zi Chew is being grilled in Congress, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is busy promoting a new social media app to the United States.

The app, called Lemon8, and it allows users to edit and share both photos and videos, although it focuses more on the former. It’s giving major Pinterest and Instagram vibes, and some users are calling it TikTok’s Instagram.

It now has over 60 million downloads in the United States after its US launch in February. While it’s a relatively new app, it has been introduced and used in Asia since 2020 in countries such as Japan and Vietnam.

It’s not clear how Lemon8 would fare in the long run, but if the US decides to ban TikTok entirely, this might be the app to watch. If creators decide to concentrate their efforts on Lemon8, your social media team should be on the lookout for possible promotions and collaborations there.

Updates on Prime Day 2023

While there are no official dates announced yet, Amazon is already advising sellers to get ready for Prime Day. The sales event that attracts millions of customers all over the world may be launched in July, just like last year.

Sellers are encouraged to create their deals by April 28 in order to participate in the Prime Day sale. They’re aso advised to have their inventories sent to fulfillment centers by June 15.

While Prime Day isn’t the biggest online sales event of the year, it still encourages customers to spend more on Amazon. Last year, the two-day event generated almost $12 billion in sales. Most of the best sellers are products under the electronics, beauty, and apparel categories, so if you’re specializing in any of these, start preparing for Prime Day 2023.

The Layoffs Continue

Amazon has already laid off thousands of its employees, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Recently, it laid off another 100 employees from its video games division. This will affect employees from Prime Games and Game Growth. This is still part of the company’s effort to cut costs and recover from its rather enthusiastic investing during the pandemic.

A leaked memo reveals that Amazon will soon change the way it compensates employees. Basically, they will be given a higher cash base pay with a reduced number of stock awards starting 2025. Apparently, employees have been requesting for the change as stock prices dropped.

Meanwhile, Walmart also announced it will let go of 2,000 warehouse workers as part of its staffing adjustments. America’s biggest private employer already warned its investors of a slow year ahead, especially after deciding to raise the minimum wage from $12 to $14 per hour.

Other tech companies like Google and Meta are also handing out pink slips to thousands of employees. Mass layoffs have been going on for a while now, which isn’t necessarily a good look for Big Tech overall.

It’s Not Just the FTC

While Amazon is getting ready for legal battles with the Federal Trade Commission in the US, it also has to prepare for a similar problem abroad.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has started reviewing the company’s plan to take over iRobot Corporation, which is known for its Roomba vacuum cleaners. The merger has been in the works since last year, and the parties decided on a $1.7 billion acquisition price.

The CMA, just like the FTC, is concerned about the additional power the deal will give Amazon over its competitors. In particular, the CMA will evaluate whether the acquisition will violate the Enterprise Act 2002.