“Cross-border” payment specialist PingPong estimates global 2020 e-commerce sales likely will top $3.9 trillion, rising by an average 11% across all markets compared with 2019, said the company Tuesday. U.S. e-commerce sales jumped 15% year over year in Q1, then spiked 44.4% in Q2 when COVID-19 lockdown orders were imposed, it said. PingPong's Amazon merchant data showed that on Black Friday, new third-party sellers had a lower-than-expected average 153% increase in sales, with existing stores in business for more than 12 months recording a 108% rise, it said: “This data may indicate that despite a lift from shifting consumer spending habits, there were significant challenges for new marketplace entrants this year.”

Amazon delivered more than 1.5 billion products globally over the holiday season, it said Monday. Best-selling electronics included Sengled smart light bulbs, the iRobot Roomba 675 vacuum and the Fire TV Stick with Alexa remote, it said. The company delivered 8 million items to alternative delivery locations. Third-party retailers sold nearly 1 billion products through Amazon, for 50% growth in worldwide sales, it said.

Amazon is expanding operations in San Antonio, announcing two new fulfillment centers and a delivery station Tuesday. At the 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center, expected to open next year, Amazon workers will pick, pack and ship large items, it said. A 750,000-square-foot robotics fulfillment center is due to launch the following year for picking, packing and shipping smaller customer items, it said. A 350,000-square-foot delivery station is due to open doors next year. Combined, the three facilities will create over 1,500 jobs, Amazon said. The e-commerce company announced its first fulfillment center in South Dakota last week. At the 640,000-square-foot facility, due to launch in 2022, some 1,000 employees will work alongside Amazon robots to pick, pack and ship small items such as books, electronics and toys, it said.

Customers with Google TV products can pause video to unlock information and buy what they see, said interactive video company Wirewax, which is powering the app. Interactive and shoppable experiences are available on Chromecast with Google TV and other Android TV devices, it said Wednesday. The Interactive app lets viewers get names and biographies of actors, view ingredients for recipes, create memes and go directly to retailers and universal carts to shop products that appear in a video, it said.

Digital payments company ACI Worldwide reported a 21% year-on-year increase in global e-commerce transactions in November, driven by household items and services, including remote education and training, and insurance for consumer electronics. Data from hundreds of millions of e-commerce transactions from global merchants showed a 30% boost in the retail sector Thanksgiving-Cyber Monday, with the biggest year-on-year spike -- 47% -- that Saturday. Average ticket prices during the five-day span fell 3% to $132. “This year’s holiday season is looking very different from previous years with many merchants starting sales much earlier, as well as continuing promotions beyond the traditional peak days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” said Executive Vice President Debbie Guerra, citing a substantial rise in e-commerce volume before Black Friday. Fraud attempt rates increased slightly to 1.7% by volume and 3.4% by value, similar to prior holiday seasons, said ACI. Nonfraud chargebacks increased by 15% in October vs. April and May due to more people being back at work and call centers better staffed to deal with consumer calls, it said. Consumers should avoid leaving packages on their doorsteps for long periods of time to avoid porch piracy, Guerra said, and they should be vigilant about store pickup scams: “As the buy-online-pick-up-in-store channel continues to experience fast growth driven by the pandemic, it is providing greater opportunity for fraudsters,” she said.

Consumers’ “omnichannel buying behavior” will drive 60% of direct-to-consumer brands to move toward “functional, rather than channel-based” organizations by 2025, reported Gartner Thursday. The COVID-19 pandemic “accelerated the blending of physical and digital commerce,” it said. Leading DTC brands in this environment “have proven the efficacy of blending digital and physical channels to support customers’ new preferred methods of shopping and fulfillment, rather than treating web and physical channels as separate entities,” it said. But the omnichannel blend “is not often reflected in marketing organizational structures,” with only 30% of DTC brands reporting they have functional organizational alignment, it said. “Brands hinging their future plans on e-commerce -- and structuring teams accordingly -- should think twice. Brands should take advantage of this time to reorient teams and objectives around a customer-first, channel-agnostic strategy.”

Respondents in Cowen's November shopping survey were “somewhat negative” about holiday spending, it emailed investors Thursday. Despite the “soft macro backdrop” from COVID-19, e-commerce spending is expected to “rise significantly,” as 59% of respondents said they would bump up their online holiday shopping; 11% planned to spend less online. Survey data aligned with 44% year-on-year e-commerce growth over the Thanksgiving-Cyber Monday shopfest, as reported by the National Retail Federation (see 2012010042). Cowen estimates U.S. Amazon Prime households rose to 73 million in November: Two-thirds of those expect their online holiday shopping to rise year on year, said analyst John Blackledge, noting that Amazon kicked off holiday shopping with its delayed Prime Day event in early October. Amazon is the most popular site, said the survey, with 84% of respondents planning to shop the leading e-commerce site over the holidays, followed by 50% at retailer sites and 21% each for brand sites and eBay. Amazon’s third-party gross merchandise value grew nearly 60% year on year after Prime Day; it topped 60% over the “Cyber 5” shopping period. Some 44% of survey respondents said they planned to start shopping earlier this year, 42% the same as last year, and 14% later. The elongated season is a positive for e-commerce, said Blackledge, noting that consumers who begin buying earlier could end up spending more overall. Sixteen percent expected to spend more, 29% less, and half about the same as last year. Delivery anxiety is a logical driver behind early buying, dating back to longer delivery times early in the pandemic, said Blackledge. About 56% of respondents said they aren’t worried about delivery times, 36% were moderately worried, and 7% “very worried.” Similar percentages played out among Prime members, with 8% very worried.

Amazon refuted a report referenced by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey and Rep. Joseph Kennedy, all Massachusetts Democrats, alleging unsafe working conditions in a Fall River fulfillment center, in a Nov. 1 letter released by the lawmakers Tuesday. The legislators wrote Oct. 14, expressing concern over unsafe working conditions, saying Amazon didn’t make meaningful changes to protect workers “but instead responded by rolling out PR campaigns and appearing to misrepresent workers' injury risk to Congress and the public.” They cited a probe by the Center for Investigative Reporting that said Amazon’s "obsession with speed has turned its warehouses into injury mills.” Amazon Vice President-Public Policy Brian Huseman took issue with the report’s use of the term “serious injury rate,” saying there’s no such classification. Huseman cited the Dart (Days Away, Restricted or Transferred) rate, which “does not differentiate between the type or severity of injuries, and it also includes lesser injuries, such as sprains and strains.” Amazon offers comprehensive health benefits starting on day one of employment, he noted. It's seeing improvements in injury prevention and reduction, “including our work focusing on improving ergonomics, delivering guided physical and wellness exercises, improving workstation setup and design, and separating pedestrians from powered industrial equipment (e.g. forklifts).”

Walmart is ditching the $35 free shipping minimum for shoppers in the Walmart+ membership program it launched in September (see 2009010032) as a competitor to Amazon Prime. Beginning Thursday, Walmart is “expanding the benefit list” of the membership -- $12.95 a month or $98 per year vs. Prime’s $12.99, $119 for free one- and two-day shipping. Walmart’s membership doesn’t include video and audio streaming services, unlike Amazon. Walmart said Wednesday the perk is “just in time for the holidays.” Orders placed on Walmart.com and fulfilled by third-party shippers no longer have a purchase minimum for Walmart+ members, a spokesperson told us, confirming elimination of the $35 minimum is a new benefit for Walmart+ members that will continue beyond the holiday season. She clarified that grocery deliveries from Walmart stores remain subject to a $35 minimum. Amazon has a similar stipulation with purchases through Amazon Fresh. Other benefits to Walmart+ are fuel discounts and the Scan and Go feature, which allows members to shop and check out with their phone. Walmart also added locations where members can get fuel discounts.

Authorities charged two New Jersey men with stealing $6 million in postage for their Amazon third-party seller business, Fresh N Clear. Jack Koch, 44, of Elmwood Park, and Steven Koch, 43, of Pompton Lakes, bought Flat Rate Envelope postage labels meant for U.S. Postal Service compact envelopes and altered them to send their merchandise in larger boxes at discounted flat rates, said U.S. Attorney Perry Farhat Tuesday in Newark. The complaint charges the men with buying and altering more than 240,000 labels from January to September. Attempts to reach their attorneys were unsuccessful. Amazon didn’t respond to questions.