Amazon Prime members can shop Whole Foods Market from their online accounts, Amazon emailed Friday. There's free two-hour delivery from a local store on orders of $35-plus. Whole Foods is offering Prime members daily discounts. Amazon bought the grocer in a $13.7 billion deal (see 1706160020).

Shopping from mobile devices over Black Friday weekend jumped to 62.9 percent from 57.5 percent last year, blogged Tara Bartley, Akamai senior manager-global industry marketing. Bartley attributed the higher rate of mobile shopping to ubiquity of devices, loyalty programs and an overall simplified buying process. Performance of an online retailer’s website or app must be “exceptional” and quick, she said Wednesday, and key is optimizing images and videos: “I want to see that sweater in every angle, in every color, and I want to see that lipstick on a curly-headed brunette.” Expectations of online consumers are "very high," she said.

Walmart warned fraud’s “especially prevalent during the holidays.” Consumers lose more than $1 billion yearly, blogged Chris Burgess, senior director-financial services, Thursday. His consumer advice: don’t trust caller ID or email names; don’t provide personal information; be suspicious of schemes such as requests for payment via money transfers or gift cards; protect digital information; look for the “https” on an e-commerce site and verify the URL is spelled correctly; change passwords; and use a secured wireless connection.

Customs and Border Protection extended until Dec. 16 comments on a new information request to be submitted to the OMB for an e-commerce data pilot, said Friday's Federal Register.

An eBay shopping guide released Wednesday shows iPhone 11, Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone, Apple AirPods and Bose SoundSport Free true wireless headphones as the top tech products eBay customers are looking for this holiday season. Shoppers are opting for the 11 Pro model, which is outselling the standard model by 138 percent, said the e-commerce marketplace.

Consumers using YouTube to browse and research products can now see visual shopping ads based on their interest, blogged Nicky Rettke, product manager-YouTube Ads. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers say online video has given them ideas and inspiration for purchases, and 90 percent say they discovered new products and brands via YouTube. A consumer who expresses interest in running could see ads from retailers that sell running apparel, Rettke said Tuesday. Google also made YouTube video ads more interactive, providing viewers useful and actionable information including location, interest forms and calls to action to help advertisers drive conversations, she said.

Porch piracy is a top consumer concern this holiday season, reported delivery platform company Convey Wednesday. Some 22 percent of survey respondents worry their packages will be stolen after delivery; two-thirds want the ability to track packages en route and 13 percent want the option to change delivery destination once orders are in transit, it said. Late delivery of packages is consumers’ leading worry this holiday (39 percent). Amazon’s fast, free shipping is setting a high bar for the e-commerce industry; twice as many consumers this year (19 percent) said delivery speed is a critical factor when shopping this year vs. last. Cost was the most important shipping consideration to 64 percent of survey respondents. A faster estimated delivery date in the online shopping cart has a big impact on purchase decisions, said Convey, with 29 percent saying they would be more likely to buy if an order would arrive within a week; 8 percent said shipping date doesn’t influence their likelihood to buy. Free two-day shipping is important to 80 percent, while 31 percent said in-store pickup is important. Some 98 percent want notification if a delivery will be late with email the preferred means of communication at 55 percent vs. 33 percent via text. Seventy-three percent of shoppers said they're unlikely to buy from a brand again after a poor delivery experience.

Abusive Amazon and Macmillan Publishers practices threaten the ability of libraries to deliver content to consumers, the American Library Association said Wednesday. ALA cited anti-competitive behavior, abusive pricing and the denial or delay of sales to libraries, in comments to the House Judiciary Committee, which is investigating tech competition. “By outright denying or delaying library access to digital content, dominant actors in digital markets endanger America’s competitiveness and our nation’s cultural heritage,” said ALA President Wanda Brown. Amazon and Macmillan didn't comment.

Wedbush Securities forecasts Amazon Q4 revenue of $86.6 billion, “with a strong Black Friday and Christmas," wrote analyst Michael Pachter in a Friday investor note before the company’s Tuesday earnings report. For Q3, Pachter's estimate is $69 billion vs. Amazon’s guidance of $66 billion-$70 billion, attributing any revenue softness at the high-end of guidance to third-party mix. Amazon is approaching a plateau for spending on certain categories, said the analyst, saying spending growth in future years will be driven by video content and ongoing efforts to expedite delivery for Prime members. Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment by Amazon, and ads should drive steady margin growth, “with Prime driving overall retail revenue growth,” he said.

Consumer electronics contributed significantly to Flipkart’s Big Billion Days and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival shopping events that generated $3 billion in sales in India recently, a sign of the country’s fast-paced retail growth and strong returns on national e-commerce logistics investments, blogged Futuresource Thursday. Smartphones, headphones, TVs and wearables broke sales records during the shopping events that ran from late September into early October, and the festivals are expected to become more important for CE retail moving forward, Futuresource said. Aggressive mobile data pricing has lowered connectivity costs to “affordable levels,” in India, resulting in a tripling of internet connections from 2016 to 600 million this year, it said. More connected consumers, combined with rising disposable income levels, are creating digital opportunities in retail and other digital services such as music and video streaming, it said.