Shopify invested in customer platform Klaviyo, which will be Shopify’s recommended email solution partner for Shopify Plus, the companies said Tuesday. Terms weren't disclosed. Under the partnership, Klaviyo will get early access to new Shopify development features to help merchants navigate recent shifts in online marketing, they said. Klaviyo's platform unifies customer journey data under a single solution and makes it accessible and actionable, they said. Klaviyo's software integrates with e-commerce platforms such as Magento, BigCommerce, Stripe and WooCommerce, plus over 220 apps.

Amazon shored up its employee education benefits, adding partnerships with Beyond 12 and Kaplan to its Career Choice skills training program, it said Tuesday. In addition to prepaid college tuition through the program, Amazon's hourly employees will have access to free career coaching, college advising and specialized career services, Amazon said. Its goal is for employees to put themselves on a path toward “well-paying, in-demand professions with a coaching framework.” Over 80,000 employees participate in the Career Choice program, it said.

Amazon’s Q2 revenue, outside of its Amazon Web Services cloud platform business, could decline 2.5%-5% year on year, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter wrote investors Monday, citing macroeconomic challenges, currency translation and recession fears. Wedbush’s estimate for Amazon June quarter revenue was $121 billion, which could be “optimistic,” Pachter said, “due to an aggressive Q2 uptick in the U.S. inflation rate,” which reached a four-decade high at 9% in June. Rising inflation could benefit Amazon’s retail business by resulting in higher pricing and marketplace fees, said the analyst, citing the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index reporting the lowest U.S. consumer sentiment last month since 1952. Labor costs could weigh on Amazon’s profits due to high attrition rates and about 11.5 million unfilled U.S. job vacancies in Q1, Pachter said. Longer term, Amazon should benefit from "steady margin expansion" driven by its cloud and ads businesses. Amazon reports earnings Thursday.

Amazon electric vehicle deliveries began rolling out in cities including Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle and St. Louis, the company said Thursday. Amazon expects to have the custom delivery EVs from Rivian on the road in more than 100 cities by year-end, with long-term plans for 100,000 EVs nationwide by 2030. The EVs are part of Amazon’s sustainability effort; it says it will save “millions of metric tons of carbon” annually by 2030. Amazon has been testing deliveries with Rivian preproduction vehicles since 2021, delivering more than 430,000 packages and accumulating over 90,000 miles, it said. Rivian has completed certifications with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, California Air Resources Board and Environmental Protection Agency, Amazon said. The EV's safety features include sensor detection, highway and traffic assist technology, automatic emergency breaking and collision warnings, it said. Embedded technology integrates the delivery workflow with the vehicle for “seamless access” to routing, navigation and driver support. The vehicles have automatic door locking/unlocking as the driver approaches or leaves the vehicle; a powered bulkhead door opens when drivers reach their delivery location, Amazon said. Batteries were designed to last the vehicle's lifetime. Amazon has added “thousands” of charging stations at its delivery stations across the country and will continue to invest in building an infrastructure to support a more sustainable delivery fleet, the company said. It partnered with the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, and several other fleet operators, to launch the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, bringing together companies to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles, it said.

Transactions rose 25%, and transaction values 20%, vs. 2021 for the broader global retail market during Amazon’s Prime Day sales event last week, reported ACI Worldwide Data Wednesday. Growth was driven by mobile devices, electronics and electric products, with a “small lag” in general retail products, said the payments software company. Amid high inflation, average transaction value (ATV) for buy now, pay later financing jumped 47%, by $52, year on year as consumers split higher-priced items into smaller installments, it said. Mobile devices had a 25% increase in transaction volume year on year vs. a 15% bump for non-mobile devices ACI said. Mobile device average transaction value was flat with 2021, while non-mobile grew 8%, “an indication that shoppers are becoming more comfortable with frequent mobile device purchases,” the company said. Desktop PCs "still dominate bigger ticket items." Credit and debit cards had a 22% and 25% rise in transaction volume and value; e-wallet sales grew 4% due to saved in-app card details that made it easier for shoppers to buy using credit and debit cards, it said. Fraud during the two days rose just 0.1% vs. 2021, despite the surge in transactions and more payment methods. Fraud attempts on e-wallets declined 0.2%. "The real success story throughout Amazon Prime Days has been consumer security," said Erika Dietrich, ACI Worldwide head-fraud management and payments analytics. "Despite shoppers buying more, paying more, and Prime Days being trailed for months, fraud attempts flatlined or faltered,” she said, crediting improved merchant fraud management systems and customer security habits. North America had a 22% increase in transaction value, with ATV growing 12%, $14, as customers grew their basket size, ACI said.

EBay expanded its “authentication service” to the fine jewelry category, having previously introduced it for sneakers, watches, handbags and trading cards, said the company Wednesday. EBay will collaborate with the Gemological Institute of America to make the service available for eligible new and pre-owned fine jewelry sold for $500 and up, it said. GIA experts will perform a multipoint inspection, verifying metal type, purity and gemstone quality, “to confirm the authenticity of every eligible item,” it said.

Credit card chargebacks are at “crisis levels” for retailers in the U.S. and U.K., reported chargeback mitigation company Justt Wednesday. Two-thirds of U.S. consumers, and 44% of British shoppers, have filed chargebacks in the past 12 months, and many have filed multiple ones, Justt said. Surveys showed 44% of U.S. users have either filed a chargeback or considered doing so because they disagreed with a company’s values, the report said. Sixty-two percent of U.S. users requested a refund or a chargeback on a buy now, pay later purchase in the past 12 months; 49% filed a chargeback on online or mobile games; and a quarter of crypto buyers filed a chargeback, it said. “If left unaddressed, chargebacks present a significant threat to merchant revenues and the overall health of the eCommerce ecosystem,” said the company. “Chargebacks offer consumers protection from fraud, but in reality, the majority of customers repudiate a charge because of shipping issues, delivery problems, and merchant errors," it said.

Shopify and YouTube are partnering to give merchants and creators a new avenue for reaching consumers, said the companies Tuesday. The launch of YouTube Shopping on Shopify enables Shopify merchants to integrate their online stores with YouTube’s reach of more than 2 billion monthly logged-in users, they said. Shopify merchants can sell their full range of products on YouTube via livestreams, curated videos or store tabs, they said. "Commerce today is multichannel, and YouTube is one of the most influential channels on the planet," said Kaz Nejatian, Shopify vice president-product. "Shopify's new YouTube integration will fundamentally change what opportunity looks like for independent brands in the creator economy.” E-commerce via YouTube is an “additional layer of opportunity” for Google, said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on an earnings call in February (see 2202020001).

The Hisense U6 series 50-inch TV, discounted 25% during Amazon Prime Day, had a 2,615% revenue bump during a one-month period that included Prime Day, reported Jungle Scout Monday. Average ad spend per brand for Amazon Prime Day 2022 was up 11% over 2021, but return on ad spend sank 28% year on year, it said. The average ad spend per campaign slipped 3 points, while average ad spend per brand grew 11%, said the sales platform firm. Average attributed sales per brand fell 20% year on year; average sales conversions per campaign dropped 20%; and average sales conversions per brand decreased 8%, it said. Some 56% of respondents with access to a Prime account said they were likely to keep it for another year, a survey said.

Amazon Prime Day drove more than $11.1 billion in gross merchandise value, resulting in $6.8 billion in two-day revenue for the company, Cowen analyst John Blackledge estimated in a Friday research note. That’s $1.5 billion more than Prime Day 2021. Blackledge pegged the incremental revenue bump at about $5 billion vs. a typical two days of sales. Sales included $4.9 billion in first-party and $1.9 billion in third-party sales, he said. Amazon noted 20 million items are now available for one-day delivery vs. the 10 million it cited a year ago, and it said it now offers same-day delivery in 90 major metropolitan markets vs. 47 last year, the analyst noted. Amazon nearly doubled the number of same-day delivery areas driven by its “historic fulfillment investment spend over the past 2 years,” Blackledge said. The company reports Q2 earnings July 28.