The safety and security of Amazon customers "is a top priority,” emailed an Amazon spokesperson Wednesday to our questions on package thefts in New York being committed by Amazon delivery imposters (see 2203220057). “Any information that we receive about impersonators is thoroughly investigated and routed to law enforcement as appropriate.” Amazon said most deliveries make it to customers without issue, and the company put in place measures to ensure packages reach customers as intended, such as Amazon Key in-garage delivery, package pickup lockers and order tracking to let customers know when packages will arrive. A New York neighborhood community thread this week said a person wearing an Amazon vest was “buzzed in” to a locked lobby and took packages from the building’s mailroom. Another post noted a page showing how to order a vest resembling Amazon employees' vests on Amazon.com.

Amazon delivery personnel were cited in a Nextdoor New York City community thread this week on growing incidents of package thefts. Thieves are stealing packages from the lobbies and mailrooms of unattended apartment buildings with intercom systems. One community member referenced a person wearing an Amazon vest who was “buzzed in” to a locked lobby by a building resident who assumed it was an Amazon delivery person. Instead, the person “carried all the packages that were in the mailroom out with them.” Another member noted “you can make and buy an Amazon Employee looking vest on Amazon” and gave a link to the page. A third Nextdoor member complained of Amazon employees “banging on doors and yelling” to get buzzed in to make a delivery. “Amazon needs to resolve this because no one should buzz an Amazon employee in except the person expecting a delivery,” he said. Amazon didn't respond to questions.

Amazon opened its first same-day fulfillment center in Massachusetts, it announced Friday, saying the 155,000-square-foot Bridgewater facility delivered its first package in January before ramping to about 3 million items in over a dozen categories, including electronics. The “Sub Same-Day” buildings are mini-fulfillment centers, optimized to deliver “hundreds of thousands of items” three to five hours from purchase. Eligible items marked “Today by” and “Overnight by” can now be ordered for delivery throughout the day; customers can also choose a delivery window to meet their schedule. Amazon offers the service in over a dozen cities. The service is free for Prime members with a $35 or higher order; a $2.99 charge is applied for orders under $35, and non-Prime members are charged a $12.99 fee, said an Amazon webpage. Its much-hyped one-day service rollout was disrupted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when strong e-commerce demand led to longer lead times (see 2007310023).

U.S. consumers spent $1.7 trillion online during two years of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020-February 2022), $609 billion more than in the two preceding years combined, reported Adobe Tuesday. Demand remained strong in 2021 with $885 billion in online spend, up 8.9% year over year, it said: “As the digital economy shifts to more personalized customer experiences, Adobe expects the annual online spend in the U.S. to surpass $1 trillion for the first time in 2022.” Of the $1.7 trillion spent by consumers, $32 billion was due to higher prices, said Adobe. Online inflation, first observed in June 2020, has persisted for 21 consecutive months, it said. “The impact was most notable in 2021, where $22 billion of e-commerce growth was driven by higher prices compared to just $4.7 billion in 2020.” In the first two months of 2022, $3.8 billion in e-commerce growth was driven by higher prices, said Adobe. But inflation didn't deter demand, it said. Online spending in January and February topped $138 billion, up 13.8% from the first two months of 2021, it said: “Adobe expects consumers could pay as much as $27 billion more online for the same amount of goods due to inflation.”

DOJ should investigate whether Amazon obstructed Congress or violated the law during the House Judiciary Committee’s tech competition investigation, a bipartisan group of committee members wrote the department Wednesday. Amazon engaged in a pattern of misleading behavior that “appeared designed to influence, obstruct, or impede the committee’s 16-month investigation,” they wrote. Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., signed the letter with House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I.; ranking member Ken Buck, R-Colo.; and Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Credible reporting shows Amazon uses third-party seller data in competition with those sellers, despite contrary testimony from company executives, they said. The company “attempted to clean up the inaccurate testimony through ever-shifting explanations of its internal policies and denials of the investigative reports,” the committee said. An Amazon spokesperson emailed: “There's no factual basis for this, as demonstrated in the huge volume of information we've provided over several years of good faith cooperation with this investigation.” DOJ didn’t comment.

Congress shouldn’t include a bill that aims to combat counterfeit e-commerce goods in its China package (see 2201310033), said tech groups, consumer advocates and academics Tuesday in letters to congressional leaders. The Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce (Shop Safe) Act would require foreign sellers on e-commerce platforms to accept personal jurisdiction in the U.S. and allow themselves to be served in a lawsuit. Platforms would have to make reasonable efforts to screen for sellers who are likely to sell counterfeit goods. The bill would “benefit foreign luxury brands, but harm smaller U.S. companies and consumers,” some 40 groups wrote. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, the Center for Democracy & Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, NetChoice, Public Knowledge, the R Street Institute, Re:Create and Twitter signed. Academics with trademark expertise sent a separate letter saying the bill “would curtail many existing online marketplace offerings that currently give consumers greater choices and spur price competition that reduces consumer costs.” CCIA President Matt Schruers called it a “radical shift” in U.S. policy.

The global volume of chatbot virtual assistant messaging traffic is forecast to increase to 9.5 billion transactions by 2026 from 3.5 billion in 2022, reported Juniper Research Thursday. The increasing adoption of omnichannel retail strategies by e-commerce merchants and the rising integration of chatbots within messaging platforms will drive that 169% growth over the next five years, it said. It predicts the rapid development of messaging app functionalities “will attract high-value online retailers to chatbot messaging apps over competing channels,” it said. Total retail spend for chatbot messaging apps in China will surpass $21 billion by 2026, with platforms such as WeChat “providing a definitive framework for chatbots that is branded for each retailer,” it said.

Walmart entered the virtual fitting room technology space in an effort to “revolutionize” how customers shop for clothes online, blogged Denise Incandela, executive vice president-apparel and private brands, Walmart U.S., Wednesday. The company bought Zeekit in May for its dynamic virtual fitting room platform “to create a significantly enhanced customer and social experience.” Incandela said understanding how clothes will fit is one of the most frustrating parts of clothes shopping, and Walmart’s goal is to deliver an “inclusive, immersive and personalized virtual experience designed to replicate in-store shopping.” The first phase of the initiative, available to Walmart app and Walmart.com users via smartphone or tablet, is the Choose My Model tool. At launch, customers can choose from 50 models ranging from 5 feet, 2 inches to 6 feet, in sizes XS-XXXL; users choose the model that best represents their height, body shape and skin tone to get the most accurate representation of how the item will look on them, Incandela said. Some 70 more model options are due to launch in coming weeks with additional sizes, skin tones and hair colors. The feature is available on select brands, including Free Assembly, Scoop, Sofia Jeans by Sofia Vergara, Eloquii Elements, Time and Tru, Athletic Works, Terra & Sky, No Boundaries, Avia and The Pioneer Woman. Walmart will offer national brands, starting with Levi’s and Hanes, and expand to more in the coming months on Walmart.com and Walmart Marketplace, Incandela said. If an apparel item is part of Zeekit, customers will see a prompt to select a model on the item's page and then fill in their height and size. Walmart also is working on launching a virtual try-on experience, she said.

EBay exited 2021 with more than 320 brands participating in the “Certified Refurbished” program it launched in October 2020, said CEO Jamie Iannone on a Q4 earnings call Wednesday. Products sold in the offering are certified by the manufacturer, are in “like-new” condition, and are backed by a two-year warranty, plus eBay's money-back guarantee, he said. “Certified Refurbished products from top brands make up a small percentage of the total refurb activity on eBay, but are growing significantly faster,” inspiring the company to expand the offering, he said. The multitiered “eBay Refurbished” program introduced in November, “adds more inventory from top-rated sellers” that are “thoroughly vetted to meet rigorous performance standards,” he said. Products offered in the program below the manufacturer-direct "certifed" tier are graded for their condition, from “excellent” to “good,” and are sold with a one-year warranty. “In Q4, we saw promising early results from this expansion in mobile phones and plan to extend it to tablets, smartwatches and laptops this year,” said Iannone.

Despite the popularity of retail curbside pickup, at-home delivery "remains king for shoppers,” reported Pitney Bowes Wednesday. Morning Consult canvassed 2,000 online shoppers for Pitney Bowes, finding 64% of consumers prefer home delivery vs. 23% for curbside pickup when given the two options. An exception was for grocery deliveries: 44% preferred curbside to 39% for home delivery. About three-quarters of baby boomers prefer delivery over curbside, it said. Two factors that drive the choice for home delivery over curbside pickup are free shipping and flexible delivery times, said the company. Some 64% of e-commerce shoppers said free delivery on home shipping influences their decision to use that fulfillment feature; 38% would opt for curbside pickup for online purchases, other than groceries, as a way to get items without paying shipping costs, it said. Some 37% said they would opt for curbside pickup to receive an item faster. A question on estimated delivery dates showed 59% of shoppers said early deliveries are an inconvenience. Reasons included not being home on the delivery day and “being uncomfortable with deliveries sitting out,” it said.