

Walmart’s e-commerce chief is leaving to build "a city of the future"
Marc Lore, the founder of Jet.com, helped Walmart become the No. 2 online shopping site after Amazon.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Marc Lore, a serial entrepreneur who and then oversaw the transformation of the retail giant’s e-commerce business over the last four years, is leaving his full-time role with the company at the end of the month, he told Recode.His next big entrepreneurial swing will be something far afield from his current expertise: a multi-decade project to build “a city of the future” supported by “a reformed version of...…Marc Lore, the founder of Jet.com, helped Walmart become the No. 2 online shopping site after Amazon.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Marc Lore, a serial entrepreneur who and then oversaw the transformation of the retail giant’s e-commerce business over the last four years, is leaving his full-time role with the company at the end of the month, he told Recode.His next big entrepreneurial swing will be something far afield from his current expertise: a multi-decade project to build “a city of the future” supported by “a reformed version of...WW…

The death of the department store and the American middle class
Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.In a New Jersey suburb seven miles west of Midtown Manhattan, the American Dream is on shaky ground.The Dream in question isn’t the mythological notion that upward social mobility is within reach for all hardworking Americans. It’s a $5 billion, 3 million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex in East Rutherford featuring an indoor ski slope, an ice-skating rink, and a Nickelodeon-branded amusement park. The complex finally opened last fall, but it’s now facing huge new challenges.The development’s...…Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.In a New Jersey suburb seven miles west of Midtown Manhattan, the American Dream is on shaky ground.The Dream in question isn’t the mythological notion that upward social mobility is within reach for all hardworking Americans. It’s a $5 billion, 3 million-square-foot shopping and entertainment complex in East Rutherford featuring an indoor ski slope, an ice-skating rink, and a Nickelodeon-branded amusement park. The complex finally opened last fall, but it’s now facing huge new challenges.The development’s...WW…

Leaked: Confidential Amazon memo reveals new software to track unions
The new tool would also track other non-union threats to the company, like crime and weather. Amazon has long opposed the idea of its warehouse employees forming a union, though much of its anti-union strategies have stayed under wraps. But a confidential Amazon internal memo viewed by Recode reveals how the company is making significant investments in technology to track and counter the threat of unionization. The 11-page document, dated February 2020, describes Amazon’s plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to better analyze and visualize data on unions around the globe,...…The new tool would also track other non-union threats to the company, like crime and weather. Amazon has long opposed the idea of its warehouse employees forming a union, though much of its anti-union strategies have stayed under wraps. But a confidential Amazon internal memo viewed by Recode reveals how the company is making significant investments in technology to track and counter the threat of unionization. The 11-page document, dated February 2020, describes Amazon’s plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to better analyze and visualize data on unions around the globe,...WW…

Amazon will now let you pay with your palm in its stores
And, it hopes, at other retailers’ stores in the future.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon accounts for nearly 40 percent of e-commerce sales in the US today, and it takes a cut of even more online shopping by selling payments services and other technologies to external shopping sites. Now, the online retail giant is making a play to grab a piece of brick-and-mortar shopping, too — and it wants customers to literally lend a hand to do it.Amazon on Tuesday is unveiling a new biometric technology called Amazon One that allows shoppers to pay...…And, it hopes, at other retailers’ stores in the future.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon accounts for nearly 40 percent of e-commerce sales in the US today, and it takes a cut of even more online shopping by selling payments services and other technologies to external shopping sites. Now, the online retail giant is making a play to grab a piece of brick-and-mortar shopping, too — and it wants customers to literally lend a hand to do it.Amazon on Tuesday is unveiling a new biometric technology called Amazon One that allows shoppers to pay...WW…

Amazon extends bonus pay for front-line workers but says it ends in June
The $2 hourly pay hikes and increased overtime wages will be extended two weeks.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon plans to extend hazard pay for warehouse workers through the end of May, but it will return to normal pay rates in June, the company’s top operations executive told Recode in an interview on Tuesday. The decision comes as Amazon faces intense scrutiny from , , and over its treatment of its front-line employees who have kept working during the pandemic.In mid-March, as the pandemic shut down businesses across the world that are...…The $2 hourly pay hikes and increased overtime wages will be extended two weeks.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.Amazon plans to extend hazard pay for warehouse workers through the end of May, but it will return to normal pay rates in June, the company’s top operations executive told Recode in an interview on Tuesday. The decision comes as Amazon faces intense scrutiny from , , and over its treatment of its front-line employees who have kept working during the pandemic.In mid-March, as the pandemic shut down businesses across the world that are...WW…

How not to be a jerk while ordering groceries during a pandemic
Food and grocery delivery workers explain what online shoppers should do to make their work safer and easier. As more municipalities around the US recommend or mandate that residents stay at home to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, online orders for grocery deliveries are soaring. During the week of March 2, even before several US regions imposed stricter social distancing rules in the past week, Instacart, Amazon, and Walmart grocery delivery services each saw at least a 65 percent sales increase compared to the same time last year, according to estimates from Earnest Research....…Food and grocery delivery workers explain what online shoppers should do to make their work safer and easier. As more municipalities around the US recommend or mandate that residents stay at home to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus, online orders for grocery deliveries are soaring. During the week of March 2, even before several US regions imposed stricter social distancing rules in the past week, Instacart, Amazon, and Walmart grocery delivery services each saw at least a 65 percent sales increase compared to the same time last year, according to estimates from Earnest Research....WW…

Masks, wipes, and instant ramen: Amazon bestsellers show coronavirus fears
Amazon said on Thursday that it blocked more than a million items from sale on its marketplace in recent weeks that made false claims about defending against the novel coronavirus, as schemers across the globe looked to make a quick buck amid a global health threat. But what’s left when searching “coronavirus” or “Covid-19” on the e-commerce site is a grab bag of rushed-to-publish pandemic books and protection gear, a mix of products that could be disorienting to the average shopper. As the global count of confirmed deaths from Covid-19 approaches 3,000, small-time authors and all kinds of...…Amazon said on Thursday that it blocked more than a million items from sale on its marketplace in recent weeks that made false claims about defending against the novel coronavirus, as schemers across the globe looked to make a quick buck amid a global health threat. But what’s left when searching “coronavirus” or “Covid-19” on the e-commerce site is a grab bag of rushed-to-publish pandemic books and protection gear, a mix of products that could be disorienting to the average shopper. As the global count of confirmed deaths from Covid-19 approaches 3,000, small-time authors and all kinds of...WW…

Walmart is quietly working on an Amazon Prime competitor called Walmart+
Amazon Prime has devastated traditional retail. Walmart is about to fight back.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.When in 2005, Walmart boasted larger profits than Amazon had revenue. Fifteen years later, though, Prime is the key reason for Amazon’s dominance over Walmart in online sales.That pressure has pushed the traditional retailer to burn tens of billions of dollars to fight back while its executives have cycled through various stages of reaction to Prime’s ascent: denial, followed by , that seemed to signal Walmart wanted to stick to a free,...…Amazon Prime has devastated traditional retail. Walmart is about to fight back.Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us.When in 2005, Walmart boasted larger profits than Amazon had revenue. Fifteen years later, though, Prime is the key reason for Amazon’s dominance over Walmart in online sales.That pressure has pushed the traditional retailer to burn tens of billions of dollars to fight back while its executives have cycled through various stages of reaction to Prime’s ascent: denial, followed by , that seemed to signal Walmart wanted to stick to a free,...WW…

Walmart paid Wall Street investors $12 billion last year to keep them happy. Amazon paid $0.
One of Amazon’s biggest advantages over Walmart is Walmart’s own success. If there’s one retailer that has a chance to be a legitimate online competitor to Amazon in the United States, it’s Walmart, the dominant retail giant of a past generation and the US leader in online grocery sales today. But Walmart’s past success — and the practices it made commonplace as a result of that success — also hamstring the brick-and-mortar giant today. The latest example: Walmart revealed on Tuesday that it spent $11.8 billion in the last year on dividends — payments it makes to every shareholder every...…One of Amazon’s biggest advantages over Walmart is Walmart’s own success. If there’s one retailer that has a chance to be a legitimate online competitor to Amazon in the United States, it’s Walmart, the dominant retail giant of a past generation and the US leader in online grocery sales today. But Walmart’s past success — and the practices it made commonplace as a result of that success — also hamstring the brick-and-mortar giant today. The latest example: Walmart revealed on Tuesday that it spent $11.8 billion in the last year on dividends — payments it makes to every shareholder every...WW…

Amazon now has more than 150 million Prime members across the world
Can government investigations and activist protests slow the Prime machine? Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (center) with Amazon India Chief Amit Agarwal during the Amazon’s annual Smbhav event at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, on January 16, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Pradeep Gaur/Mint via Getty Images Amazon is facing government investigations and activist protests across the globe, from the US to Europe to India. And yet the engine behind its online retail domination just keeps getting stronger. CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Thursday that the company’s Amazon Prime membership program now boasts more...…Can government investigations and activist protests slow the Prime machine? Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (center) with Amazon India Chief Amit Agarwal during the Amazon’s annual Smbhav event at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, on January 16, 2020 in New Delhi, India. Pradeep Gaur/Mint via Getty Images Amazon is facing government investigations and activist protests across the globe, from the US to Europe to India. And yet the engine behind its online retail domination just keeps getting stronger. CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Thursday that the company’s Amazon Prime membership program now boasts more...WW…

Amazon wants to patent technology that could identify shoppers by their hands
The system could someday be used in Amazon Go or Whole Foods stores. Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us. Today, visitors to need to scan an app to get in. In the future, Amazon may instead ask to just scan their hands instead. The US Patent and Trademark Office published that would identify people not by their faces but by characteristics associated with the palms of their hands, including wrinkles and veins. The application filing does not mean the company is definitely developing such technology, but the New York Post reported in September that...…The system could someday be used in Amazon Go or Whole Foods stores. Uncovering and explaining how our digital world is changing — and changing us. Today, visitors to need to scan an app to get in. In the future, Amazon may instead ask to just scan their hands instead. The US Patent and Trademark Office published that would identify people not by their faces but by characteristics associated with the palms of their hands, including wrinkles and veins. The application filing does not mean the company is definitely developing such technology, but the New York Post reported in September that...WW…

Jeff Bezos asked Mike Bloomberg months ago about a presidential run
Sometime after Amazon pulled the plug on plans for a New York City headquarters in February of this year, the city’s former Mayor Michael Bloomberg received a call from a top company executive. It wasn’t just any Amazon executive — it was Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder and CEO and the world’s richest man. Bezos was calling with a question for his fellow billionaire and media mogul: Would Bloomberg consider entering the 2020 presidential race? Bloomberg told Bezos no at the time, according to a person briefed on the phone conversation. But he had a question of his own for Amazon’s...…Sometime after Amazon pulled the plug on plans for a New York City headquarters in February of this year, the city’s former Mayor Michael Bloomberg received a call from a top company executive. It wasn’t just any Amazon executive — it was Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder and CEO and the world’s richest man. Bezos was calling with a question for his fellow billionaire and media mogul: Would Bloomberg consider entering the 2020 presidential race? Bloomberg told Bezos no at the time, according to a person briefed on the phone conversation. But he had a question of his own for Amazon’s...WW…

Amazon is creating facial recognition regulations that it wants Congress to adopt
The tech giant’s hope is that federal lawmakers will adopt much of its draft legislation. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says his company is developing a set of laws to regulate facial recognition technology that it plans to share with federal lawmakers. In February, the company, which has faced escalating scrutiny over its controversial facial recognition tech, called Amazon Rekognition, published guidelines it said it hoped lawmakers would consider enacting. Now Amazon is taking another step, Bezos told reporters in a surprise appearance following Amazon’s annual Alexa gadget event in Seattle on...…The tech giant’s hope is that federal lawmakers will adopt much of its draft legislation. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos says his company is developing a set of laws to regulate facial recognition technology that it plans to share with federal lawmakers. In February, the company, which has faced escalating scrutiny over its controversial facial recognition tech, called Amazon Rekognition, published guidelines it said it hoped lawmakers would consider enacting. Now Amazon is taking another step, Bezos told reporters in a surprise appearance following Amazon’s annual Alexa gadget event in Seattle on...WW…

Inside the conflict at Walmart that’s threatening its high-stakes race with Amazon
In September 2016, Walmart made a giant, risky bet.The country’s most dominant brick-and-mortar retailer agreed to the largest-ever acquisition of an e-commerce company: of a fast-growing but money-sucking online shopping site called Jet.com.There were back then, but Walmart was desperate to close the huge gap between itself and Amazon, the online shopping wrecking ball. And CEO Doug McMillon had become convinced that Jet founder and CEO Marc Lore, who previously founded and sold it for a fortune to Amazon, was perhaps the only person who could do it.Nearly three years later, Walmart’s...…In September 2016, Walmart made a giant, risky bet.The country’s most dominant brick-and-mortar retailer agreed to the largest-ever acquisition of an e-commerce company: of a fast-growing but money-sucking online shopping site called Jet.com.There were back then, but Walmart was desperate to close the huge gap between itself and Amazon, the online shopping wrecking ball. And CEO Doug McMillon had become convinced that Jet founder and CEO Marc Lore, who previously founded and sold it for a fortune to Amazon, was perhaps the only person who could do it.Nearly three years later, Walmart’s...WW…

The making of Amazon Prime, the internet’s most successful and devastating membership program
It’s easy to forget now, but Amazon wasn’t always the king of online shopping. In the fall of 2004, Jeff Bezos’s company was still mostly selling just books and DVDs.That same year, Amazon was under siege from multiple sides. Some of its biggest competitors were brick-and-mortar chains like Best Buy, which was still in expansion mode at the time, with sales growing 17 percent annually. Toys ‘R’ Us sued Amazon in a high-profile battle, alleging it had violated an agreement the two companies had for the toy store chain to be an exclusive seller on Amazon.com.And during the holiday season,...…It’s easy to forget now, but Amazon wasn’t always the king of online shopping. In the fall of 2004, Jeff Bezos’s company was still mostly selling just books and DVDs.That same year, Amazon was under siege from multiple sides. Some of its biggest competitors were brick-and-mortar chains like Best Buy, which was still in expansion mode at the time, with sales growing 17 percent annually. Toys ‘R’ Us sued Amazon in a high-profile battle, alleging it had violated an agreement the two companies had for the toy store chain to be an exclusive seller on Amazon.com.And during the holiday season,...WW…
