Commerce

Amazon to invest additional $35B in India by 2030, taking total planned spending to $75B

Commerce /

Amazon said on Wednesday it will invest an additional $35 billion in India by 2030, taking its total planned commitment in the country to about $75 billion as it expands its retail and cloud operations in the South Asian nation. The e-commerce giant said the new investment will support its efforts to digitize small businesses […]

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Amazon adds delivery tracking, last-minute adds, gift ideas to Alexa+

Commerce /

Amazon has long had to deal with the reality that owners of its Echo smart speakers weren’t using its voice-controlled assistant, Alexa, to buy things, as it had hoped. The tech giant hasn’t given up on that dream yet: its AI assistant, Alexa+, is getting new shopping-enabled features in the U.S. and Canada from today,

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Walmart-backed PhonePe winds down its Pincode app in yet another e-commerce step back

Commerce /

In its latest retreat from India’s crowded online retail market, Walmart-backed fintech giant PhonePe has wound down its Pincode e-commerce app and will shift the business toward B2B services for offline merchants. On Thursday, PhonePe founder and group CEO Sameer Nigam said operating a consumer-facing quick-commerce app had become a distraction from the company’s core

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Amazon reportedly considering dropping USPS and building a competing postal service

Commerce /

Amazon is considering ending from its long-standing contract with the United States Postal Service and building out its own competing nationwide delivery network, according to the Washington Post. The current agreement between the e-commerce giant and the USPS expires in October 2026. The two sides have spent months negotiating what the next version of the

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Discord users can now buy in-game items without leaving the platform

Commerce /

As Discord prepares for a potential IPO, the platform is launching new commerce features to enhance the gaming experience for users while also generating new revenue streams for developers. Announced on Tuesday, the features allow users to purchase digital game items directly within Discord, eliminating the need to leave the platform. Users can also create

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Amazon starts testing ‘ultra-fast’ 30-minute deliveries

Commerce /

Amazon has announced it’s launching a new service that completes deliveries in 30 minutes or less in Seattle and Philadelphia. The new “ultra-fast” delivery option will allow Amazon to better compete with services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Instacart. Customers will be able to order a range of different items, including milk, eggs, fresh produce,

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Black Friday sets online spending record of $11.8B, Adobe says

Commerce /

American consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which says it tracks more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites. That’s a new record, and up from $10.8 billion spent on Black Friday last year, Adobe says. Between 10am and 2pm, online shoppers were supposedly spending $12.5

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New York state law takes aim at personalized pricing

Commerce /

New York’s latest state budget includes new disclosure requirements for businesses that use personal data to set different prices for different shoppers — for example, charging you more if you have a history of splurging. Businesses that use personalized pricing are now required to tell customers, “This price was set by an algorithm using your

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SoftBank stays in as Meesho $606M IPO becomes India’s first major e-commerce listing

Commerce /

Meesho, an Indian e-commerce rival to Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, is set to launch a roughly $606 million IPO marked by token sell-downs from early backers and no sales from big names such as SoftBank and Prosus, signalling investor conviction in India’s booming online retail market at a time when tech shareholders globally have been

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