Tag: Amazon Business News

Jeff Bezos’ Amazon Could End Up Bankrupt For These Reasons, According To Specialist

Right now, Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world thanks to Amazon , his leading online sales company. However, retail expert Doug Stephens predicts that the giant could fall over the next decade, even going bankrupt.

On his Business of Fashion corporate page, Retail Prophet’s founder and advisor to some of the world’s most respected brands predicts “the end of Amazon.”

“I think that in ten years Amazon is going to decline and these are just some of the reasons,” Stephens wrote.

Amazon follows in Walmart’s footsteps

One of the reasons for the possible bankruptcy of the online trading platform would be that it is following the same patterns as other companies. Stephens gives Walmart an example.

“Between 1962 and the early 2000s, Walmart led the retail business, beating out dozens of competitors large and small. By 2010, Walmart had opened a staggering 4,393 stores, of which more than 3,000 opened after 1990, ” explains the expert.

After suffering a big drop in sales in 2015, Walmart has failed to take off in online retail. “The decline of the once impenetrable giant has shown that even the most titanic companies can fall,” Stephens said.

Amazon offers efficiency, but no shopping experience

The specialist considers it dangerous that Bezos intends to maintain the same long-term operating model. “In our retail business, we know that customers want low prices, and I know that is going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery; they want a wide selection, “ said the tycoon in statements taken up by Business of Fashion.

However, Stephens believes that people don’t just buy because they want the products as quickly as possible. They also want the full shopping experience : getting out of the house, touching the products, comparing them with each other, trying new things or getting inspired. In that sense, the disadvantage of Amazon is limited to online purchases.

Focus on customer service will be lost

When a company has a powerful leader like Jeff Bezos at the helm, it would hardly function without him. The expert predicts that, as Amazon continues its expansion, the figure of Bezos could dissipate or disappear. Then it would be possible that you lose your initial mission, which is customer satisfaction, to prioritize the optimization of processes based on figures and data.

He also anticipates that the company will innovate less. “The energy, once directed to improving the business, will be depleted in simply working to maintain the organizational infrastructure ,” Stephens noted.

See also: See why Jeff Bezos will increase his fortune thanks to the arrival of Airbnb to Wall Street

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Dough Stephens cites other reasons for Amazon’s potential downfall , such as the rumored toxic work environment and the migration of current partners to other,

friendlier delivery platforms.

The combination of these factors could cause Amazon to suffer losses over the next decade and be replaced by another similar company that offers better conditions for partners, workers and customers.

By: Entrepreneur en Español Entrepreneur Staff

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Foundation for Economic Education

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Bezos’s Phone Hacked By Saudi Crown Prince, Report Says

US-SPACE-AWARD-BEZOS

Topline: Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos was hacked by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2018, the Guardian reported Tuesday, raising questions over who the Saudis were monitoring in connection to slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and how the National Enquirer obtained Bezos’s private texts that exposed an extramarital affair last year.

  • Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Guardian reported that a malicious video file sent from Mohammed bin Salman to Bezos on WhatsApp was responsible for the hack.
  • Large amounts of data were taken from Bezos’s phone within hours of the infected file being sent.
  • The two men were having a seemingly friendly conversation before that, the Guardian reported, though it is unclear what they were talking about or why they were in communication with each other.
  • It is also unclear where the information taken from Bezos’s phone went or how it was used, but it undermines previous claims made by the Saudis that they weren’t surveilling Bezos and others connected to Khashoggi, who was killed inside a Saudi embassy in Istanbul, Turkey last year apparently because he wrote columns critical of the Saudi government. The CIA has since concluded that bin Salman personally ordered Khashoggi’s assassination, which he has denied.
  • The Guardian’s reporting also supports claims made by Bezos’s head of security, Gavin de Becker, who wrote in a March 2019 Daily Beast story that the Saudis had access to Bezos’s private data. He also alleged that the Saudis provided the initial tip about Bezos’s affair to the National Enquirer, which then published Bezos’s intimate text messages and photos.
  • A spokesperson for Bezos did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Chief critic: The Saudi Embassy in Washington D.C. dismissed the Guardian’s reporting. “Recent media reports that suggest the Kingdom is behind a hacking of Mr. Jeff Bezos’ phone are absurd. We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out,” the embassy tweeted.

Key background: Forbes and independent researchers have found that Saudi Arabia has used a hacking tool created by Israeli firm NSO Group to spy on human rights workers, journalists and activists. It is ultimately unclear if bin Salman used NSO Group’s technology on Bezos, though the Israeli company was sued by Facebook in October for exploiting a WhatsApp vulnerability to inject malicious code into target phones.

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Rachel Sandler

I’m a San Francisco-based reporter covering breaking news at Forbes. Previously, I’ve reported for USA Today, Business Insider, The San Francisco Business Times and San Jose Inside. I studied journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and was an editor at The Daily Orange, the university’s independent student newspaper. Follow me on Twitter @rachsandl or shoot me an email rsandler@forbes.com.

Source: Bezos’s Phone Hacked By Saudi Crown Prince, Report Says

Amazon Isn’t Killing Brick-and-Mortar Retail. It’s Showing Other Retailers How to Do It

If you ask most people operating in the real estate market, they tell you that retail is at risk. The latest data shows commercial real estate retail deals are slumping, because Amazon is fundamentally changing the retail industry and pushing people online.

The facts, however, are decidedly different, as Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Super Sunday, and now Cyber Monday reveal.

Over the weekend, Adobe released its findings on U.S. retail spending over the past few days. It showed a clear consumer desire for online shopping (Black Friday online sales reached a record $7.4 billion, for instance). The study also found that mobile purchases accounted for 39 percent of all e-commerce sales–a 21 percent jump compared with last year.

At first blush, that might seem like brick-and-mortar retailers suffered. In truth, they benefited from an increasingly important phenomenon in which people buy online but pick up their orders in stores.

According to Adobe’s data, so-called BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In Store) purchases were up a whopping 43.2 percent year over year. It was a clear “sign that retailers are successfully bridging online and offline retail operations,” Adobe said.

In other words, brick-and-mortar retailers have found a way to bolster their offline businesses. Target and Best Buy have been among the most successful at it. During its fiscal third quarter ended November 2, for instance, Best Buy reported revenue of $9.8 billion, beating Wall Street’s expectations. Its growth came from a mix of online and offline sales.

But perhaps nowhere is the evidence of Amazon not killing brick-and-mortar stronger than in a quick evaluation of Amazon itself.

While the company still generates the lion’s share of its retail business online, it’s increasingly focusing its efforts in brick-and-mortar.

In 2017, Amazon announced plans to buy Whole Foods for $13.4 billion. Now, two years later, Amazon is only expanding its investment in the company and ramping up its delivery options to make it a more attractive option for shoppers.

Meanwhile, ​the company’s cashierless stores, Amazon Go,are growing in number and size. Amazon is placing more of them across the U.S., with plans to dramatically expand their footprint over the next few years. The company is also planning to open bigger Amazon Go stores that could be the size of supermarkets.

Perhaps most important to competing retailers, Amazon has also signaled a willingness to license its cashierless technology to competitors.

All of that should be making retailers ask themselves a very important question: If Amazon is the company that’s destroying brick-and-mortar retail, why is it also the company moving so aggressively toward it?

The fact is, brick-and-mortar retail still offers plenty of value to consumers, especially in food products, grocery stores, and convenience and service locations that can’t be easily replaced by Amazon. Even in areas where Amazon could replace the retailer (think electronics), companies like Best Buy and Walmart, among others, are doing well.

There’s no debating the future of shopping will still be dominated by e-commerce, but predicting the demise of offline shopping is ludicrous. And judging by its latest moves, no one knows that better than Amazon.

By Don ReisingerTechnology and business writer

@donreisinger

Source: Amazon Isn’t Killing Brick-and-Mortar Retail. It’s Showing Other Retailers How to Do It

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Every year, Amazon and other retailers end up with billions of pounds of excess, unsold inventory that they’re sending straight to landfills, or incinerating. Returns in the U.S. create more than 5 billion pounds of waste in landfills each year, and more than 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The problem is only growing as Amazon leads the way in bringing more shoppers online, where the rate of returns is 25%, compared to just 9% for in-store purchases. Now, the e-commerce giant and other tech companies and retailers are increasing donation efforts and using data and A.I. to cut back on the wasted inventory clogging our landfills and our planet. » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic About CNBC: From ‘Wall Street’ to ‘Main Street’ to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: https://www.cnbc.com/ Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC #CNBC What Retailers Like Amazon Do With Unsold Inventory

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Amazon Is Struggling To Hold On To The Pilots Who Ship Your Packages

Amazon’s promise of one-day shipping has led it to increasingly rely on its own air cargo division, Amazon Air. But as the number of shipments pushed through the cargo arm multiplies, the pilots who fly those packages continue to voice that they are overworked and underpaid.

The pilots don’t work for Amazon directly, but are employed by the contractors Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) and Atlas Air. More than 200 cargo pilots who fly for ABX Air, which is a division of ATSG, cast a vote of “no confidence” against management’s ability to resolve ongoing labor disputes, reported Reuters earlier this week. In total, all but one member of the pilot’s union voted “Yes” on a resolution that asked if they had “no confidence in management’s willingness to negotiate or reach an agreement for the benefit of all stakeholders to include the shareholders, the customers, and the employees.”

The pilot union, the Airline Professionals Association, has battled with the management of ATSG for five years to negotiate new work rules for its pilots. Issues involving how pilots are scheduled for their routes, salaries, and retirement still remain unresolved.

Those who fly for Atlas Air, another cargo operator used by Amazon, recently lost a three-year bid to secure a new work contract. Atlas pilots protested outside an airport in Cincinnati, Ohio for better workplace conditions in April. And in February, Atlas pilot crashed an Amazon Air flight, killing all three of its occupants, which some have suggested was linked to its staff being overworked.

Pilots at both airlines have complained about low morale, low pay, and poor workplace retention. Such troubles are brewing during a global pilot shortage, and many well-trained pilots who work for Atlas and ABX have simply left for better opportunities. A union survey earlier this year found that 60% of the pilots who work for the three airlines employed by Amazon (ABX Air, Atlas Air, and another called Southern Air) are looking for work elsewhere.

“We still have very experienced high quality pilots leaving for other carriers because they have better pay and better schedules,” Rick Ziebarth, an ABX Air pilot and executive council chairman of Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224, told Quartz. Ziebarth argued that as a result of well-trained pilots leaving, ABX is forced to hire people with far less experience who require more training. Quartz has reached out to Amazon for comment on the matter.

Worker grievances appear to have cropped up in every leg of Amazon’s supply chain. Amazon’s warehouse workers were found to suffer injuries at twice the national average of other warehouse workers, according to an investigation from Reveal. Delivery drivers for Amazon Flex, who are considered independent contractors by Amazon, work long hours with no chance of earning overtime or benefits.

ABX Air pilots won’t be able to strike until released from the US National Mediation Board (NMB), the federal agency which oversees aviation industry labor relations. Ziebarth said the board is still in the middle of holding negotiations with ATSG.

According to data from Flightpath Economics, a consulting firm, pilots who work for ABX Air and Atlas Air are amongst the lowest paid in the industry.

Company Pilot pay per hour
ATSG $152
Atlas $139
Fedex $243
UPS $288

As a whole, cargo pilots face tougher working conditions than their passenger pilot counterparts. Cargo pilots were left out of a 2014 law that required passenger pilots to get a minimum of 10 hours’ rest between flights. Aviation experts also say that lax safety standards and pilot fatigue has lead to a higher number of fatal crashes on cargo flights compared to passenger flights.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s air shipments are only likely to continue rising. FedEx in June announced it would no longer assist Amazon in its air delivery. That same month, Amazon announced it would roll out free one-day shipping for millions of new products. These combined factors have led to the e-commerce giant to rely on its own delivery services than ever before.

In July, Amazon Air flew 136 million pounds of goods across in the US, a 29% increase from the same period in 2018, and only 9 pounds less than the December 2018 holiday rush, according to data from ATSG and Atlas Air analyzed by Cargo Facts Consulting. And the growth simply won’t die down this holiday season, when Amazon expects to invest $1.5 billion into one-day shipping costs alone.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has said that his company will rely less on airplanes as it builds out its local warehouses. But for now, Amazon is continuing to grow its air cargo operations: it added 15 more planes to its fleet this year, and says it expects to have 70 planes by 2021. It is working on a $1.5 billion expansion of its Amazon Air Hub in Cincinnati—essentially an Amazon cargo airport—which is expected to finish in 2021.

When complete, the Air Hub will be able to handle 200 daily takeoffs and landings. It recently opened an Air Hub in Fort Worth, Texas.  It seems that as long as demand is high, the future of Amazon’s fast and free shipping will rely heavily on air freight.

By: Amrita Khalid

Source: Amazon is struggling to hold on to the pilots who ship your packages

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Amazon aims to compete with FedEx and UPS in the logistics and shipping industry. That’s what analysts told CNBC after Amazon Air recently expanded to 50 planes and announced it will open a $1.5 billion air hub in Northern Kentucky in 2021. Amazon is handling up to 26% of its own shipping, meaning FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service are losing a portion of Amazon’s business. FedEx says it’s not worried, but Morgan Stanley reports the major shippers have already lost 2% revenue to Amazon Air. » Subscribe to CNBC: http://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC About CNBC: From ‘Wall Street’ to ‘Main Street’ to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/ Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC Follow CNBC News on Facebook: http://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC Follow CNBC News on Twitter: http://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC Follow CNBC News on Google+: http://cnb.cx/PlusCNBC Follow CNBC News on Instagram: http://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC #CNBC #Amazon #AmazonAir As Amazon Air Expands, FedEx And UPS May Suffer
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