Amazon Prime Day Pushed Web Sales Up 8.5% to $11.9 Billion
Amazon sold more than 300 million items over two days, more than any previous Prime Day. Best-selling items included diapers, beauty products, and Apple watches, according to Amazon.
Inflation-weary shoppers predominantly stocked up on household items. The Adobe estimate measures total online spending across multiple retailers based on data from transactions involving more than 100 million products.
The average Amazon order during the event was $55.26, up 16.8% from Prime Day in 2021. Spending on Amazon was expected to reach $7.76 billion in the US and $12.5 billion globally over the two-day event.
Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 to attract new subscribers who pay $139 a year for shipping discounts, video streaming, and other perks. The event helps Amazon lock in shoppers before the holidays and deepens its relationship with existing customers by offering them deals on Amazon gadgets.
Alphabet’s Wing Develops Fleet of New Drones for More Efficient Package Delivery
Alphabet’s Wing subsidiary has developed a fleet of new drone prototypes designed to deliver packages more efficiently. One looks more like a small plane used by hobbyists, and the other has a fat belly for additional cargo space.
The prototypes are based on the Hummingbird, which the company says can carry about 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) and has made hundreds of thousands of deliveries in the Dallas suburbs, Virginia, Australia, and Finland. They use many components, such as motors and guidance systems, and follow similar designs.
The company is also considering building a prototype to allow flights farther than the current 6-mile range.
Currently, drone deliveries in the US are being tested with strict safety limits imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration. Routine deliveries are still years away as the industry waits for the agency to draft safety regulations for such deliveries.
Tesla moves to push lawsuit over mass layoffs out of court
Tesla has asked a U.S. court to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the electric car maker violated federal law by laying off hundreds of workers without advance notice.
The lawsuit, filed in June by two former Tesla employees, accuses the company of violating the law by abruptly laying off more than 500 workers at its Sparks, Nevada, Gigafactory as part of a nationwide purge of its workforce.
Tesla says the terminated workers signed valid agreements to pursue employment-related legal disputes in arbitration.
Plaintiffs moved to stop Tesla from allegedly asking workers to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the company in exchange for one or two weeks’ pay.
Plaintiffs seek class-action status for all former Tesla employees laid off in May or June without notice.
Netflix partners with Microsoft for a cheaper plan supported by ads
To provide users with a less expensive membership option that includes advertisements, Netflix has partnered with Microsoft. The company claims the new service will be an “addition” to its existing monthly subscriptions, free of ads.
How much the business intends to charge customers for this new service is still a secret. Netflix is trying to renegotiate its deals with significant entertainment firms to show advertisements as part of its service.
In April, Netflix saw $50bn wiped off its market value after the company disclosed a surprise fall in subscribers – the first drop since October 2011.
The company, which had gained millions of subscribers during COVID lockdowns, said it had lost 700,000 subscribers from closing its service in Russia.
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