“Subscription services were up 32% to $5.24 billion. This segment mainly constitutes Amazon Prime , which the company has expanded to offer deals at places like Whole Foods . Keeping in line with this strategy, Amazon announced today that Prime members now get free delivery through Amazon Fresh, which normally costs $14.99 per month. Amazon Prime membership was the main takeaway that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wanted to focus on this quarter. He shared that Amazon now has over 150 million paid Prime members, up from 100 million Prime members in April 2018.”

“dLocal ( https://dlocal.com ), an award-winning fintech company that specializes in cross-border payments for emerging countries, announced today that Amazon went live with dLocal’s local payments acceptance services in Chile.”

“Amazon is partnering with India’s second largest retail chain in an effort to further its reach into the country. The online retail giant said this week it will become the official online sales channel for India’s Future Retail. While Future Retail has more than 1,500 physical stores around India, this will be its first large-scale online sales venture.  The two have entered into a long-term business agreement which will make Amazon India the authorized online sales channel for Future Retail stores. The focus will be on groceries and general merchandise, and fashion and footwear.”

“Amazon has transformed the small miracle of each delivery into an expectation of modern life. No car, no shopping list — no planning — required. But to make it all work, Amazon runs a machine that squeezes ever more money out of the hundreds of thousands of companies, from tiny start-ups to giant brands, that put the everything into Amazon’s Everything Store.”

“Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +0.67% is blocking its third-party sellers from using FedEx FDX -1.74% Corp.’s ground delivery network for Prime shipments, citing a decline in performance heading into the final stretch of the holiday shopping season. The ban on using FedEx’s Ground and Home services starts this week and will last “until the delivery performance of these ship methods improves,” according to an email Amazon sent Sunday to merchants that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.”

“Amazon.com Inc. recent breakup with longtime shipping partner FedEx Corp. shows how far the e-commerce giant has come in creating its own delivery network. Over the years, Amazon has played down its ambitions. But as consumers flock to its site for everything from toilet paper to TVs, Amazon has quietly blanketed the nation with hundreds of sprawling suburban warehouses and neighborhood package-sorting centers, flooded the streets with tens of thousands of vans and even taken to the airways. The costly effort is enabling Amazon to control how goods reach its customers—and increasingly turning it from a customer of delivery companies into a rival.”

“Amazon.com Inc will need to raise prices in the United States by about 2.1%-2.6% on average to offset the impact of fresh tariffs slapped by the Trump administration on various Chinese goods, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts estimated.”

“Amazon Prime Day is set for next week, and by all accounts Amazon.com Inc.’s online and in-store shopping frenzy is likely to be a payments-palooza. The event, which despite its name is set to cover two full days—July 15 and 16—this year, will generate $5.8 billion in sales, with $3.6 billion, or 62%, of that total coming from U.S. shoppers, projects Coresight Research, a New York City-based firm that follows retail spending. Internet Retailer is even more optimistic, forecasting $6.14 billion in sales.”

“t’s not often you see a CEO so sanguine about an ass whooping. “Something strange and remarkable has happened over the last 20 years,” Amazon’s Jeff Bezos said in his annual letter to shareholders . “Third-party sales have grown from 3% of the total to 58%. To put it bluntly: Third-party sellers are kicking our first-party butt.” Bezos has reason to be happy about the numbers, of course. They still mean more money for Amazon, whether Amazon is making the sales itself or just collecting the fees from sales by independent sellers on its marketplace.”

““After much review, we came to the decision to discontinue our pop-up kiosk program,” an Amazon spokeswoman confirmed to The Wall Street Journal. The closings are expected by the end of next month, some employees at Amazon pop-up stores said. These shops typically occupy a few hundred square feet of space and showcase devices like voice-assistant speakers, tablets and Kindle e-readers. They feature staff, dressed casually in black Amazon T-shirts, who encourage passersby to sample the newest products. Pop-ups are operated in locations ranging from malls and Kohl’s stores to Amazon’s Whole Foods stores in 21 states.”

“Operating cash flow increased 67% to $30.7 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $18.4 billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2017. Free cash flow increased to $19.4 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $8.3 billion for the trailing twelve months ended December 31, 2017.”

“To put that in context, Amazon’s cloud-computing business in 2018 took in a bit less than all of Mondelez International, the multinational snack and beverage conglomerate, which reported $25.9 billion in revenue for the year ended Dec. 31. It is barely less than the $25.8 billion in revenue Macy’s generated in all of 2017 (Macy’s hasn’t reported full year results yet for 2018). It’s more than the $21 billion in revenue McDonald’s booked in 2018, or the $22.7 billion taken in by Qualcomm during its 2018 fiscal year.”

“Instacart said Thursday that it would cease deliveries from 76 Whole Foods locations on Feb 10. The San Francisco-based company said around 240 employees would be laid off as a result. Most of the 1,415 Instacart employees that pick up orders from Whole Foods stores will be transferred to other divisions, founder and chief executive, Apoorva Mehta, said. Multi-retailer delivery services will continue to include Whole Foods for now but will scale back in coming months.”

“Amazon’s version of a futuristic 7-Eleven store is coming to New York City, and it’s going to be located inside a shopping and office complex across from the World Trade Center, Recode has learned. Amazon plans to unveil the cashierless convenience store inside Brookfield Place, formerly known as the World Financial Center, in Manhattan’s Battery Park City neighborhood.”