Racked - How Amazon Is Changing the Way We Buy ClothesThe National Shopping, Stores, and Retail Scene Bloghttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52809/32x32.0..png2018-07-18T17:20:01-04:00http://www.racked.com/rss/stream/156189112018-07-18T17:20:01-04:002018-07-18T17:20:01-04:00Prime Day Was Huge For Amazon ... and Target
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<p>Prime Day 2018 saw over 100 million products sold.</p> <p id="4AehP1">After wrapping up its signature annual shopping event, Amazon validated predictions that Prime Day 2018 would be the biggest sales event in its history.</p>
<p id="SpukzH">Despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/16/17577614/amazon-prime-day-strike-boycotts">boycotts</a> meant to highlight reportedly <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/16/17577614/amazon-prime-day-strike-boycotts">poor working conditions of Amazon workers</a>, <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2358868">the company said in a statement</a> that sales from this year’s 36-hour Prime Day event exceeded those from Cyber Monday and Black Friday, as well as last year’s Prime Day. Over 100 million products were purchased worldwide, and more shoppers signed up for Prime, the secret weapon that <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/4/19/17256626/amazon-prime-100-million-subscribers">turns shoppers into Amazon addicts</a>, on July 16 than on any other day in the company’s history.</p>
<p id="Ib2Vsz">In a statement about Prime Day’s unprecedented sales, Amazon executive Jeff Wilke attributed the success to the event’s extended length, and to the hard work of Amazon employees. </p>
<p id="pMPSJm">“Extending Prime Day to a day and a half this year allowed us to further reward members with unbeatable deals, access to exclusive new products and unforgettable experiences that highlight the many benefits of a Prime membership,” he said. “All of this was made possible because of our many valued associates — the global team that continues to make Prime Day bigger and better.”</p>
<p id="uUr0iz">The company didn’t share exact numbers regarding its overall sales, but did say that small and medium-sized businesses on the Amazon platform sold more than $1 billion worth of stuff. Caron Proschan, the founder and CEO of Simply Gum, for example, said in the statement that sales of her products were up 400 percent. </p>
<p id="ix1JTU">Amazon also said that Prime members bought 300,000 Instant Pots, one of <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/7/17/17581752/sales-good-deals-discounts-prime-day-black-friday">Prime Day’s coveted deals</a>. Customers bought 5 million toys, an increase of 3.5 million in toys purchased from last year (and a nod to the space Amazon can fill <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/5/11/17345196/toys-r-us-workers-severance">now that Toys R Us is dunzo</a>). Some other breakouts? Shoppers in Canada bought tons of Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling Headphones, customers in China jumped on Paul & Joe Beaute Moisturizing Foundation, and people in Japan bought lots and lots of whey protein.</p>
<p id="Ghh9Lk">Still, it wasn’t all smooth. As Prime Day commenced, shoppers were outraged when the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/16/17577654/amazon-prime-day-website-down-deals-service-disruption">Amazon website crashed</a> from the onslaught of traffic. </p>
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<p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/W4pwEHCO4F">pic.twitter.com/W4pwEHCO4F</a></p>— Amazon.com (@amazon) <a href="https://twitter.com/amazon/status/1018963427392348160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2018</a>
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<p id="wnpZGg">Analysts believe that during the time that the site was down, Amazon lost about $99 million, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-17/amazon-s-prime-day-sales-soar-despite-widespread-glitches">Bloomberg</a>. But the e-commerce kingpin was quick to fix the problem, and research firm One Click Retail assesses that Amazon’s website outage probably helped the company overall, since the press tackled the story, <a href="https://qz.com/1329266/amazon-prime-day-yes-the-site-is-down/">doggie error message</a> and all, and ultimately brought more attention to the sales event.</p>
<p id="xteqi3">And Amazon wasn’t the only company that enjoyed record sales on Prime Day. What with Amazon’s considerable muscle in the shopping space, the shopping event <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/7/16/17576274/amazon-prime-day-2018-other-sales">created a halo effect</a>, where “Black Friday in July” has become a shopping event <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/7/16/17576274/amazon-prime-day-2018-other-sales">across the internet</a>, at sites like Target, J.Crew, Forever 21, and American Apparel, to name a few.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Our one-day sale’s almost here! Think 30% off Target-exclusive home brands, 25% off beauty and personal care and more, tomorrow only on <a href="https://t.co/XamWhSvpXQ">https://t.co/XamWhSvpXQ</a>. The best part? No membership required! Preview the deals here: <a href="https://t.co/134cUlPh7L">https://t.co/134cUlPh7L</a>. <a href="https://t.co/fJsYYCHBWR">pic.twitter.com/fJsYYCHBWR</a></p>— Target News (@TargetNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/TargetNews/status/1018931165158309888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 16, 2018</a>
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<p id="AHGdEC">On Wednesday, Target said in a <a href="https://corporate.target.com/press/releases/2018/07/target-s-one-day-sale-generates-biggest-online-sho">statement</a> that the one-day sale it held ~coincidentally~ on Prime Day was the company’s biggest shopping day of 2018. </p>
<p id="GQgdRq">“Hot offers drove the highest single day of traffic and sales of 2018 on Target.com as savings kicked off early Tuesday morning, with day-long deals on a broad assortment of Target-exclusive brands and top national brands,” read the statement. </p>
<p id="0jP74p">Target seemed to be pushing the message that its sale was more inclusive than Amazon’s, marketing it as a “<a href="https://corporate.target.com/article/2018/07/one-day-sale">sale for everyone</a>” and <a href="https://twitter.com/TargetNews/status/1018931165158309888">tweeting</a>, “The best part? No membership required!” </p>
<p id="FgJzvu">Target also declined to share their exact sales figures from the day, but it’s clear that the strategy of piggybacking off Amazon’s giant sales event worked. </p>
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https://www.racked.com/2018/7/18/17587694/prime-day-amazon-target-salesChavie Lieber2018-07-16T10:52:04-04:002018-07-16T10:52:04-04:00How Amazon Prime Took Over Online Shopping
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<figcaption>Photo: Amanda Edwards/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Prime Day is Amazon’s own Black Friday for its millions of subscribers.</p> <p id="K7w7k0">In April, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced in a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312518121161/d456916dex991.htm">letter to shareholders</a> that Amazon Prime, the flat-rate free shipping subscription, had surpassed 100 million subscribers. Bezos has always been extremely tight-lipped about the number of Amazon Prime subscribers, and with the announcement, Bezos added that “Amazon shipped more than five billion items with Prime worldwide, and more new members joined Prime than in any previous year — both worldwide and in the U.S.” </p>
<p id="prZg1Q">These days, Prime doesn’t just come with free shipping. The Seattle giant has a whole slew of perks, which has helped subscribers flock to the service. But it was the basics of the program that helped Prime become Amazon’s most powerful weapon in the online shopping game. </p>
<h3 id="eBUawz">A brief history of Amazon Prime </h3>
<p id="hqsTxU">Back in 2005, when it had only been around for 10 years, Amazon launched a flat-fee shipping program called Amazon Prime. On its website, Bezos wrote that the program was meant to “take the effort out of ordering.”</p>
<p id="eC7CDE">“No minimum purchase and no consolidating orders. Two-day shipping becomes an everyday experience rather than an occasional indulgence,” Bezos wrote. “We expect Amazon Prime to be expensive for Amazon.com in the short term. “In the long term, we hope to earn even more of your business, which will make it good for us too.”</p>
<p id="BGd5vw">The launch of Amazon Prime came at a time when Amazon was trying to persuade investors that it could strengthen customer loyalty, the tech site <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-unveils-flat-fee-shipping/">CNet</a> reported at the time. Amazon was battling <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/10/16/16473414/ebay-online-shopping-resale">competing sites like eBay</a> and already had suited up with incentives like its “Super Saver program,” which gave shoppers free shipping on $25 or more.</p>
<p id="FnfN6c">Initially, Amazon Prime had plenty of skeptics. Though <a href="http://old.seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2002168882_amazon03.html">the Seattle Times</a><em> </em>wrote that it could give the Seattle giant “a competitive advantage,” Wall Street also worried Amazon would be taking a huge hit. There were enormous expenses with the program, like the cost of free shopping and fulfilling orders, especially when the total amount of those orders would far surpass the annual membership fee of $79 (which Amazon eventually increased to $99 in 2011, and then again <a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/1/19/16909062/amazon-prime-monthly-price-increase-membership-two-day-shipping">this year</a> to $156 if customers are paying monthly).</p>
<p id="kt7NP9">“Skeptics thought we were crazy,” Amazon Prime vice president Greg Greeley later <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/10-years-later-amazon-celebrates-primes-triumph/">told</a> the paper, 10 years after launch. “At the time, they said, ‘Why would anybody want to spend that much for shipping?’ and ‘How the heck are they going to be able to afford it?’”</p>
<p id="TUpgi4">When it first launched, “tens of thousands” of people signed up for Amazon Prime. Over the next five years, Amazon Prime had a “healthy growth” rate, as Greely told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/02/03/what-amazons-learned-from-a-decade-of-prime/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ed73cad696b7">Washington Post</a>. In 2011, the service hit a pivotal moment: Amazon sweetened the deal by adding other perks to free shipping, like a lending library for those who had Amazon’s Fire Tablets and Kindles, as well as access to its own Netflix of sorts, Prime Instant Video. </p>
<p id="rIZx59">Today, with its more than 100 million subscribers, Amazon Prime is seemingly unstoppable. Prime membership now comes with way more perks than it did when Amazon enhanced the subscription in 2011: It now offers members access to exclusive in-house fashion labels, discounts to Whole Foods, <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/6/16/15816180/amazon-whole-foods-deal">which it bought in 2017</a>, and access to content from Amazon Studios, including award-winning shows like <em>Transparent</em>. With all its perks, Amazon Prime has helped Amazon become nothing short of a cash cow: In 2016, the company pulled in a cool $178 billion in revenue. </p>
<h3 id="MxAPFz">The real reason Amazon Prime is so valuable</h3>
<p id="oilDVQ">What is it about Amazon Prime that makes the subscription service so valuable? A competing subscription service like Costco, which offers discounts just as steep as Amazon, has 50.4 million memberships — an honorable number but still half of Amazon Prime’s. Walmart, Amazon’s biggest rival has a membership service too: Sam’s Club, which charges $45 annually for shoppers to access wholesale deals. In January, Walmart <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/12/heres-a-map-of-where-walmart-is-closing-more-than-60-sams-club-stores.html">abruptly shuttered</a> ten percent of Sam’s Clubs locations, citing difficulties in the real estate market.</p>
<p id="4T97KS">Both Costco and Sam’s Club had more than a decade head start on Amazon Prime, so why is it that Amazon Prime continues to reign supreme? Brad Stone, the author of <em>The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon</em>, chalks it up to its ability to completely alter shopping behavior. To put it bluntly, it turns shoppers into Amazon addicts.</p>
<p id="Kv2GC7">“Amazon Prime is the engine that drives Amazon,” he <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/4/4/14982426/amazon-fashion-clothes">explained to Racked </a>last year. “It capitalizes on irrational human behavior, where people are maximizing their membership. The whole point of getting people to sign up is for them to always be on the Amazon site, buying more.”</p>
<p id="0NmujB">To Amazon, it doesn’t matter that your measly $150 will come nowhere near helping the company cover its costs. Instead, it’s banking on you spending more time on the site, making it your No. 1 shopping destination, which <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/4/4/14982426/amazon-fashion-clothes">Amazon is quickly becoming</a> — just <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/3/6/17081942/oprah-celebrity-influencer">ask Oprah</a>, who’s decided her eponymous Favorite Things list should now live on the site.</p>
<p id="C8eDVb">According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, which tracks data on Amazon, Prime members spend 2.5 times more money than those who don’t belong to the program. The research firm told the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/10-years-later-amazon-celebrates-primes-triumph/">Seattle Times</a> that “once a customer signs up for Prime, they start to behave differently.” It added that it strongly suspects “that an Amazon Prime member spends their first year trying to justify the $99 cost, mostly in terms of free shipping, and spends to that level.”</p>
<p id="KnMxmQ">Amazon Prime has become so powerful it created its own holiday in 2015: Prime Day, Amazon’s very own Christmas in July. Cited as a shopping day that’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-day-is-killing-black-friday-2017-7">completely decimating</a> events like Black Friday, Prime Day last summer had its sales jump a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/12/amazon-prime-day-breaks-record-event-grew-by-more-than-60-percent.html">record 60 percent</a> in the 30-hour window Amazon ran the shopping bonanza. </p>
<p id="Sq8CO2">As Amazon marches on through the land of e-commerce, its most powerful weapon is helping it become the most forceful company in shopping. According to CNBC’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/19/more-than-75-percent-of-us-online-consumers-shop-on-amazon-most-of-the-time.html">All-America Economic Survey</a>, more than 75 percent of the country shops on Amazon “most of the time.” Amazon’s biggest competitors, like department stores and big-box chains, have even realized they can’t compete and are bowing to Bezos instead. Kohl’s now sells Amazon gadgets in stores and <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/9/19/16335058/kohls-amazon-returns">will even process shoppers’ Amazon returns</a>. Best Buy, which used to be Amazon’s adversary in the tech space, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/18/17251214/amazon-best-buy-fire-tv-edition-smart-deal-partnership">announced</a> it would sell Amazon’s smart TVs. </p>
<p id="K1XhKP">Now it seems that no one, not even the president, <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/3/29/17175834/trump-hates-amazon">try as he might</a>, can slow Amazon down. </p>
https://www.racked.com/2018/4/19/17256626/amazon-prime-100-million-subscribersChavie Lieber2018-06-20T12:30:01-04:002018-06-20T12:30:01-04:00Amazon’s Latest Alexa Is Headed for Hotel Rooms
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>Alexa for Hospitality will start rolling out at hotels across the country this summer.</p> <p id="vjWwX8">Alexa, Amazon’s virtual voice assistant, wants to help you <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/4/17/17219166/fashion-style-algorithm-amazon-echo-look">pick out your clothing</a> and <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/5/3/17314982/amazon-echo-dot-kids-privacy">parent your children</a>. It also apparently wants to go on vacation with you.</p>
<p id="KOOldU">Yesterday, the tech giant <a href="http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2355061">announced</a> it has developed a version of Alexa for hotels. Called “Alexa for Hospitality,” the technology will assist hotel guests in controlling room temperature, arranging wake up calls, delivering weather updates, reserving spa treatments, and booking reservations. “Alexa, bring me wine”; ask and you shall receive.</p>
<p id="wZHjMb">Hospitality companies that want to use the technology will only be accepted “by invitation.” The first brand bringing it into its hotel rooms is the Marriott Group, designating select Marriott, Westin, St. Regis, Aloft, and Autograph hotels to add Alexa for Hospitality via Amazon Echos in its hotel rooms starting this summer. The first hotels to use the tech will be the Marriott Irvine Spectrum in California and the Charlotte Marriott City Center in North Carolina.</p>
<p id="ijcb2D">“Customers tell us they love how easy it is to get information, enjoy entertainment and control connected devices by simply asking Alexa, and we want to offer those experiences everywhere customers want them,” Daniel Rausch, an Amazon vice president, wrote in the company’s statement about the launch.</p>
<p id="I0zUkR">The important word in Rausch’s statement is “everywhere.” While guests can opt out of using Alexa by shutting it (her?) off, the idea of having a gadget inside your hotel room that can listen and track your activities is kind of creepy. It’s just another example of how Amazon is slowly crawling into every aspect of people’s lives, and how massive tech companies are becoming inextricably tied to our daily routines, despite <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/timeline-facebook-s-privacy-issues-its-responses-n859651">growing privacy concerns</a>. In May, a couple in Portland, Oregon said their Amazon Alexa <a href="https://www.kiro7.com/www.kiro7.com/news/local/woman-says-her-amazon-device-recorded-private-conversation-sent-it-out-to-random-contact/755507974">recorded a private conversation</a> they were having and sent it to a random contact, and last week two senators <a href="https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/ef175bd4-d6b4-46eb-9014-bb8942420a63/06.12.18-flake-coons-amazon-letter.pdf">wrote a letter</a> to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, asking for details about how much of its users’ activity Alexa was tracking, and what Amazon intends to do with the data. </p>
<p id="CURGr5">This isn’t the first time Alexa has been used in the hospitality space. In 2016, the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas <a href="https://www.recode.net/2016/12/14/13956576/amazon-echo-awynn-las-vegas-hotel-partnership">put Amazon Echoes</a> in all of its nearly 5,000 hotel rooms. Back then, the Amazon Echo focused on functions like controlling the temperature and moving the drapes. But with this latest, hospitality-specific edition, guests will soon be able to connect their Amazon account to their hotel room’s Alexa. </p>
<p id="zPPZrU">They can then stream music from their personal Spotify accounts and listen to books from their Audible libraries. The account would be automatically be disconnected when a guest checks out, but there’s certainly data to be collected on what guests do during their free time, and who knows what hospitality groups, or Amazon, might potentially do with that information. (Anyone else thinking about that <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/the-strange-twisted-story-behind-netflixs-voyeur.html">bizarre Gay Talese piece</a> in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/gay-talese-the-voyeurs-motel">the New Yorke</a>r about the “Voyeur’s Motel”?)</p>
<p id="HGgLIB">Amazon moving into the hospitality space will certainly affect it in the long run: The Marriott Group has over 1 million hotel rooms, and other hotel companies will be sure to want to compete. They will no doubt turn to competing virtual assistant gadgets from Google and Apple, which means the sterility, silence, and (relative) privacy we love about hotel rooms could soon be accompanied by an eavesdropping gadget.</p>
<p id="ew5ARz">Amazon doesn’t just have its sights set on hotels: In its statement, the company wrote that the technology will make it easy for vacation rental companies “to manage their property experiences and engage with guests.” Amazon lists RedAwning and the Two Roads Hospitality portfolio (which includes Thompson Hotels) as brands that could benefit from its service, which sounds like Amazon has already invited these companies to use its technology. But what will it mean for the privacy of family getaways and wild bachelorette parties if Airbnb or VRBO hosts sign up and start popping Amazon Echos next to their <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/6/6/17426290/monstera-leaf-trend">Monstera plants</a>? </p>
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https://www.racked.com/2018/6/20/17483378/amazon-alexa-hospitalityChavie Lieber2018-06-12T16:45:01-04:002018-06-12T16:45:01-04:00How “Bullying” Amazon Killed a Seattle Tax Meant to Help the Homeless
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<figcaption>Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. | Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>The “head tax” would have helped support the city’s homeless population.</p> <p id="21rdel">Just weeks after <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-city-council-votes-9-0-for-scaled-down-head-tax-on-large-employers/">Seattle passed</a> a new business tax that would have had Amazon shelling out additional funds to help the homeless, the city has now reversed its decision. </p>
<p id="ZeNNNe">The Seattle City Council voted to repeal the “head tax” late Tuesday afternoon, even though it <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-city-council-votes-9-0-for-scaled-down-head-tax-on-large-employers/">voted unanimously</a> in favor of it only one month ago. In a move that some on the city council have called “backroom betrayal” as a result of “bullying by Amazon,” the abrupt 180 on the tax plan is stunning and proves just how powerful Amazon truly is.</p>
<p id="Ap39JO">The tax was a proposed solution to <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/king-county-homeless-population-third-largest-in-u-s/">Seattle’s rising homelessness crisis</a>. It targeted for-profit companies in the state that gross more than $20 million annually. Starting in January 2019, these businesses would have had to pay $275 per employee, and Seattle was expected to collect about $50 million. The funds were to go toward affordable housing as well as programs aimed at ending homelessness. Washington state collects no income tax, so the city is seriously lacking funds for public service programming. </p>
<p id="T3pZt2">While the Seattle tax would have affected 585 companies, the city really had its eye on Amazon since it’s the largest, with some 45,000 employees. CEO and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1514733&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fmoney%2F2018%2F03%2F06%2Fjeff-bezos-unseats-bill-gates-forbes-2018-richest-billionaires-list%2F398877002%2F&referrer=racked.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2018%2F6%2F12%2F17454480%2Fseattle-tax-amazon-starbucks" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">richest person in the world</a>, and the company was recently the subject of an <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/979326715272065024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.racked.com%2F2018%2F3%2F29%2F17175834%2Ftrump-hates-amazon">angry tweet</a> from President Donald Trump, who accused it of not paying taxes. (It’s <a href="https://www.racked.com/2018/3/29/17175834/trump-hates-amazon">way more complicated than that</a>.)</p>
<p id="9tKyGG">The vote to repeal the tax Tuesday was abrupt, chaotic, and heated. <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/about-face-seattle-city-council-repeals-head-tax-amid-pressure-from-big-businesses/">The Seattle Times</a> reports that shouting activists chanted slogans like “housing is a human right,” and held signs that read “tax Amazon.” One council member was near tears as she admitted that “the opposition,” a.k.a. Amazon, has “unlimited resources.”</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">URGENT ACTION ALERT on Amazon Tax to build affordable housing: <a href="https://twitter.com/SeattleCouncil?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SeattleCouncil</a> will repeal the tax on big biz at noon tomorrow! This is a capitulation to bullying by Amazon & other big biz. This backroom betrayal was planned over weekend w/o notifying movement (incl. my office).</p>— Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmkshama/status/1006269732197052416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2018</a>
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<p id="hgyUmN">Amazon has been playing hardball over the tax for some time now. In early May, the company <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/technology/amazon-development-tax.html">abruptly stopped construction</a> on a new campus in downtown Seattle; an Amazon spokesperson said it was because of the tax. The spokesperson also said that the company was “evaluating options,” and was considering subleasing another space instead of occupying the building. This all sent the message that Amazon wasn’t tied to Seattle. That certainly wasn’t a bluff, considering cities all over the country are trying to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/rules-of-engagement-how-cities-are-courting-amazons-new-headquarters-1522661401">court the tech giant</a> to build its second American headquarters in one of their cities. </p>
<p id="cusLSK">“The city does not have a revenue problem — it has a spending efficiency problem,” Drew Herdener, an Amazon vice president, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/technology/seattle-amazon-headquarters-tax.html">the New York Times</a> regarding the tax. “We are highly uncertain whether the City Council’s anti-business positions or its spending inefficiency will change for the better.”</p>
<p id="lvd81e">Seattle had already bowed partially to Amazon, bringing the tax amount down from its original proposal of $500 per employee. Once the city council passed the head tax Amazon resumed its construction, but <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-city-council-votes-9-0-for-scaled-down-head-tax-on-large-employers/">said</a> it remained “very apprehensive about the future created by the council’s hostile approach and rhetoric toward larger businesses, which forces us to question our growth here.” </p>
<p id="afhA60">Amazon then went to work to make sure it got its way. Along with the most powerful companies in Seattle — including Starbucks and Vulcan, the investment firm of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen — the coalition <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-businesses-strike-back-against-head-tax-launch-referendum/">paid for an organized effort</a> called No Tax on Jobs. They spent nearly $300,000 to get signatures, and both Amazon and Starbucks said they would pledge hundreds of thousands more. In no time at all, the campaign amassed enough support to get an option to repeal the tax on a November ballot. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce was also <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/about-face-seattle-city-council-repeals-head-tax-amid-pressure-from-big-businesses/">reportedly</a> doing Amazon’s bidding by convincing tons of voters to go against the tax. Seattle was essentially backed into a corner.</p>
<p id="rj2PW5">“We heard you,” a <a href="http://durkan.seattle.gov/2018/06/statement-by-mayor-durkan-and-members-of-the-seattle-city-council-on-the-future-of-the-business-tax-to-address-the-homelessness-crisis/">statement</a> released by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and city council president Bruce Harrell read. “The City remains committed to building solutions that bring businesses, labor, philanthropy, neighborhoods and communities to the table. Now more than ever, we all must roll up our sleeves and tackle this crisis together.”</p>
<p id="C7pAGq">Some Seattle natives tell Racked they, too were keen on getting the tax repealed. For one thing, some locals were furious the tax lumped small, local businesses together with giants like Amazon and Starbucks. The law also didn’t take important details into consideration, like size, structure, or industry of a company; local grocery chains that gross $20 million, for example, would subsequently be hit with the tax, but their margins and losses are vastly different from a company like Microsoft. And many worried the tax would ruin the economy, especially if the new law made businesses flee the state.</p>
<p id="aQt71B">Once the tax was repealed, Amazon released a statement calling it “the right decision.” It also says it’s committed to working with the city for a solution.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Statement on Seattle City Council's vote: <a href="https://t.co/4LjHFGlQwf">pic.twitter.com/4LjHFGlQwf</a></p>— Amazon News (@amazonnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/amazonnews/status/1006654231506546688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2018</a>
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<p id="Gk3lbL">There has been no proposed solution, though, to replace the Amazon tax, as it’s been called. Seattle has the third-largest homeless population in the US, after New York and Los Angeles. Living costs and overall city expenses have skyrocketed over the years — a phenomenon some call the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/is-the-amazon-effect-on-rising-rents-real/">“Amazon effect,”</a> with <a href="http://time.com/4297797/amazon-homeless-shelter-seattle/">many directly attributing</a> the problem to the tech company. </p>
<p id="BY4ev0">Amazon has pushed forward its expansion plans as income inequality and poverty rage through its city. When the company announced it was looking to build a second headquarters, city councilmember Kshana Sawant said Amazon has been “using its monopoly power to gobble up swathes of prime Seattle real estate, and extract plum deals from the city’s Democratic establishment. This political establishment has, in the meanwhile, overseen an explosion in homelessness and an acute crisis in affordable housing.” The tech giant has <a href="http://prospect.org/article/amazon-seattle-housing-crisis-not-our-problem">rebuffed</a> these accusations. </p>
<p id="pLO8aO">Since Seattle first voted for the tax, there’s been <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2018/06/05/news/economy/google-apple-head-tax/index.html?iid=EL">consideration</a> about whether California’s Mountain View should have its own “Google tax,” and Cupertino its own “Apple tax.” If there’s anything we’ve learned from Amazon’s victory over Seattle, its that these tech companies will not go down without a fight — and they probably have enough power to win.</p>
<p id="yAQbWQ"><em>Update: Thursday, June 14, 10:30 am.</em></p>
<p id="azpF2s"><em>This post has been updated</em><em> with information on the final vote, and with comment from Seattle locals.</em></p>
<aside id="uSWggk"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"racked_national"}'></div></aside><p id="JEHs2K"></p>
https://www.racked.com/2018/6/12/17454480/seattle-tax-amazon-starbucksChavie Lieber2018-02-20T12:32:01-05:002018-02-20T12:32:01-05:00Alexa Shopping Isn’t as Easy as You May Hope
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<img alt="Rebecca Jennings with an Amazon Echo Dot" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QbCTORWuFczRx3xqD9s1qr4BGAs=/115x43:687x472/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58755705/Screen_Shot_2018_02_20_at_10.51.26_AM.0.png" />
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>Here’s what happens when you try to use the Amazon Echo Dot to shop.</p> <p id="uyTv3l">It’s safe to say <a href="https://www.amazon.com/">Amazon</a> would like to infiltrate every corner of our homes and every second of our day, hence the company’s line of Echo products. That includes the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Echo-Look-Camera-Style-Assistant/dp/B0186JAEWK">Echo Look</a>, which <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/7/16984218/amazons-echo-look-collections-feature-curated-content-vogue-gq">uses a camera and machine learning</a> to feed you fashion recommendations, and the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Echo-Dot-Portable-Bluetooth-Speaker-with-Alexa-Black/dp/B01DFKC2SO">Echo Dot</a>, which can play music, make calls, send text messages, read the news, and, ostensibly, shop.</p>
<p id="rab5eH">But how good at shopping is Alexa, especially when it comes to clothing — y’know, the kind of thing you usually want to see with your eyeballs before you buy? </p>
<p id="TutAFi">We put an Echo Dot to the test. Spoiler: Shopping by voice is really, really tough. </p>
<p id="SvDkBZ"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/racked36">Follow Racked on YouTube for more videos</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rackednational/?fref=ts">Like Racked on Facebook to never miss a video</a></p>
https://www.racked.com/video/2018/2/20/17031958/alexa-shopping-amazon-echo-dot-voiceRacked Video2018-01-08T09:32:02-05:002018-01-08T09:32:02-05:00Your Amazon Order Could Get You in Trouble With Customs
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<img alt="Amazon-branded shipping boxes go down a conveyor belt." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/lkC8z5m4LmiOpWPtXPXvms3P_QU=/0x0:4589x3442/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58206207/amazon_counterfeit.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>The unexpected consequences of accidentally buying a counterfeit.</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap" id="TzRvGL">Amazon’s counterfeit problem is <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/7/26/16036090/amazon-birkenstock-ceo-letter">well documented</a>, but it’s easy to forget the myriad ways in which it can become your problem, too. After all, your new face mask probably won’t <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/counterfeit-cosmetics-fragrances">contain arsenic</a>, your off-brand USB cord probably won’t <a href="https://gizmodo.com/cheap-usb-c-cables-could-kill-your-phone-or-laptop-1757115350">fry your laptop</a>, your made-in-China hoverboard probably won’t <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/01/hoverboard-amazon-lawsuit-burn-down-house-tennessee">burn your house down</a>, and your designer suitcase probably won’t put you on a US Customs and Border Protection blacklist for importing counterfeit goods. </p>
<p id="DmypCG">Probably. </p>
<p id="Yh6bVT">Not everyone is so lucky, however. In November, Harper Reed, an entrepreneur in residence at Paypal and the former chief technology officer at Obama for America, <a href="https://twitter.com/harper/status/929827393627459585">tweeted</a> that he had purchased a suitcase on Amazon by Rimowa, a high-end luggage brand whose full-size styles typically retail upwards of $700. The suitcase was full-price, he wrote, and there weren’t any red flags on the listing that would have alerted him to a potentially sketchy product. The order never arrived, however, and he got a refund from Amazon and went to Neiman Marcus to buy it in person.</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is pretty annoying. The listing was full price and seemed like all other Amazon Items. <br><br>But I guess it wasn’t.</p>— harper (@harper) <a href="https://twitter.com/harper/status/929827549361950721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2017</a>
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<p id="tITmi4">Fast-forward to Reed’s renewal interview for Global Entry, a CBP Trusted Traveler program that expedites the airport security process for “pre-approved, low-risk travelers.” For frequent international flyers, it can be the difference between spending hours waiting in line to have your passport inspected by a customs agent or breezing through a kiosk check in 15 minutes. Except this time, he said, his application was denied. His name had been flagged by CBP for importing counterfeit goods — specifically, a Rimowa suitcase. </p>
<p id="tUgydM">While the organization doesn’t release information about specific cases, a spokesperson confirmed that having a past violation of customs laws or regulations on your record may make you ineligible for Trusted Traveler programs. Whether that violation was intentional is, to some extent, beside the point. (And while there is an <a href="https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1150/~/trusted-traveler-application-denied">appeals process</a>, it can take around six months.)</p>
<p id="PdKouI">When CBP intercepts a shipment, says <a href="https://www.burnslev.com/professionals/mark-schonfeld">Mark Schonfeld</a>, an intellectual property lawyer at Burns & Levinson LLP, in Boston, Massachusetts, it sends a seizure notice to the trademark holder (in this case, Rimowa), which includes the names of the importer and exporter. The brand can then decide what action it wants to take, if any. Going after the latter party can be difficult and costly, since the vast majority of counterfeits come from Asia (in 2016, nearly <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2017-Oct/FY2016%20IPR%20Stats%20Book.pdf">90 percent of products</a> seized by CBP originated in China and Hong Kong). The importer, however, is by definition domestic, making them the easier target. </p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="9SM0cy"><q>“You know, you can go to Tijuana, just right over the San Diego border and you can easily buy counterfeits there, but no consumer should think that coming back into the United States with the item is risk free.”</q></aside></div>
<p id="Mrf6HB">Schonfeld says this is the first instance he’s heard of in which a consumer has been flagged for importing a single item, but that legally, the principle is the same. “It definitely can happen to a consumer,” he says. “You know, you can go to Tijuana, just right over the San Diego border and you can easily buy counterfeits there, but no consumer should think that coming back into the United States with the item is risk free.” Much more common are cases in which Amazon itself is named as the importer, particularly since it began <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/02/14/how-amazons-wooing-of-chinese-sellers-is-hurting-american-innovation/">courting Chinese sellers</a> with favorable shipping terms in 2015, and as its Fulfillment By Amazon program <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170104005420/en/Sellers-Amazon-Thriving-Fulfillment-Amazon-Delivered-2">expands</a> by leaps and bounds each year, offering third-party merchants the chance to take advantage of the e-commerce giant’s logistics infrastructure, customer service, and even Prime two-day shipping by sending goods directly to its warehouses.</p>
<p id="4m2Lrw">While Amazon’s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201166010">anti-counterfeiting policy</a> has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-counterfeit/amazon-to-expand-counterfeit-removal-program-in-overture-to-sellers-idUSKBN16S2EU">evolved</a> in the past year in response to pressure from brands, it remains primarily reactive: In the event of a complaint, the site can suspend or shut down a seller’s account, withhold payment, and destroy merchandise, but ultimately the onus is on the rights holder, customers, and <a href="https://www.thecounterfeitreport.com/fake_report_results.php?sort_by=report_start_date&sort_direction=desc&product_source=amazon&page_id=fake_report_results&isAjax=true">independent monitoring groups</a> to police the marketplace. Brands have repeatedly said this isn’t enough: In 2016, Birkenstock <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/20/birkenstock-quits-amazon-in-us-after-counterfeit-surge.html">pulled its products</a> from the site to protest the flood of fakes, and last summer, the CEO said in <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/7/26/16036090/amazon-birkenstock-ceo-letter">no uncertain terms</a> that no sellers were authorized to work with the site (still, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=birkenstock">a search</a> for the brand’s name brings up more than 1,800 results). The CEO of LVMH, which in October 2016 bought a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-04/lvmh-to-buy-80-of-german-suitcase-maker-rimowa-for-716-million">majority stake</a> in Rimowa, said the following day that there was <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/10/11/lvmh-no-business-amazon/">“no way”</a> its brands would ever do business with Amazon.</p>
<aside id="CUObgh"><div data-anthem-component="actionbox" data-anthem-component-data="{"title":"Like what you're reading?","description":"Get Racked's twice-weekly newsletter.","label":"SIGN UP","url":"https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/59F5932428C4E6CD"}"></div></aside><p id="uR6J8A">Small businesses, meanwhile, have found themselves <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/24/how-amazon-counterfeits-put-this-mans-business-on-brink-of-collapse.html">floundering</a> as Chinese manufacturers knock off their products and undercut their pricing. Seattle-based pillowcase company Milo & Gabby <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2015/judge-troubled-by-his-own-ruling-in-amazon-counterfeit-goods-case-says-its-an-issue-for-congress-to-address/">sued in 2013</a> after finding Amazon Marketplace sellers using their imagery to sell cheap copycats.</p>
<p id="ThKQtu">The judge ruled in favor of Amazon in that case, but not without reservation. “There is no doubt that we now live in a time where the law lags behind technology,” he wrote, referencing the legal precedent that allows companies like eBay, Facebook, and Google to act as a platform for third-party transactions and advertisements <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/12/13/16762872/scam-sites-facebook-shopify">without assuming liability</a>. He posited that it will be up to Congress to enact new legislation to deal with the growing problem, but Schonfeld says case law could change the game even sooner than that.</p>
<p id="7miwhO">In October, Mercedes-Benz’s parent company, Daimler AG, filed a <a href="http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/11/15/daimler-trademark-lawsuit-amazon-infringement-counterfeits/id=90101/">trademark infringement suit</a> against Amazon, alleging that the retailer “facilitates the sale of an exorbitant number of counterfeit and infringing goods,” including an array of knock-off wheel center caps bearing the automaker’s trademark. Adding to the potential confusion is the fact that the products were marked as “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com,” giving them a veneer of authenticity and implying that they have been vetted by the retailer. </p>
<p id="i4SXTY">To get the “sold by Amazon” mark, merchants sell products directly to Amazon through a wholesale program called <a href="https://vendorexpress.amazon.com/hz/vendor/public/support/help/node/G201531290">Vendor Express</a>, or the invitation-only <a href="https://vendorcentral.amazon.com/gp/vendor/sign-in?ie=UTF8&originatingURI=%2Fgp%2Fvendor%2Fmembers%2Fhome">Vendor Central</a>. Unlike <a href="https://services.amazon.com/content/sell-on-amazon.html">Seller Central</a>, which welcomes third-party merchants, the vendor programs require that sellers own the intellectual property rights to their products, although Daimler and others allege that the retailer has failed to adequately screen the goods they’ve accepted. Some brands, <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/6/21/15847190/nike-selling-on-amazon">like Nike</a>, have chosen to go the wholesale route with Amazon in hopes of cutting third-party sellers from the equation, but critics of the programs say the retailer’s <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/6/28/15881994/amazon-nike-partnership-elaine-kwon">aggressive promotional pricing</a> can end up hurting brands more than it helps, and its lower margins and longer payment terms may not be tenable for smaller businesses.</p>
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<img alt="Anti-counterfeiting ad reading “If It Seems Like A Steal, It Probably Is.”" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/T6TsW_F46SsWRSb13RpZnNBA3E0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9978027/fakegoodsrealdangers_jpgs_2.jpg">
<cite>U.S. Customs and Border Protection</cite>
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<p id="2HEyC4">Amazon’s ever-evolving business model sets it apart from fellow internet giants. Facebook, for instance, isn’t renting 114 million square feet of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/business/amazon-ecommerce-warehouse-demand.html?_r=0">warehouse space</a> to store its users’ products; Google isn’t packing and delivering <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170104005420/en/Sellers-Amazon-Thriving-Fulfillment-Amazon-Delivered-2">2 billion third-party items</a> a year. “It’s no longer just an intermediary,” says Schonfeld. “It’s a seller, it’s the receiver of the payment, it’s the processor, it’s the warehouser. The more it does, the more it opens itself up for liability for selling counterfeit and infringing goods.” Even if the Daimler decision fails to recognize this, he adds, eventually, another case might. (Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.)</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="gNEj0S"><q>“It’s no longer just an intermediary. It’s a seller, it’s the receiver of the payment, it’s the processor, it’s the warehouser. The more it does, the more it opens itself up for liability for selling counterfeit and infringing goods.”</q></aside></div>
<p id="L75QeD">Still, this raises the question: If even multibillion-dollar corporations are struggling to fend off counterfeits, how are everyday shoppers supposed to protect themselves? </p>
<p id="AbzVgC">The CBP spokesperson offered the maxim that “if a deal on any product seems too good to be true, it probably is,” but, of course, this doesn’t help if you’re paying full price or getting only a nominal discount, and some sellers undercut authentic products by just a few dollars, knowing that price is the <a href="https://retail.emarketer.com/article/price-key-factor-amazon-shoppers/58b9d80febd40009c84ddf02">deciding factor</a> for most Amazon shoppers. It also doesn’t help that counterfeiters can piggyback on brands’ <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/02/14/how-amazons-wooing-of-chinese-sellers-is-hurting-american-innovation/#37c74f531df2">official marketplace listings</a>, taking advantage of their product photography and descriptions, and making it increasingly difficult for customers to discern who, exactly, they’re buying from. Merchants can also choose whether or not they want to advertise their geographical location, so even savvy consumers would have a difficult time avoiding those based in known knockoff hot spots. </p>
<p id="4iMVJn">“You can’t know based on a listing whether or not it’s a generic or a brand,” Chris McCabe, a former Amazon employee who now runs a <a href="https://www.ecommercechris.com">consulting business</a> for sellers, told <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/02/14/how-amazons-wooing-of-chinese-sellers-is-hurting-american-innovation/"><em>Forbes</em></a>. “You only know from opening it and using it.” And maybe not even then, if the fraudster does their job well.</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="jAFZRZ"><q>“You can’t know based on a listing whether or not it’s a generic or a brand. You only know from opening it and using it.”</q></aside></div>
<p id="d6hNMp">Amazon has made no secret of its <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/4/4/14982426/amazon-fashion-clothes">fashion aspirations</a>. It’s projected to surpass Macy’s and T.J. Maxx owner TJX Companies in apparel sales this year, making it the second-largest retailer in the category after Walmart. By 2021, research firm Cowen and Company predicts that Amazon will generate $62 billion in annual apparel sales, or just over 16 percent of the industry total. </p>
<p id="IP6R9z">Expanding its footprint in fashion may mean dealing with an increasing number of knockoffs, however. In 2016, clothing, handbags, footwear, and jewelry comprised 53 percent of the more than <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/ipr">$1.3 billion</a> worth of counterfeit goods seized by CBP, up from 49 percent in 2015. The organization also launched an ad campaign this past summer warning travelers about the hidden dangers of counterfeits, including potential health hazards, support of organized crime and money laundering, and damage to the U.S. job market and economy. If Amazon wants to stay in the good graces of the premium fashion brands it has managed to court so far — not to mention <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/customers-think-positively-of-amazon-2017-12">those of its customers</a> — it may need to come up with a more thorough system of vetting products and cracking down on violations.</p>
<p id="OW1rJw">Buying a knock-off no longer needs to be as intentional as trekking to Canal Street and following the chorus of “Fendi, Gucci, Prada” into the back room of a seedy storefront. These days it can be as simple — and seemingly innocent — as clicking “add to cart” on a T-shirt that costs $12 instead of $15, or splurging on a suitcase that, unbeknownst to you, is shipped from China. Shopping has never been easier, thanks largely to Amazon’s efforts to make every purchase more seamless than the last, but it’s also never been easier to fall into a trap. </p>
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https://www.racked.com/2018/1/8/16849298/amazon-counterfeits-global-entry-customsHilary George-Parkin2017-09-19T15:20:02-04:002017-09-19T15:20:02-04:00Kohl’s Will Now Process Your Amazon Returns
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<img alt="A Kohl’s storefront." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sDzy_q8CO7GIK1SqC8tvQCEqBg4=/113x0:1888x1331/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56756573/GettyImages_563591655.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo: Ricardo Dearatanha/Los Angeles Times/ Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>It’s convenient for shoppers, sure, but it’s indicative of the trouble retail is in. </p> <p id="xD9o0K"><em>This story originally appeared in Racked’s daily newsletter. Want more news from Racked? </em><a href="https://voxmedia.createsend.com/h/d/C4595F1D5E0088D6?_ga=2.202935249.1185288672.1504568808-1723404676.1490823515"><em><strong>Sign up for our newsletter here</strong></em></a><em><strong>.</strong></em></p>
<p id="bbxBDZ">After Kohl’s <a href="http://racked.createsend1.com/t/d-l-uyjjdyy-l-yu/">announced</a> it would sell Amazon gadgets in 10 of its stores, it’s decided to up the ante by <a href="http://racked.createsend1.com/t/d-l-uyjjdyy-l-jl/">accepting Amazon returns</a> in 82 locations across Chicago and Los Angeles. Kohl’s employees will now pack and ship items back to Amazon fulfillment centers for customers free of charge.</p>
<p id="1j26cf"><a href="http://racked.createsend1.com/t/d-l-uyjjdyy-l-jr/">Kohl’s</a> is also sweetening the deal by letting customers park in designated spots near store entrances, keeping the box-schlepping to a minimum. Kohl’s didn’t share whether the service will be rolled out to other cities, but it’s safe to assume a partnership between the two companies will only continue to expand.</p>
<p id="qBW6Gz">While Kohl’s chief administrative officer Richard Schepp said the move demonstrates “a great example of how Kohl’s and Amazon are leveraging each other's strengths,” it is clearly a play to get shoppers into Kohl’s doors, as foot traffic in department stores in particular is down significantly. That a once-mighty retailer like Kohl’s is willing to do shoppers’ annoying tasks for them in the hopes that they might browse — or even buy something! — signals just how troubled retail is... <a href="http://racked.createsend1.com/t/d-l-uyjjdyy-l-jy/">not that we needed a reminder</a>.</p>
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https://www.racked.com/2017/9/19/16335058/kohls-amazon-returnsChavie Lieber2017-07-26T15:03:09-04:002017-07-26T15:03:09-04:00Birkenstock CEO Uses All Caps to Yell at Amazon
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<figcaption>Photo: Arno Burgi/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p class="c-entry-disclaimer"><i>Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods">The Goods by Vox</a>. You can also see what we’re up to by <a href="https://vox.com/goods-newsletter">signing up here</a>.</i></p>
<p>He's really pissed.</p> <p id="f6o47B">Over the course of Amazon’s quest for <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/6/23/15854870/amazon-clothing-shopping-fashion">total world domination</a>, few companies have been brave enough to stand up to the giant e-seller, to say “No thanks, we don't want to partake in your billion-dollar business.” Birkenstock, however, has taken a stance. The German footwear company beloved by Berkeley hippies and fashion folk alike <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/20/birkenstock-quits-amazon-in-us-after-counterfeit-surge.html">ceased distribution</a> on Amazon last summer due to the site’s inability to crack down on counterfeiting, of which it’s a constant victim.</p>
<p id="K11pJ7">One year later, Birkenstock is not backing down. CEO David Kahan recently sent a scathing letter to its retail partners warning that it would blacklist any authorized sellers that sell its products to Amazon. In the five-page note from July 20, which was obtained by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2017/07/Amazon-retailer-letter-7.20.17.pdf?tid=a_inl"><em>Washington Post</em></a><em>, </em>Kahan writes that Amazon has been contacting Birkenstock sellers in order to get its hands on the company’s product, and he calls the strategy something of “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Kahan does not even attempt to hold back his distaste for Amazon, calling the company “pathetic” and using lots and lots of capital letters along the way.</p>
<p id="C12kb6">“By knowingly encouraging a breach of our policy, Amazon is potentially legally liable for 'tortious interference' with our business,” he writes. “I have never in my 25+ years in this industry ever heard of a retailer on such a scale as Amazon, actively soliciting other retailers for a brand's inventory in the case of such brand not choosing to sell them.... You are not authorized to sell, distribute, or ship our products to any reseller. By selling to Amazon, who may in effect re-sell the product, you would be breaking our policy. I will state clearly, any authorized retailer who may do this for even a single pair will be closed FOREVER. I repeat, FOREVER.”</p>
<p id="b2ZtNV">Kahn's frantic, scorching note is a sober reminder that while so many brands are jumping on the Amazon train, not everyone is <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/4/4/14982426/amazon-fashion-clothes">doing it</a> enthusiastically. As NYU professor and L2 founder Scott Galloway told Racked back in April, “no one looks at Amazon and thinks that it’s a great partner. It’s considered the evil empire.” Kahan told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/business/economy/birkenstock-ceo-accuses-amazon-of-modern-day-piracy/2017/07/25/24fa7644-7086-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html"><em>Washington Post</em></a><em> </em>that Amazon’s strategy is “modern-day piracy” and says it’s “a middle finger to all brands, not just Birkenstock.”</p>
<p id="bns4DA">Beating Amazon at the e-commerce game is nearly impossible at this point. The company is notorious for using its algorithm to knock down prices, which can hurt a brand’s equity. Elaine Kwon, a former Amazon employee who now runs a business that helps brands get out of Amazon wholesale partnerships, <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/6/28/15881994/amazon-nike-partnership-elaine-kwon">told Racked</a> last month that during her time at Amazon, she saw firsthand that its pricing strategy was “devastating” to businesses. There’s also Amazon’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/01/12/why-amazon-is-losing-its-battle-against-chinese-counterfeiters/#27542329585c">giant problem with counterfeits</a>, the issue that bubbled for Birkenstock in the first place. While some brands, <a href="https://www.racked.com/2017/6/21/15847190/nike-selling-on-amazon">like Nike,</a> have turned around with a “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude, Birkenstock is holding out. Kahan writes in his letter that Amazon trying to go behind Birkenstock’s back to get its products is like dangling “a carrot in front of retailers who can make a quick buck.”</p>
<p id="5jC8DA">“The fastest growing retailer in the world is NOT afforded the privilege of sharing directly in our success and now sees some means by which to seek to ‘disrupt’ the market and seek backdoor way to get what WE WILL NOT GIVE THEM,” Kahn writes. “We, as the brand stewards, and those who have responsibility for YOUR SUCCESS with Birkenstock will not let them ‘ruin our good thing.’ I take their desperate act as a PERSONAL AFFRONT and as an assault on decency and all we, as a brand, as an organization, and as a partner, hold as shared values.” </p>
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https://www.racked.com/2017/7/26/16036090/amazon-birkenstock-ceo-letterChavie Lieber