Amazon to offer music downloads?
Amazon looks to be taking on Apple's iTunes by opening its own music download store, with rumours suggesting the service will be DRM-free.
According to The Independent, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been in discussions with the four major labels to persuade them to allow their music to be sold without DRM protection.
Amazon posts 32% rise in Q1 sales
Online retail giant Amazon has posted a 32% rise in sales for the first quarter to just over $3bn (£1.5bn).
The company said pre-tax profits had risen from $96m (£48m) to $144m (£72m) year on year, but expects sales and profit growth to slow in the second quarter.
Index invests in 'Russian Amazon'
Rusian book, music and game retailer Ozon.ru has landed £9.1m in an investment round led by Index Ventures, and also involving Holtzbrinck Ventures and Cisco Systems.
Ozon.ru intends to use the capital to develop its logistics, expand product lines and establish new distribution centres across Russia.
New location readies Amazon for Christmas
A massive new distribution centre due to be built in south Wales by Amazon.co.uk will be partially operational in time for the 2007 Christmas e-commerce rush.
The retailer yesterday announced it is to create its fourth UK fulfillment HQ, spanning 800,000sqft, near Swansea following an incentive package from the Welsh Assembly Government.
Interview: Tim Curtis, head of Mothercare Direct
Tim Curtis has been at Mothercare Direct for five years now, helping the company shift towards multichannel retail and more recently overseeing its switch to Amazon Services' e-commerce platform.
We asked him a few questions about the challenges of integrating different channels within Mothercare, and what opportunities there are for retailers within Web 2.0, mobile and digital TV.
M&S launches new Amazon-powered website
Marks and Spencer has revamped its online retail site with a little help from Amazon, hoping that its new multichannel approach to retailing will increase its online sales.
At the launch of its interim results for 2006/2007, M&S chief executive Stuart Rose said that the company intends to double its online sales from £100m in a short period of time.
Amazon kills Statsaholic, but does Jeff know?
Statsaholic, the Alexa-powered traffic tool formerly known as Alexaholic, is being systematically crushed by Amazon in a move that is going to create a wave of negative PR for the online retail giant.
Earlier this month Amazon sent a legal warning that forced Alexaholic to drop the Alexa from its name. Fair enough – brands have to look after their trademarks. But now it is preventing Statsaholic from using its API at all.
This is bad news, and sends out a highly ridiculous message to current and prospective users of Amazon Web Services. The message is this: “If you are successful, we can close you down.”
Borders goes it alone on the web
Borders Group has announced plans to end its relationship with Amazon and reopen its own e-commerce website early next year.
The move follows a similar decision by rival bookseller Waterstone's in 2006, and came as Borders posted losses of $73.6m (£37.5m) for the fourth quarter of last year.
Interview: Persuasion guru BJ Fogg
BJ Fogg directs research and design at Stanford University's Persuasive Technology Lab , and is pretty much The Don of captology - the study of how computers can be used to influence people's behaviour.
We asked him a few questions about how internet marketers could be using persuasion techniques more effectively, as well as some of the more scary implications for individual web users.
Retail Week review: Targets miss the multi-channel point
Last week at the Retail Week Conference , I was so pleased I wasn’t in the corrugated roofing business, because no-one was talking about it. Everyone, on the other hand, was talking about multi-channel retailing - and it was great.
From the opening remarks to the close, a gruelling 33 hours later, e-commerce, its impact on retailers and on the high street was the main talk of the auditorium, the breakout sessions and the coffee queue.
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
