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Amazon Closes Down Spark Before it Completes its Two Years Anniversary

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Most of the people might not know, but approximately two years ago, Amazon had launched a social networking platform named Spark. And since it has not made it to the global audience, it seems, Amazon has shut the platform down, even before it completes its two year anniversary.

Amazon Spark
Image Source: sownagency.com

Amazon Spark was a similar platform to most of the other social media platforms, where users could post pictures, stories and could connect with people. One of the most important features, that Amazon had added to it, was the ability to sell and purchase things over it. The app was launched in a hope that people will come to the app through their influencers and will make purchases, accordingly. Users were even allowed to tag the products available on the Amazon website.

Like Instagram, the users could react to the posts through smiles and post comments on it. In fact, Spark was considered as one of the competitors of Instagram. But the platform was primarily developed for the Amazon Prime members and was focused more on shopping and sales.

“Whether you’re looking for inspiration for home décor or seeking advice for the best long-distance running shoes, Spark makes it easy to discover and shop stories and ideas from a community that likes what you like.” Amazon has said during the launch of Spark in 2017.

Though the platform entirely focused on sales and shopping, it had copied a few features from its rival Instagram, like the posts from fashion and travel bloggers. But the problem was that it was restricted to only the Prime members, and only they were able to use it. The reach of the platform was limited, and the users did not have anyone familiar to connect with over this very platform.

Though Amazon has not given any statement on the matter, meanwhile the link to Amazon Spark is redirecting to #FoundItOnAmazon site, one of the other easy shopping tools from Amazon. Earlier the Amazon’s notification section had been changed for including updates from Spark. But now the navigation has once again been simplified.

Amazon Wants its Employees to Quit their Jobs at Amazon to Start a New Delivery Business

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Amazon has just revealed that it is going to expand its Delivery Service Partner program, by providing up to $10,000 cost cover to its employees to start their own package delivering business. The company had launched the Delivery Service Partner program last year, which is an initiative taken by the company to create a network of independent delivery lineups. Under the program, 200 Amazon delivery businesses have already been established since last year.

Amazon Delivery Service Partner program
Image Source: mashable.com

The company revealed that many people are interested in starting their own package delivery business. In fact, many of Amazon’s existing employees have expressed their interest in the same. According to Amazon, the main motive of the company behind this incentive program is to render faster delivery to its clients, especially to speed up the one day delivery for its Amazon Prime members.

“We received overwhelming interest from tens of thousands of individuals who applied to be part of the Delivery Service Partner program, including many employees. We’ve heard from associates that they want to participate in the program but struggled with the transition. Now we have a path for those associated with an appetite for opportunities to own their own businesses.” said Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations at Amazon, in a statement.

The company announced that it will be providing a $10000 of cover to its employees who will be selected for the program. Also, the company will pay a sum of three months’ gross salary of those employees who will be leaving their jobs to start the delivery business. The ones who will be selected for the incentive plan will also be able to rent the blue vans from Amazon.

The offer is valid for all full-time, part-time as well as for the warehouse employees, who already work in the packaging and delivery department of the company. The program will help Amazon ditch the conventional delivery methods including post, UPS as well as other delivery methods such that it will be able to increase the delivery speed for all its customers.

The company claimed that the employees who will be starting their delivery business with Amazon will be able to earn yearly profits up to $3,00,000. On the other hand, this service not only will be beneficial for Amazon in terms of faster delivery but it will automatically help the company to build a huge infrastructure for its delivery business at the minimum cost.

Amazon Prime Members Gets Pre-access to the Amazon Summer Sale 2019

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A sale is the best time for companies to earn more profits. And, after a long wait, Amazon’s summer sale has gone active for its Prime members. The sale started midnight on 2 May for the Prime members, giving them the opportunity to get their hands on the better deals before anyone else. As the other Amazon member will be able to take advantage of the sale after exactly 24 hours the sale has started, i.e. at 12 am IST on 3 May.

Amazon-Summer-Sale-2019
Image Source: newsd.in

It has been a few months since the company has hosted a bigger sale. The summer sale will end on 7th May, and people will be able to grab great deals in those four days. The sale has got big discounts on fashion, home appliances, gadgets, electronics, etc., and we need to see how the Prime members take benefit of early shopping at the summer sale.

The company along with fabulous deals is also offering an extra 10 per cent discount on SBI credit and debit card, i.e. up to Rs. 1,500 per card. The sale is boasting up to 40 per cent discount on Smartphones, and the users can also pre-book OnePlus 7 Pro Smartphone during this period. The One Plus Pro will be available with a free screen replacement warranty worth up to Rs 15,000 for the buyers with pre-booking. Other than that, the buyers can get discount of up to 10,000 or above on high-end smartphones including One Plus 6T, Oppo A5s, iPhone 6, iPhone X including its other variants as well as Samsung smartphones.

The price for mobile accessories like earphones, screen guards, data cables, memory cards, etc. starts at Rs. 69, and accessories like power bank are available at Rs. 499. The company is also offering up to 50 per cent discount on branded digital gadgets like speakers, cameras and headphones from brands like Canon, Nikon, JBL, etc. In fact, the price of Sony PlayStation 4 500GB Slim is down to Rs. 22,190 from its MRP, i.e. Rs. 28,580.

The company has also proposed heavy discounts on its home production gadgets, including Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon Echo, etc. The company as a bonus has also offered a 3-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited for as low as Rs. 79.

For the prime members, Amazon is providing free as well as fast deliveries and also discounts on its streaming services, including unlimited video streaming, ad-free music etc. There is also a cashback of up to 2400 Rs. for the Prime members on some eligible purchases including from the Amazon-partnered companies like Swiigy, Yatra.com, netmeds.com, BookMyShow, and others.

Amazon Marks Record-breaking Holiday Season Sale; Ships Over 1 Billion Items in the U.S.

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amazon
Image Source: yahoo.com

Christmas just went by and the year is about to end. After the huge festive sales and the big black Friday sale, people were excited about the Christmas shopping. According to Amazon, on Christmas too, people enjoyed lots of discounts, and with the Amazon’s Prime membership, they shipped their gifts for free. This time again, Amazon has recorded huge sales on almost everything.

Reportedly, in the last week, Amazon has shipped more than a billion items only in the US for free, that has even broken its own old records of sales. Both the Prime as well as the Trial members ordered more items than ever in this holiday season.

Though Amazon’s last earnings had disappointed its investors, the holiday season sale may help it regain the profits. The company has not disclosed the revenue it made in the sales, but still, has confirmed that it had the biggest sale ever. The company had a record-breaking business, and it registered tens of millions of people for its Trial as well as Prime memberships.

The company not only marked the sales of clothes, household items but had the most expensive branded things as its best sellers of the sellout, including the Echo, Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick 4K. It also sold the smart home devices such as Amazon Smart Plug, Ring Video Doorbell 2 and the iRobot Roomba 690.

Amazon’s CEO of its worldwide consumer business, Jeff Wilke, said that “We are thrilled that in the U.S. alone, more than one billion items shipped for free this holiday with Prime. This season was our best yet, and we look forward to continuing to bring our customers what they want, in ways most convenient for them in 2019″.

This time, Alexa became the favourite of many, and most of the people shopped using the Alexa app in the U.S. The shopping through the app got tripled this time as compared to the past year. The sale not only earned profits for the tech giant, but also the smaller businesses trading on Amazon, marked up to 50 per cent of profits.