Amazon  launched a new private-label food and snack brand, named Aplenty.

The brand is expected to offer hundreds of products, including mini cookies, pita chips, crackers, condiments, frozen foods, and baking needs.The products will be available to by online as well as in-store at Amazon Fresh.

Amazon told Winsight Grocery Business that Aplenty “is on a relentless pursuit of deliciousness.”  The company also mentioned that it made its products under the “highest standards with recipes rooted in quality ingredients to deliver great taste without artificial flavors, synthetic colors or high fructose corn syrup,” while adding that products are “rigorously taste-tested” and come with a money-back guarantee.

Chewy reported earnings for its fiscal-fourth quarter that crushed analysts’ expectations. Revenue almost doubled, on the back of solid online orders. For the quarter ended Jan. 31, the online retailer for pet-related products reported earnings of 5 cents a share, while analysts’ polled by Factset had expected an adjusted loss of -10 cents a share. The company had a loss of -15 cents a share...

Home goods retail giant Bed Bath & Beyond launched a new brand called Nestwell. Nestwell will be among the eight brands the company plans to introduce between now and February 2022. Nestwell will have bedroom products like pillows, sheets, comforters, duvet covers and towels, and bath accessories like rugs and shower curtains. Expected prices are $6 for washcloths; $10 to $20 for towels; $30...

Alibaba is reportedly being considered for a penalty by the Chinese government. According to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, a record fine of more than $975 million is being mulled by the China antitrust regulators for alleged abuse of Alibaba's dominant market position. The report also indicated that regulators want Alibaba to distance itself from founder Jack Ma and to...

Poshmark reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations, in its first financial report since going public in January. But the online marketplace issued a sales outlook that is below analysts’ forecasts. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Poshmark’s loss narrowed to $4.06 million, or 31 cents a share, from a loss of $14.75 million, or $1.20 a share, a year earlier. After...

Despite their ubiquity, a growing segment of the internet-using populace believes these companies have user data locked-up in platforms that are only designed to make their stockholders money, that destroy any notions of privacy, and that kills competition. Some believe the path to regaining control of personal data, leveling the playing field, and creating a more benevolent internet begins with the privacy-focused, a socially conscious world of decentralized apps, or dapps (pronounced ‘dee-apps’). Google and Facebook generate most of their revenue through ads.Engaging with a traditional cloud-based app like Google Docs means giving Google access to every word you type – and trusting that they will keep it safe and not use it improperly.

There’s an old saying in economics, coined by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, that the Federal Reserve has “accurately predicted nine of the last five recessions.” Predictions are not our strong suit, yet business and investment decision-making often rely heavily on them.A CEO’s forecast for sales in a given quarter can impact everything from inventory to new hires, to the earnings forecasts made by analysts on Wall Street.

Sources told Reuters the company was now worth as much as $4.5 billion. The round was notable not just for the $600 million raised (which the company claimed was a world record for an AI firm), but for the big names who gave financial backing.E-commerce behemoth, Alibaba, reportedly contributed $227 million, while another Chinese e-commerce company, Suning.com, and Singapore’s state-owned investment company, Temasek Holdings, also made significant contributions. SenseTime primarily develops surveillance software based in AI.

On Monday, Amazon announced that plans to buy half of the energy produced by a new wind farm in the Netherlands. Shell and Eneco secured the right to build the 759 megawatt wind farm in the North Sea last July. The e-commerce behemoth said it would now purchase over 380 MW of the farm’s output to power its operations in Europe. This will be the largest single-site renewable energy project...

 Wondery, founded in 2016, is the producer of top-rated podcasts like "Dirty John," "Dr. Death," "Business Wars" and "The Shrink Next Door." 

In September, Amazon Music added podcasts to its platform - which means, it will be competing with players like  Spotify and Apple that are already prominent names in the podcasting market.

Terms of the Amazon-Wondery deal weren’t disclosed

Then Chinese regulators stepped in.

In a crushing blow to both companies, China's top commerce regulator announced an investigation into Alibaba's business practices, alleging the company may be abusing its dominant market position for monopolistic purposes.A few days later, the Chinese central bank (the PBOC) issued a statement criticizing Ant Financial's business practices, ordering the company to focus on its less-lucrative digital-payments business.

After record-shattering Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, Wayfair Inc. (W) and Shopify (SHOP) appear to be moving in tandem, with projected strong short-term average growth of 15.5% within the last month.Tickeron’s technical indicators point to a continued growth for Wayfair, amplified by its breakout from the trendline support and resistance: having bounced off the new $270.15 support line, the price is climbing toward the new $290.07 resistance line.

Zack’s Investment Research included Wayfair in its Top 5 Breakthrough Stocks of 2020, with an impressive 170% year-to-date growth.

As the holiday season approaches, Amazon   would pay an additional $300 to full-time employees as part of a special recognition bonus.This is for employees who package and deliver the items. Part-time employees, working for the e-commerce behemoth from Dec. 1 to Dec. 30, will get paid $150 as an appreciation bonus. The special recognition bonus is a total more than $500 million for Amazon's front-line employees. According to Amazon,  it spent $2.5 billion on special bonuses in 2020 globally.  The company expects net sales to be between $120 billion and $121 billion for the holiday quarter,  vs. analysts’ forecast of $112.32 billion for the quarter. 

Alibaba Group Holdings'   Singles Day sales has topped $75 billion, even higher than last year's record high. According to data published by Alibaba, gross merchandise sales on its group's 12th annual Global Shopping Festival was 498.2 billion Chinese yuan, or just over $75 billion. Last year's Singles Day sales were $38 billion. Sales on Singles Day itself were initially expected to generate $45 billion or more in total sales. Last month, Amazon garnered $10.4 billion sales in its two-day Prime Day event.

Amazon’s data and third-party estimates indicate  strong growth in Prime Day sales compared to 2019. According to e-commerce website Digital Commerce 360, Amazon garnered $10.4 billion worth of sales globally on Oct. 13 and 14 as its Prime Day event began.The estimate represents a 45.2% increase relative to the $7.16 billion in sales estimated for Amazon’s July 2019 Prime Day event. A day earlier, Amazon claimed that its marketplace sellers generated more than $3.5 billion in sales across the 19 countries in which Prime Day was held on Oct. 13 and 14.

Amazon shares got a price target hike to a Wall Street-high of $4,500 from $3,925, from an analyst at Pivotal Research . Analyst Michael Levine mentioned that Amazon's advertising was only 5% of revenue, but is a "far greater contributor" to overall non-Amazon Web Services EBIT margins than Wall Street /investors appreciate.“…if advertising was viewed as a stand-alone business unit ... it would represent well north of 300% of 2020E non-AWS EBIT", noted Levine. Levine kept a buy rating on the e-commerce behemoth’s shares. According to the analyst, there is "massive upside" to estimates by fiscal year 2024. Levine also estimated that at least 85% to 90% of the Amazon business is sponsored listings.

Amazon.com  is  reportedly planning to build 1,000 small delivery hubs in cities and suburbs across the U.S., in trying to make online shopping even faster. A Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the plans, mentioned that the e-commerce giant was planning to make mini versions of its massive fulfillment centers, in a bid to compete with  Walmart  Target   and other retailers. As COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc, Amazon was compelled to  withdraw its two-day delivery system as the lockdown led to a surge in online orders posing a challenge to Amazon’s delivery capacity. But now, Amazon is looking to get back to its same day delivery pledge for Prime subscribers. According to Tickeron, AMZN's Stochastic Oscillator stays in oversold zone for 5 days The price of this ticker is presumed to bounce back soon, since the longer the ticker stays in the oversold zone, the more promptly an uptrend is expected. Current price $3141

Bed Bath & Beyond  appointed Juan Guerrero to lead its supply-chain operations. Guerrero becomes senior vice president and chief supply-chain officer at the home goods retail company.Before joining Bed Bath, Guerrero led the supply-chain and merchandising teams at distributor of truck equipment Fleet Pride.

Home goods retail company Bed Bath & Beyond  stock got added to  Wedbush’s  Best Ideas List. Wedbush analyst Seth Basham boosted his share-price target to $18 from $15 and maintained his outperform rating on the shares. Basham said that Bed Bath bounced back to positive comparisons in recent months and is on the cusp of a “dramatic improvement in profitability,".BBBY’s price grows at a lower rate over the last 12 months as compared to S&P 500 index constituents. The Tickeron SMR rating for this company is 15 (best 1 - 100 worst), indicating very strong sales and a profitable business model.

Bloomberg Opinion) -- It can be tough to keep track of all the industries in which Amazon.com Inc. wants to spread its tentacles.There are groceries and health care and business computing and banking and entertainment and advertising and gadgets for the home and — oh, shopping.  READ MORE...