Amazon…Now the Most Valuable Brand in the USA!

Is Amazon Taking over the AMC Cinema Chain?

Amazon is currently reviewing its acquisition of AMC, a movie theatre chain with nearly 600 cinemas. With the idea of promoting Amazon Prime movies there for award shows, offering cross-selling services such as grocery deliveries, using them as local distribution centres and collecting important data from AMC’s 200 million annual cinema visitors. At the moment, however, it is not yet clear whether Amazon will make an offer.

Amazon Back on Top

The e-retailer has knocked Apple out of first place in consulting firm Brand Finance’s ranking of the 500 most valuable U.S. brands, despite Amazon’s brand value decrease of 15% to $299.3 billion. Overall however, Amazon’s total brand value has still increased 36% since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Rounding out the top 5 are Google, Microsoft and Walmart. Online gambling firm FanDuel is the fastest growing brand in the rankings.

Amazon Sellers Consider Expansion into the Middle East

Many Amazon Sellers are considering expanding into the Middle East with their online stores as an early entry into a relatively new Amazon market. As the region’s appeal to businesses continues to grow, experts predict that the number of customers in the Middle East will increase by 50% this year. While Europe remains among the top expansion targets for U.S. Amazon sellers, the Middle East continues to grow in popularity.

Amazon Closes U.K. Book Depository – Focuses on AI

Amazon has already planned to shut down several of its own retail locations. Now it will follow suit with some of its subsidiaries, including Book Depository, an online bookstore it acquired back in 2011. The layoffs are estimated to impact over 27,000 people. Instead, Amazon is conducting another AI accelerator, led by Amazon Web Services. The program was created for generative AI startups to have access to AI models, tools etc. and to receive up to $300,000 in AWS credits to help build their companies.

Conclusion: E-commerce 2022 in Europe

According to CBCommerce Europe, cross-border e-commerce in Europe grew by 4.8% last year. IKEA topped the list of the 500 largest retailers, followed by Lidl, Zalando, and H&M. German retailers generated the most sales with 34 billion euros, (+5%), while in the UK, cross-border sales were down to nearly 28 billion euros (-4%). The number of total marketplaces analyzed increased from 42 to 49.

Alibaba announces split into six business units

Alibaba has announced its separation into six business units, each of which will have the opportunity to go public. The goal is to drive growth and competitiveness through agility and shorter decision-making paths. This is the most significant restructuring in the history of the Chinese e-commerce giant and follows a period during which Alibaba’s expansion has been inhibited by slower economic growth and tighter regulations in China.

Brand Analytics seems to be no longer available in Vendor Central. For now, we assume that Brand Analytics is replaced by the updated “Amazon Search Terms” Dashboard, where it is also possible to search for keywords and the search frequency rank.