Rising FBA Shipping Fees & New Payment Partner Stripe

Despite these financial setbacks, the e-commerce giant is still investing in a new healthcare program in the U.S.: the medication flat rate “RXPass” is now available for $5 per month for Prime members in the U.S. The healthcare market seems to be highly relevant for Amazon.

At the same time, Chinese fashion retailer Shein is expanding its range to include additional categories following its foray into becoming an online marketplace. The prices will presumably be competitive – it remains to be seen whether the platform will be able to compete with “Everything-Store” Amazon.

Updates: Amazon

Increasing Shipping Fees for Amazon FBA

Amazon has announced it will raise shipping fees for its FBA service in Europe starting March 31, 2023. The increases average 6.2% (for local shipping) and are particularly high for oversized packages. In addition, Amazon is adjusting the weight and size categories, among other things, and will introduce shipping rates for special oversized packages. There will also be stricter rules for the storage of products. 

Stripe Becomes Strategic Payment Partner of Amazon

After more than a decade of collaboration, Stripe and Amazon are intensifying their partnership. Until now, Amazon mainly used Stripe’s services to process payments on Prime Day, Black Friday or Cyber Monday in Asia and Europe. Under the new agreement, the online payment service will process payments for Prime, Audible, Kindle, Amazon Pay, and Buy with Prime, among others – and thus handle a significant portion of Amazon’s total payment volume.

Amazon Expands Healthcare Offering Once Again

Following Amazon Pharmacy, Amazon Clinic, and the pending regulatory approval of its purchase of One Medical, Amazon is again expanding its offerings in the healthcare market. “RXPass” offers Prime members in the U.S. unlimited supplies of 80 common generic prescription drugs for an additional $5 per month. Economists suggest that “RXPass” itself could be a losing proposition, but profitable elsewhere as an added incentive for Prime memberships.

Amazon Puts an End to “AmazonSmile” and “Prime Air”

Presumably, as part of the cost-cutting measures, the company announced that it would discontinue its “AmazonSmile” donation program. The program allowed customers to buy products from Amazon via a special link, through which 0.5% of the net purchase value was donated to charity. Amazon’s “Prime Air” delivery drone project appears to be meeting a similar fate. For years, Amazon tested drone deliveries, but now the company is laying off the majority of its “Prime Air” employees.  

Updates: E-Commerce

Shein Becomes an Online Department Store

After Shein already made headlines a few weeks ago with its plans to become an online marketplace, the Chinese fashion group is now continuing its expansion by adding home accessories, decorative items, DIY, pet, and office supplies to its range. The new products can all be found in the “Home” category and are mostly available at prices below $10. These are mostly smaller accessories for which Shein uses the logistics it already has in place, thus saving major investments in new logistics structures. 

What Caught Our Attention

Sponsored Ads are now available on the Belgian Marketplace. Sellers and vendors on the marketplace can now use Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, and Brand Stores.

Amazon currently seems to be testing ad placements outside its own platform for sponsored product campaigns. The feature has been discovered sporadically in advertising reports in the U.S. The off-Amazon placement of the ads would maximize the visibility of the products, and drive up advertising spend. Until now, off-Amazon placements were only available for Sponsored Display. 

Fact of the Week

The vast majority of Amazon shoppers (66% on average) in the markets we surveyed, start their product searches on Amazon rather than Google or another search engine (source: Amazon Shopper Report 2022, Remazing & Appinio).

International Amazon Shopper Report 2022

Coming soon: the international version of our Amazon Shopper Report 2022. In this report, we summarize insights from all the Amazon markets we surveyed – the EU5 & the US – and highlight similarities, but also differences, in terms of online shopping behavior and Amazon in particular. Stay tuned!

Remdash: Share of Voice

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Top 5 Amazon Keywords

These are the top 5 most searched keywords by country from January 22-28, 2023.

Amazon users in the U.S. and U.K. were seemingly already preparing for Valentine’s Day and started looking for gift options. The demand for carnival costumes rose in Germany, while shoppers in Spain were increasingly on the lookout for sofas.