U.S. consumer prices post biggest gain in nearly 12 years as inflation pressures build at Reuters. “The consumer price index jumped 0.8% last month, the largest gain since June 2009. The CPI rose 0.6% in March. Food prices increased 0.4%…Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI climbing 0.2% in April.” Read more

 

EBay taps into NFT frenzy, allows sale on platform at Reuters. “Ebay Inc on Tuesday allowed the sale of non-fungible tokens for digital collectibles like trading cards, images or video clips on its platform, the first e-commerce company to tap into the recent frenzy around NFTs.” Read more

 

Amazon’s $300 million tax bill rejected by EU judges at The Verge. “The case was one of a number spearheaded by Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, in which sweetheart tax deals given to powerful corporations were framed as a form of illegal state subsidy.” Read more

 

Apps that promise grocery deliveries in 10 minutes invade Europe as shopping shifts online at CNBC. “Turkey’s Getir, Germany’s Gorillas and Britain’s Dija are just a few of the apps promising users 10-minute grocery deliveries. Venture-backed grocery delivery firms have raised roughly $1.56 billion in Europe so far this year, up from $687 million in 2020.” Read more

 

Chinese products get pulled from Amazon at TechCrunch. “Analysts have estimated that the share of Chinese merchants represented 75% of Amazon’s new sellers in January, up from 47% the year before…Chinese sellers are swarming not just Amazon but also eBay, Wish, Shopee and Alibaba’s AliExpress. The boom is in part a result of intense domestic competition in China’s online retail world…” Read more

 

71 percent of gas stations in Charlotte area out of fuel at The Hill. Read more

 

Amazon files lawsuit to dismantle illegal advertising scheme targeting customers at Fox Business. “The text messages are designed to appear as they were sent by the e-commerce giant and encourage customers to click a link by promising “rewards” or other “gifts,” Amazon told FOX Business.” Read more

 

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Today’s e-commerce consumers aren’t keen on excuses at Harvard Business Review. “The Index found that only one in five (21%) U.S. consumers say they are forgiving retailers and brands for service disruptions due to Covid-19. In other words, the pandemic is no longer a reasonable excuse for not delivering orders on time.” Read more

 

Beyond Meat will offer Walmart shoppers free samples at stores around Dallas and SoCal. Beyond Meatballs will now be available at 2,100 Walmart stores. at Business Insider. Read more

 

Instacart tells entry-level team to return to office, senior managers can stay home at The Verge. “The team, estimated to be around 100 people, includes many entry-level employees and workers who are new to the tech industry. Employees say the power imbalance makes it difficult to push back on the remote work policy. “A lot of the roles are easily replaceable,” says another worker who asked not to be named. “They can happily find someone else to fill that role if you’re not okay with the policy.” Read more

 

Barnes & Noble owner to buy Paper Source out of bankruptcy Press release

 

‘Amazon Unbound’ is a portrait of a company ‘getting perilously close to invincible’ at GeekWire. “..I asked if Amazon’s “Andy Jassy era” will be worthy of Stone’s third Amazon book. Stone wasn’t sold on the premise of the question: “Is it the Andy Jassy era?…When there’s an S-team meeting that Jeff is in, does Andy speak last, or does Jeff speak last? Does Andy stand up and leave the room as everyone sits in solemn silence, or does Jeff?” Read more/Podcast

 

Cheating at School Is Easier Than Ever—and It’s Rampant at Wall Street Journal. “…auction website homeworkforyou.com featured one student post looking for someone willing to do weekly school assignments, exams and a project for a business class at York College in Queens, N.Y., over a two-month span. The winning bidder would also need to pose as the student and respond to classmates in a group assignment. The student specified that an “A” was the desired outcome, and that the “willing to pay” fee was $465. By the next day, 29 bids had come in. The average was $479.41.” WSJ subs.

 

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