Amazon pushes into SE Asia with Singapore launch

SINGAPORE - Amazon launched its express delivery service in Singapore on Thursday, the US online retail giant's first foray into Southeast Asia and a move that puts it in direct competition with China's Alibaba.

Prime Now allows online shoppers in the affluent city-state of five million people to order a wide range of items from baby products to food, electronics items and beer.


It marks Amazon's entry into a region of more than 600 million people, where many countries have a growing middle class, and which is seen as the next e-commerce battleground.

"Amazon's entry augurs well for shoppers in the region who will benefit from more choice, price competition and better delivery services," said Prem Shamdasani, an associate professor for marketing at the National University of Singapore Business School.

Alibaba already has a headstart in the region with an 83-percent stake in Southeast Asia-focused online retailer Lazada.

The Chinese firm, founded by China's richest man Jack Ma, raised its stake in Lazada last month with a further $1 billion investment.

The Prime Now application was made available for download in Singapore on Google's Play store and Apple's iTunes.

By just entering their postal zip code after opening the app on their devices, online shoppers can start placing their orders.

The service promises delivery of items within two hours.

But Shamdasani warned that Southeast Asia could be a tough market. The region includes relatively wealthy countries such as Singapore, but also developing nations with poor infrastructure where it is harder to do business.

"While e-commerce is set to grow the market in Southeast Asia is relatively small and fragmented with narrow margins," he said.

He said Amazon will "face increasing competition from many established store retailers who are embracing e-commerce and providing their customers with seamless omni-channel shopping experiences".

mba/sr/dan

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Amazon dabbling with 30-hour work weeks: report

US online retail titan Amazon, which has been accused of fostering a cutthroat workplace atmosphere, will try out teams that log 30-hour work weeks, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

The employees will receive the same benefits as those putting in 40-hour weeks, but get three-quarters of the pay, according to the Post, which is owned by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos.

Many people at Amazon already work part-time, but the program would be novel in that entire teams including managers would be scheduled for 30 hours weekly on the job, the Seattle-based company said in an informational session invitation posted online at eventbrite.com.

"This initiative was created with Amazon's diverse workforce in mind and the realization that the traditional full-time schedule may not be a one-size-fits-all model," Amazon said in the post.

"We want to create a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth."

The Eventbrite post, first spotted by the Washington Post, was available online Friday. It was titled "Reinventing the Work-Life Ratio for Tech Talent."

Amazon declined an AFP request for comment.

A source with knowledge of the matter told AFP that the program was not intended for the entire company, but would involve just a handful of very small teams involved with designing some technical systems.

Amazon has been criticized for its working conditions, especially at fulfillment centers where pressure is high to ship purchases to customers quickly and efficiently.

The New York Times caused controversy last year with a story depicting almost Darwinian conditions at Amazon, with white collar workers competing to survive and sometimes weeping at their desks or going without sleep for days.

Amazon rejected the portrayal, accusing the newspaper of having ignored or omitted key elements in its investigation.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Amazon sells 3.9 million tablets in Q4 2011: report

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com shipped nearly 3.9 million Kindle Fire tablets in the last three months of 2011, making the online retail giant the world’s second-largest tablet maker in the quarter, market research firm IHS said on Thursday.

With the soaring sales of Kindle Fire, Amazon captured 14.3 percent of the global tablet market share in the quarter, surpassing Samsung Electronics to take the No. 2 position, according to a new report by IHS.

Apple remained the dominant player in the tablet market, shipping 15.4 million iPads, but its share dropped to 57 percent in the fourth quarter from 64 percent in the previous three months.

The debut performance of the Kindle Fire, which hit the market only in mid-November of 2011, played a strong role in Apple’s share shift, but it was Apple’s own newly introduced iPhone 4S smartphone that proved to be the strongest competitor for the iPad, IHS analysts noted.

“The rollout of the iPhone 4S in October (in 2011) generated intense competition for Apple purchasers’ disposable income, doing more to limit iPad shipment growth than competition from the Kindle Fire and other media tablets,” Rhoda Alexander, senior manager of tablet and monitor research for IHS, said in a statement.

Looking forward, analysts predicted that Apple will reclaim its tablet market share when it starts to sell the next version of the iPad, which is expected in the second quarter of this year.

As for Kindle Fire, the long-term viability of the product will hinge on the success of Amazon’s business gamble, “which depends on tablet sales driving substantial new online merchandise sales at Amazon.com in order to attain profitability,” Alexander said.

source: interaksyon.com