Category: Amazon

  • Amazon Prime VP Jamil Ghani: “Prime is Not A Loyalty Program”

    Jamil Ghani is the Worldwide Vice President of Amazon Prime, leading product, technology, marketing, decision science, operations, and finance teams that build and operate the membership program for over 200 million members across 26 countries.  

    He sits down with Natalie at the end of the Amazon Prime analyst event in Seattle to discuss the latest innovations and strategic direction of Prime. They explore:

    • The key pillars of Prime: convenience, savings, entertainment.
    • With new Prime markets like Colombia and Ireland, Jamil discusses why Amazon aims to launch Prime internationally “as quickly as possibly but as slow as necessary”.
    • What Prime is NOT: Jamil says it’s not a loyalty program, not a breakage model, and not a loss leader.
    • Is Prime nearing saturation? Learn where Jamil sees opportunities for further customer acquisition in the US.

    The first half of the episode focuses on Natalie’s takeaways from the Amazon Prime analyst event. If you’d like to skip straight to the interview with Jamil, this starts at 10 minutes.

    * Natalie will be releasing a Forbes article with more insights from the event later this week. *

    Jamil’s bio:

    Over his 7-year tenure, Jamil has accelerated Prime’s growth, tripling the membership and doubling per member spend. He has also broadened Prime’s offerings, expanding to 13 new countries and launching new benefits in multiple high-value categories, including health care, grocery, and restaurant food delivery. He works across Amazon’s consumer businesses to innovate on behalf of customers, build the Amazon and Prime businesses, and make customers’ life better every day. Before coming to Amazon in 2017, Jamil served as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Strategy, Digital & Innovation, for Target Corporation. Before that, he spent five years at The Walt Disney Company focused on identifying, developing, and launching travel and leisure growth initiatives. This included the MyMagic+ experience system, Shanghai Disneyland Park, and Aulani destination resort. Jamil holds a BA magna cum laude from Harvard College in economics and computer science and an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where he was selected as a Baker Scholar. Jamil lives with his wife and two (soon to be three) daughters in Bellevue, WA.

    Find out more about the Retail Disrupted Podcast by visiting retaildisrupted.com

  • Delivering the Future: Amazon Leaders on AI, Robotics, Last Mile, and Same-Day Delivery

    Live from Amazon’s ‘Delivering the Future’ event in Dortmund, Germany, Natalie speaks to three Amazon execs about today’s announcements:

    • Rocco Bräuniger – Vice President, Country Manager Germany & Expansion Countries EU
    • Nicola Fyfe – Vice President, Amazon Logistics Europe
    • Sarah Rhoads – Vice President, Global Workplace Health & Safety

    We explore the launch of Vulcan, Amazon’s first robot with a sense of touch. This is tech that Amazon says was unimaginable just three years ago and is now transforming their operations.

    We also discuss the all-important last mile. What actually happens after you place an order on Amazon? What role do Amazon’s delivery stations play and how is technology improving that experience?

    We unpack (no pun intended) Amazon’s plans to roll out same-day delivery to 20 more locations across Europe, as well as extend order cut-off times to as late at 6:15pm in some postcodes.

    We discuss how technology isn’t just about driving efficiencies for retailers and enhancing the experience for customers; it’s also, critically, improving workplace safety.

    More on today’s announcements:

    https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/company-news/introducing-vulcan-amazons-first-robot-with-a-sense-of-touch

    https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/company-news/amazon-is-investing-more-than-700-million-in-delivery-station-technology-across-europe 

    https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/company-news/amazon-is-expanding-and-accelerating-same-day-delivery-across-europe 

     

     

    Find out more about the Retail Disrupted Podcast by visiting retaildisrupted.com

  • Forbes: Amazon Stores CEO Says AI May Spawn New Retail Formats

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is going to radically transform the retail sector and could result in the creation of new shopping channels, according to Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores.

    “We really haven’t had a technology revolution as large as this since the start of the internet,” Herrington told delegates at the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Big Show.

    He acknowledged that the shift to mobile and the rise of social media platforms were transformative, but both pale in comparison to the impact AI is going to have on the sector.

    “It’s going to touch all of us. It’s going to lower costs, improve quality, help us develop new customer experiences, and it may even spawn new retail formats.”

    This is an excerpt. Read my full article on Forbes.

  • Why Did Amazon Fresh Fail in Germany?

    Boris Planer, Founder and Managing Director of Future Consulting, joins Natalie to discuss the news that Amazon is terminating its online grocery service in Germany. 

    They discuss:

    • What went wrong for Amazon Fresh in Germany, what does this tell us about Amazon’s global grocery strategy, and where next? (It’s all about the partnerships.)
    • Inherent challenges of grocery retailing in Germany. Did you know that 98% of German consumers live within 10 minutes of a discounter?!
    • The Amazon Effect – how competitors have raised their e-commerce game.
    • Implications for Amazon Fresh internationally. The news follows a similar move in the UK earlier this year when Amazon scrapped Fresh outside of London and Manchester.
    • Why you need to know more about Rohlik, the Czech grocery delivery start-up that has just announced a partnership with Amazon and is aiming to launch in 10 European cities over the next 6 years. 

    The news was first reported by The Information.

    Bio:

    Boris Planer is a retail thought leader, speaker and consultant based in Frankfurt, Germany. He is the founder and managing director of Future Consulting, a consultancy supporting international retailers, suppliers and tech businesses in their efforts to spot trends early on and take new market opportunities effectively. Boris has 25 years of experience in retail insight and consultancy, including at retail insight group Planet Retail/Edge by Ascential and WGSN, the world’s leading consumer trend forecasters. He is also a speaker at Zukunftsinstitut, the Institute for the Future based in Frankfurt and Vienna. 

    Connect with Boris on LinkedIn.

    Find out more about the Retail Disrupted Podcast by visiting retaildisrupted.com

  • Amazon Haul, What Makes Vinted Special, Advent Calendar Fever

    Natalie discusses the launch of Amazon Haul, the retailer’s new Temu-like storefront where most items are under $10 and delivery takes up to two weeks. She also unpacks the reasons behind Vinted’s success – what consumer needs is it tapping into and what are the implications for the wider retail sector? And, finally, Natalie shares her thoughts on the explosion of advent calendars. What is driving the trend and what can retailers learn from it?

    [4:20] Is Amazon terminating its online grocery service in Germany?

    [6:08] Amazon Haul launch

    [9:00] Vinted and the rise of pre-loved 

    [15:10] Advent calendars – history and why retailers of all varieties are jumping on the advent calendar bandwagon

    Links:

    Episode 45: Amazon Must Disrupt Itself, July 2024. Natalie and Miya explore whether Amazon and Temu can co-exist and thoughts on the (then) rumoured plans to launch an ultra-low price storefront.

    BBC: Are luxury beauty advent calendars a rip-off?

     

    Find out more about the Retail Disrupted Podcast by visiting retaildisrupted.com

  • Amazon Must Disrupt Itself

    From the rise of Temu and Shein to immersive digital commerce – and not to mention the resurgence of good old-fashioned bricks & mortar retail – Amazon certainly isn’t short of competitive threats.

    Miya Knights joins Natalie on Retail Disrupted to explore what comes next for the online retailing giant and whether it has what it takes to stay relevant in the future.

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    They discuss:

    📦 How Amazon became the most influential retailer of the 21st century.

    3️⃣ 0️⃣ Whether Jeff Bezos’ belief that most large companies only last around 30+ years still rings true.

    🤖 How AI and technology more generally is enabling retailers to level the playing field and future-proof their store estate.

    🇨🇳 Temu – how it differentiates from Amazon, whether they can co-exist and our views on Amazon’s plans to launch a Temu-style storefront.

    🤳 The future of digital commerce – we don’t browse on Amazon! How the rise of TikTok, Roblox and other immersive platforms will require action by Amazon to avoid being perceived as too transactional and one-dimensional.

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  • It’s a Density Game, with Deliveroo’s Paul Wilkinson

    Paul Wilkinson, Product Director at Deliveroo and former Tesco and Amazon exec, joins Natalie to discuss retail technology trends.

    They explore the evolution of quick commerce, why Deliveroo won’t chase 15-minute delivery and moving into non-food to “bring the whole high street to the customer”.


    Other topics covered include: learnings from the restaurant sector, supermarket collaboration, voice commerce and frictionless checkout.

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  • In Conversation with Amazon UK Boss John Boumphrey

    Recording live from the retailer’s new Second Chance store in London, Amazon UK Country Manager John Boumphrey joins Natalie on the podcast to discuss:

    • How is Amazon extending the life of returned goods through its Second Chance programme?
    • How can the wider industry overcome the returns challenge?
    • Futureproofing – with more disruption on the horizon, how does Amazon ensure it stays relevant to customers?
    • Consumer outlook – does JB expect consumers to remain relatively resilient as we move into 2024?
    • From drones to generative AI: what technologies and innovations should we be watching?

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  • Enemy to Frenemy: Amazon & Iceland

    “We hate Amazon. They’ll bully us and do horrible things to us. They’ll use us, we don’t want anything to do with them.” -Iceland Managing Director, 2018

    Fast forward five years…

    This morning Amazon UK announced that frozen food specialist Iceland will begin selling groceries on its platform. In this episode, Natalie explores the rationale behind Iceland’s shift in strategy and why Amazon is expanding its relationship with third party supermarkets like Morrisons, Co-op and now Iceland.

    Amazon may need the grocery industry but does the grocery industry need Amazon? Let’s explore.

     

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  • Primed to Spend?

    It’s Amazon Prime Day and the bargains are flying – but will shoppers bite? What’s new this year and how has the competition responded? In this episode, Natalie also shares her views on Amazon’s latest personalisation efforts. Amazon may be the Everything Store, but it’s not exactly the Inspirational Store. How might personalised deals feeds, liveshopping and Prime Day experiences help Amazon to shift its utilitarian image?  

     

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