Hey ECF readers,
This week in the podcast version I share some important thoughts I hope you’ll listen to first here followed by this week’s eCommerce and tech headlines below.
– Andrew
In the News
U.S. small firms leave $150 billion in coronavirus stimulus untapped
- A total of $660 billion was allocated to the PPP program
- Demand for PPP loans has significantly declined over the last few weeks since the start of the pandemic
‘Digital by default’: Shopify is letting employees work from home permanently (Hat Tip to Forum Member Katrina McKinnon)
- This shift will impact more than 5,000 employees
- Shopify will keep physical offices closed until 2021
Social media giants take different approaches to presidential messages
- Twitter added fact checking labels to President Trump’s tweets, causing him to issue an executive order against the company
- Facebook allowed another controversial Presidential tweet to remain as-is citing being a company “…committed to free expression.”
Amazon plans summer sale for June 22 to ‘jumpstart sales’ after coronavirus crunch
- Amazon’s “invitation only” sale is said to be in response to the pandemic and the subsequent delay of Prime Day
- Sellers were asked to submit deals for items with at least a 30% discount
- Slack will use Amazon AWS more broadly and replace its lackluster video conferencing tech by integrating Amazon Chime
- Amazon agrees to roll out Slack to all employees
Amazon reportedly considering $2 billion stake in Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel
- Bharti Airtel is the third-largest telecom operator in India
- Comes on the heels of Facebook and Google’s interest in the Indian telecom space with previous talks and/or investments
- Includes longer payment terms, a more unified shipping/fulfillment platform and and additional trade shows
- U.S. buyers have increased by 70-100% year over year
Stitch Fix to Lay off About 1,400 Employees in California
- Stitch Fix closed two distribution centers in march due to COVID-19.
- The company says it plans on hiring 2,000 employees in lower-cost cities like Dallas, Austin, or Minneapolis.
- All California-based employees will be given the chance to relocate and keep their job
Pinterest adds a ‘Shop’ tab to its Lens Camera search results to showcase matching in-stock products
- Take a picture of something and see similar items that are in-stock and available for purchase on Pinterest
- Pinterest reported seeing 3x the number of visual searches compared to 2019
- Follows Pinterest’s announcement of its partnership with Shopify
Top Forum Discussions
(Membership required to access. Not a member? Apply to join our vibrant community of 7-figure store owners today.)
- Annual Expert Update: Shopify 2020
- I Just Received the Best Gift Ever from My Remote Team
- Salsa Dancing My Way to Mental Salvation
- I’m Putting up $50,000 for Frontline Workers
- 20 Min Yoga 3x per Week Is Changing My Life
- A Love Letter to Quarantine
- Introducing Our New Community Guides!
Looking for Capital and/or Mentorship?
If you’re interested in long-term funding from a team that also has the skills, eCommerce rolodex and battle-tested knowledge to help you grow, you need to check out eCommerceFuel Capital.
The post News Cart for June 5th appeared first on eCommerceFuel.
June 5, 2020 at 08:06AM
via https//www.brucedayne.com/
Andrew Youderian, Khareem Sudlow
