In eCommerce, Amazon Sizzles, While eBay Fizzles

Sizzle

Amazon’s Prime Day for Prime: Estimates are that the commerce juggernaut brought in $4 billion in Prime Day sales (according to Wedbush), up 33 percent from last year. Not a bad haul, considering the company had been initially been reported to be off to a shaky start.

Digital dashboards – literally: Amazon partners with Hyundai in an effort to bring all phases of car shopping into the realm of bits and bytes … amid the offerings is transparent pricing, which could alleviate the dreaded curse of sticker shock. Might it also get rid of that pesky salesperson who keeps ducking in the back to “see what I can do” about the price?

IoT: The Internet of Things is here to stay, it seems, and yet so is the security risk. New devices, new ways for the bad guys to get at you – and your personal data and your financial accounts. And maybe watch you, creepily, in the process. Thus, no surprise that the security part of the market, that is, safeguarding all of the above, is slated to grow 300 percent through 2023.

Fizzle

eBay: Tough quarter, tough guidance, partly on Stubhub slowdown and investor worries sending the stock lower — and job cuts are in the offing, as 300 people are losing their paychecks in California. Missed guidance shows that not all eCommerce is alike.

Free markets/Tech infrastructure? Google’s socked with a $5 billion fine, and at risk for millions more in daily penalties should it not comply with the EU ruling that it change its behavior as regards Android and ads. Bigger ripple effect: the amount is kinda pocket change. But Google, unbundling Chrome and search features from Android, may start charging firms to load its tech, which could hurt handset makers, and … change the tech ecosystem itself. Here, it’s the regulators who have fizzled.

Fraud: A sizzle for the bad guys, a fizzle for the rest of us. In a post-PSD2 world, fraudsters are probing new areas through which to ply their trade. Among the freshly (re-) targeted victims: call centers are going to be on the “hit list” moving forward.