Category: Amazon
Fake reviews make consumers choose poor-quality products, Which? reveals
Consumers could be more than twice as likely to choose poor-quality products when shopping online if they have been boosted by fake reviews, a behavioural experiment from Which? has revealed. The consumer watchdog simulated fake reviews and endorsement labels and found they were hugely effective at manipulating consumers into picking Don’t Buy products - items…
Top Tech Stories of the Week: Amazon profits surge, Apple sales up too
Chris Price looks at some of this week's top tech stories as most of the big tech brands announce their quarterly results with Amazon, Apple and Tesla all declaring profits despite Coronavirus slowdown.... Amazon sales up, but Bezos plans record investment Predictably, Amazon sales surged in the first three months of the year, as the…
eBay and Amazon still Coronavirus profiteering, claims Which?
Consumer watchdog Which? is calling for urgent government action to limit the prices of essential products during the coronavirus crisis, after a new investigation found Amazon and eBay are still failing to get to grips with blatant profiteering on their websites. More than a month after the competition regulator raised the alarm, and despite a…
Coronavirus: eBay and Amazon failing to prevent profiteering, claims Which?
eBay and Amazon Marketplace are failing to crack down on a spate of coronavirus-profiteering by sellers after a Which? investigation uncovered a wide range of products for sale on marketplaces with inflated, and often ridiculous, prices. At the start of this month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned that traders should not be exploiting…
Two-thirds of online marketplace products fail safety tests
Two-thirds of the 250 products tested from Amazon Marketplace, AliExpress, eBay and Wish fail safety tests, according to the latest research from Which? and consumer groups across Europe. The pan-European investigation found 66% of the products bought from online marketplaces including Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and Wish failed safety tests, including carbon monoxide alarms, baby toys…
Which? claims Amazon’s Choice badge is flawed
The latest findings from consumer watchdog Which? show that Amazon’s recommendation system is inherently flawed and easily gamed by unscrupulous sellers, despite many consumers trusting Amazon's Choice badge as a mark of quality. The Amazon’s Choice endorsement is being applied to potentially poor quality products that appear to have been artificially boosted by incentivised and…
Inside Amazon’s Peterborough warehouse – report
The PA news agency sent its City reporter, Henry Saker-Clark, to Amazon’s Peterborough warehouse on one of the company’s public tours. This is what he saw: Amazon has faced years of criticism for seemingly putting profits over pay, despite being run by one of the richest men in the world. So the last thing I…
BBC launches interactive voice news for Alexa
The BBC is launching an interactive voice news service for Alexa, allowing people to skip stories or ask for more details about the items they are interested in. From Wednesday, Alexa-enabled devices can ask “Give me BBC News” and take control of their news agenda, unlike the existing radio-like flash briefing bulletin offered by the…
Amazon deal with Deliveroo investigated by competition watchdog
Amazon has been asked explain why an attempt to buy a stake in Deliveroo will not reduce competition in the UK. If officials believe prices for customers could rise and competition would be reduced, an in-depth Phase Two inquiry will be launched in December. We’ve launched our investigation into Amazon’s deal with Deliveroo 🚴♀️ 🍕.…
Amazon unveils dedicated Kindle e-reader for children
Amazon has unveiled a new version of its Kindle e-reader – the £100 Kindle Kids Edition. It is the company's first to be designed specifically for children. The new Kindle Kids Edition includes a protective case and a one-year free subscription to a special child-friendly version of its Kindle book store, the company said. The…
