06-24-2017, 01:40 PM
Amazon.com (AMZN) said Thursday that its Amazon Lending service has surpassed $3 billion in loans to small businesses since it was launched in 2011. In the last 12 months alone the eCommerce giant has loaned over $1 billion to small businesses. Hiking up the sales for third party merchants is a plus for Amazon, as the company gets a piece of the transaction. "We created Amazon Lending to make it simple for up-and-coming small businesses to efficiently get a business loan, because we know that an infusion of capital at the right moment can put a small business on the path to even greater success," Amazon Marketplace VP Peeyush Nahar said. Over 20,000 small businesses have received a loan from Amazon and more than 50% of the businesses Amazon loans to end up taking a second loan.
Amazon Has Secretly Become a Giant Bank - TheStreet
Shark Tank star investor Daymond John turned $40 worth of fabric into a $6 billion urban clothing brand. Now the retail and branding guru has a solution for Macy's precipitous decline: Turn Macy's into a gamified destination. Legacy retail brands have been losing sales to the speed and convenience of e-commerce, a space being redefined by Amazon. "Macy's can become the Disney World of retail if they are just willing to change the game," said John, speaking with CNBC from the iCONIC conference in New York City on Wednesday. "First of all, they have one of the most iconic names in the world, and I think they are in one of the most iconic places in the world, and I think they can come up and be a Disneyland."
Shark Tank star Daymond John: Macy's can compete with Amazon
DiClemente wrote in a note to clients that four areas in particular could lead to big gains for Amazon: groceries, advertising, entertainment, and smart-speakers. The grocery business is one example of a market Amazon is ready to move into. The US food and beverage market represented a total of $705 billion in 2016 and e-commerce was a small 1.4% of that market, according to DiClemente. Amazon is beginning to address this market with programs like Prime Pantry and even a brick-and-motor store with no check-out clerks.
There are 4 new markets Amazon could be ready to take over (AMZN) | 06/15/17 | Markets Insider