News Cart for Jan 31st

Trump Administration Cracks Down on Counterfeits

• Law enforcement officials will “pursue civil fines and other penalties” against online counterfeit sellers, according to DHS report
• Report gives officials greater power to examine shipments in U.S. warehouses and fulfillment centers
• Intended to “shift the burden” from government to eCommerce platforms for monitoring

Chinese Outnumber U.S. Sellers on Amazon (hat tip to ECF member Rex Bledsoe)

• 49% of the top 10,000 Amazon.com sellers are based in China; 47% are based in the U.S.
• Their growth has been rapid:  Chinese sellers represented only 38% of top sellers a year ago
• U.S.-based sellers also outnumbered by Chinese sellers in the top 50,000 and top 100,000

Yotpo Acquires SMSBump 

• Acquisition adds SMS marketing to Yotpo’s suite of capabilities
• Brands can request reviews and photos or videos via SMS, and can notify customers of loyalty programs, status updates or referral promotions

Amazon Smashes 4th Quarter Earnings Expectations

• Earnings for Q4 2019 were 60% above analysts expectations
• One day and same-day shipments quadrupled year-over-year, potentially contributing to increased revenues
• Cloud business revenue was up 34%, total revenues by 21%.  Shipping expenses up 43%.

Casper IPO to Raise Up to $159 Million

• Projected valuation between $750 million and just over $1 billion
• S-1 filing showed net losses of $67 million on $312 million in net revenues for the first nine months of 2019
• Filing comes in the midst of many reconsidering money-losing DTC business models