• From TechCrunch:
"Amazon’s 10,000 Rivian-made all-electric van are delivering packages throughout the United States, the e-commerce company revealed Tuesday evening during its Delivering the Future event.
"Amazon, which owns a stake in Rivian, reached a deal with the automaker in 2019 to have at least 100,000 electric delivery vans on the road by 2030. The order is part of Amazon’s climate pledge to become carbon neutral by 2040.
"Amazon began rolling out its electric delivery vans in summer 2022. The majority of the electric delivery vans are in the U.S., split across 1,800 or so cities. Amazon started bringing the electric delivery vans to Europe this summer and recently announced plans to deploy more than 300 vans in Germany."
• From The Information:
"Amazon is approaching brands that already buy search ads on its e-commerce website with an unusual pitch: if you buy streaming TV ads, we’ll make them for you.
"The incentive highlights the lengths Amazon is willing to go to in order to try to build a streaming ad business. Smaller brands that sell on Amazon often don’t have the money or expertise to make video commercials, and that typically makes them a less attractive source of business for an ad seller. In response, Amazon in recent months has been paying for the writing, shooting and editing of commercials if brands spend at least $15,000 to run them on Amazon streaming sites like Freevee and Twitch, according to two marketing consultants whose clients have taken Amazon up on the offer.
"Amazon may feel it has little choice but to try to woo small merchants. It is trying to build a streaming ad business at a time when nearly every major streaming service–including the ones owned by TV companies with long experience in advertising–has begun selling ads. The e-commerce giant has an edge in one area: the millions of merchants that sell on its e-commerce platform, many of which already buy search ads sold by the company that give their products a leg up in search results. Amazon appears to be hoping to replicate that search ad success in streaming. The challenge is, however, that streaming video ads are typically pricier than search ads."
• From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:
"A Georgia company that makes its money picking up food that big buyers — from the Atlanta airport to wedding caterers — would otherwise pay a garbage collector to haul away will launch a free mobile grocery store in Petersburg.
"The service, the latest development in Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s Partnership for Petersburg community revitalization campaign, aims to address the city’s food deserts — neighborhoods that are far from grocery stores where people often rely on expensive, unhealthy food from convenience stores and fast food restaurants.
The food in the Goodr Co truck will be free. The service is operated with support from Amazon.
"The Goodr Co.’s mobile grocery store service is a 26-foot-long truck stocked with grocery items, including fresh produce, milk, eggs, and shelf-stable items. It is equipped with refrigerators, freezers and shelves, and the aim is to feel much like shopping for goods in a brick and mortar store."
• Variety reports that Netflix is increasing the price of its ad-free basic and premium plans, from $9.99 and $19.99 a month to $11.99 and $22.99 a month, respectively. The increased affects US and Uk subscribers.
According to the story, "The cost of the streamer’s ad-supported ($6.99 per month in the U.S.) and standard ($15.49) tiers remain the same in those territories."
The move comes as Amazon plans to increase the price of ad-free Amazon prime Video by $3 a month, starting next year.
Variety notes that "the price increases were announced Wednesday as Netflix reported its third-quarter 2023 financial results. In the period from July 1-Sept. 30, the streamer saw its total global paid subscribers rise by nearly 9 million to total 247.15 million." Netflix also said it added nine million subscribers in the third quarter.
