Content about Amazon

SEATTLE — Amazon has launched its own currency, which customers will be able to use to purchase apps, games and in-app items from the Amazon Appstore and on Kindle Fire.

To celebrate the launch, existing and new Kindle Fire customers in the U.S. have had 500 free Coins — a $5 value — deposited into their Amazon accounts. 

SEATTLE — Online retailer Amazon has launched its 50+ Active and Healthy Living Store, which features hundreds of thousands of nutrition, wellness, exercise and fitness, medical, personal care, beauty, entertainment items and more — all in a single destination for customers in the 50+ age range.

SEATTLE -- Amazon.com went back to its roots as bookseller last week with the announcement that it would acquire social site Goodreads, an online book recommendation community that has more than 16 millions around the globe. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

WABAN, Mass. — Sam's Club and Amazon were among the retailers that earned top marks for customer service, according to the consulting firm Temkin Group.

According to the 2013 Temkin Experience Rankings which queried 10,000 U.S. consumers about customer service issues across 246 companies in 19 industries, Sam's Club and Amazon earned the top spots in the retail sector and RadioShack was the lowest rated retailer for the third consecutive year.

Amazon lead the pack in the retail field on Fortune’s “Most Admired Companies” list. The e-commerce juggernaut was third ranked overall (behind Apple and Google) for, among other reasons, its efficient customer service and leadership under CEO Jeff Bezos.

Nordstrom captured the number 16 spot for generating buzz for its first full-line retail store in Manhattan, well before its planned open date in 2018 and for its successful clearance brand, Nordstrom Rack.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Customer satisfaction with retailers is on the rise, according to a report released by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. In fact, it’s at an all time high, up 0.7% to 76.6 in 2012 on ACSI’s 100-point scale. And once again, Publix is on top, outperforming all other retailers (physical and pure online players) with a score of 86.

NEW YORK and SEATTLE -- Amazon.com has expanded its content licensing agreement with CBS Corp. to bring classic series and hit TV shows from CBS Television Distribution and Showtime Networks to Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service, extending the already vast catalog of CBS content available for Prime members to instantly stream, and enjoy at no additional cost.

Traffic trends at Walmart and other major retailers declined in December even though e-commerce sales set new records in the fourth quarter and throughout 2012.

Amazon, which gained attention for its expanded Kindle line and growing e-commerce footprint, captured the second spot on BrandIndex's list of most buzzed about U.S. brands for 2012.

Lowe's and Target were the only traditional retailers to make the top 10. Lowe's moved up one spot to the number five position, thanks to the launch of MyLowes.com and better-equipped staff. Target captured the number seven spot with the help of its remodeling program and year-round exclusives.

Other retailers in the top 25 include Walgreens (13), Home Depot (18) and Kohl's (25).

SEATTLE — Amazon.com has entered into a content licensing agreement with A+E Networks to add prior seasons of series from A&E, Bio, History and Lifetime to the Prime Instant Video service.

Prime Instant Video now features more than 33,000 movies and TV episodes for Amazon Prime members to stream instantly, at no additional cost, on Kindle Fire HD or any of the hundreds of compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Roku, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii U.  

SEATTLE — Amazon contends that 2012 was a record-breaking holiday season for businesses selling on its popular online Webstore platform.

Amazon reports that more than two million third-party sellers worldwide experienced record holiday growth, and unit growth solely from sellers in the U.S. increased more than 40% year-over-year. For the year, sellers on Amazon sold hundreds of millions of units worth tens of billions of dollars worldwide, according to the company, which did not provide an actual sales figure.

An annual holiday e-retail satisfaction report produced by analytic's firm ForeSee showed considerable improvement at Target this year following a challenging 2011.

Amazon.com, LLBean.com and QVC.com were the top three retailers on ForeSee’s Annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction survey while Target was in the upper one third of companies analyzed.