Tag Archives: Amazon

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Amazon to create more than 1,500 full-time jobs with its first Missouri fulfillment center

SEATTLE, 2018-Mar-09 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today (Mar. 7, 2018) announced plans for the first Missouri fulfillment center to be located in St. Peters, creating more than 1,500 full-time jobs with benefits and opportunities to engage with Amazon Robotics in a highly technological workplace. Amazon currently operates a sortation center in Hazelwood, where it employs hundreds of associates.

“We’re excited to continue growing our team with our first, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Missouri,” said Sanjay Shah, Amazon’s Vice President of North America Customer Fulfillment. “Our ability to expand in Missouri is the result of two things: incredible customers and an outstanding workforce. Amazon is committed to providing great opportunities for employment and creating a positive economic impact for the region.”

Amazon employees at the more than 800,000 square foot fulfillment center will pick, pack and ship small items to customers such as books, electronics and toys. The facility will feature innovative technology such as Amazon Robotics that will assist employees in fulfilling customer orders.

“Amazon’s choice to locate in Missouri speaks to our strength as North America’s logistics center,” Rob Dixon, Director of Missouri’s Department of Economic Development said. “Our central location, international airports and extensive highway, rail and river networks position Missouri as an ideal location for this new facility.”

“We are excited to congratulate Amazon for yet another investment in Missouri,” said Steve Johnson, CEO of Missouri Partnership. “Amazon is a great partner to Missouri and it was an honor to be a part of the Missouri team. We are thrilled they will be creating jobs and investing to improve the lives of Missouri citizens.”

Full-time employees at Amazon receive competitive hourly wages and a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, disability insurance, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one. The company also offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave and innovative benefits such as Leave Share and Ramp Back, which give new parents flexibility with their growing families.

“All of us in St. Peters are excited to welcome Amazon to ‘My Hometown’ and we’re looking forward to them joining the St. Peters family with 1,500 jobs for our region’s well-trained workforce,” said St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano. “With Amazon’s tremendous investment in our region and our commitment to facilitating quality economic development projects with our ‘FasTrac’ process we believe this will be one of their most successful projects – ever.”

“We are pleased that Amazon has chosen the City of St. Peters as the site for its new fulfillment center,” says County Executive Steve Ehlmann. “This is a major investment that reflects the growing shift to e-commerce and will add more than 1,500 new, full-time jobs in St. Charles County. Amazon’s decision is just one more indication that St. Charles County is being recognized as an exceptional place to live, work and do business.”

Amazon also offers full-time employees innovative programs like Career Choice, where the company will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch, over 12,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.

“We were thrilled to work with Amazon in partnership with the City of St. Peters, St. Charles County and Missouri state officials on the company’s new investment in our region that will bring more than 1,500 jobs,” said Tom Chulick, President & CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber. “Amazon’s decision to continue investing in the St. Louis region by locating their first fulfillment center in St. Peters highlights our region’s strategic national location, strong transportation infrastructure and superior quality workforce.”

To learn more about working at an Amazon fulfillment center, visit amazondelivers.jobs.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon and Whole Foods Market launch Prime Now free two-hour delivery in Atlanta and San Francisco

Amazon Now Delivery at Whole Foods Market Lamar in Austin, Texas on February 5, 2018.

Prime customers can enjoy free 2-hour delivery for orders over $35 from Whole Foods Market; Ultrafast delivery from Whole Foods Market is now available in six cities through Prime Now, more to come in 2018

AUSTIN, Texas and SEATTLE, 2018-Mar-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon and Whole Foods Market today (March 6, 2018) launched free two-hour delivery of natural and organic products from Whole Foods Market through Prime Now in Atlanta and San Francisco. Starting today, Prime customers in neighborhoods of Atlanta and San Francisco can shop through Prime Now for bestselling items including fresh produce, high quality meat and seafood, everyday staples and other locally sourced items from Whole Foods Market. The service first launched last month in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach with plans for continued expansion across the U.S. throughout 2018. Customers can start shopping from Whole Foods Market selection at www.primenow.com or by using the Prime Now app available on Android and iOS devices.

“We’re happy to bring our customers in San Francisco and Atlanta the convenience of free two-hour delivery through Prime Now and access to thousands of natural and organic groceries and locally sourced favorites,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO. “Together, we have already lowered prices on many items, and this offering makes Prime customers’ lives even easier.”

Prime customers can shop thousands of items across fresh and organic produce, bakery, dairy, meat and seafood, floral and everyday staples from Whole Foods Market available for free two-hour delivery. Select alcohol is also available for delivery to customers in San Francisco. Prime members receive two-hour delivery for free and ultra-fast delivery within one hour for $7.99 on orders of $35 or more.

Delivery from Whole Foods Market through Prime Now is available daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Customers can visit www.primenow.com or download the Prime Now app to enter their zip code to see if they are in the delivery area.

Contact:
SOmedia@wholefoods.com

Source: Whole Foods Market

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Amazon surpasses the milestone of 10,000 full-time employees in Illinois

Between 2014 and 2016, Amazon’s investments contributed more than $200 million into Illinois’ economy, indirectly creating 7,000 additional jobs on top of the 10,000 the company employs directly

SEATTLE, 2018-Mar-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — This year, Amazon will celebrate its third year fulfilling customer orders out of Illinois and surpassing the milestone of 10,000 full-time employees in the state with job opportunities for people with all types of experience, education and skill levels—from human resources, engineers and facilities technicians, to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training.

“We couldn’t be prouder to be part of the Illinois family. Our team in the Land of Lincoln has been instrumental in providing outstanding customer experiences, raising the bar on our operational excellence, and continuing to innovate on behalf of the customer. We feel fortunate to have been able to create more than 10,000 jobs in just three years and gratified by the amazing support we’ve received from the community,” said Sanjay Shah, Amazon’s Vice President of North America Customer Fulfillment.

Amazon’s first fulfillment center in Illinois, located at 205 Emerald Drive in Joliet, opened in 2015 with a team of 1,000 full-time employees. Since the initial building’s launch, Amazon has opened eight other fulfillment centers, two Prime Now hubs, an Amazon Fresh site, a sortation center, four delivery stations, an Amazon Books store, and a corporate office in the Prairie State.

This expansion has resulted in Amazon investing hundreds of millions of dollars into Illinois’s economy, both in fulfillment infrastructure and compensation to its 10,000 current employees. As a snapshot, according to a report by the company’s Economics team, Amazon’s investments in Illinois from 2014 through 2016 resulted in an additional $200 million to the state’s economy. Using Input-Output methodology and multipliers developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 7,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires.

“We welcome Amazon’s growth and creation of more than 10,000 jobs, which speaks to the quality of our work force here in Illinois,” said Governor Bruce Rauner. “We’re proud of Amazon’s commitment and contributions to the local community and broader state economy. We congratulate Amazon on yet another enterprise milestone and look forward to working with the company to build on this momentum.”

“Illinois is full of people willing and wanting to work and grow,” said Intersect Illinois President and CEO Mark Peterson. “Amazon exceeding their projections is great news and a testament to our dedicated, skilled and extensive workforce.”

“As the world’s largest inland port, Will County is proud to be home to four Amazon fulfillment centers,” said Will County Executive Larry Walsh.

Amazon in Illinois by the numbers:

  • 9 fulfillment centers, 6 of which are located in Chicagoland
  • 3 locations in Chicago city proper: Prime Now hub, delivery station, and a corporate office
  • Amazon’s corporate office in Chicago has created jobs for 200 engineers and cloud infrastructure professionals, and is being expanded to host up to 400 people
  • 400+ restaurants leverage Amazon’s technological expertise to offer customers superfast delivery on hot food through Amazon Restaurants
  • 8,500+ full-time employees in the greater Chicago area
  • 7,000+ estimated indirect jobs created as a result of Amazon’s investment between 2014 and 2016
  • 95,000+ authors, sellers, and developers in Illinois growing their businesses and reaching new customers on Amazon products and services
  • $100,000+ donated to charities in Illinois through monetary and in-kind donations
  • $200 million added into Illinois’ economy between 2014 and 2016 due to Amazon’s investments
  • More than 6,000,000 sq. ft. footprint for the nine fulfillment centers

Amazon’s statewide impact can be seen in the local small businesses it empowers. For example, Kristin Rae is an Illinois resident and founder of Inspire International, an independent, woman-founded brand that sells modern clothing and travel accessories. Inspire International uses Fulfillment By Amazon, a service that enables small businesses to use Amazon’s resources to sell directly to customers.

“I truly wouldn’t be able to be in business without Amazon,” said Rae. “It’s not only the visibility that Amazon offers boutique brands like mine, but also the resources and support that are so valuable to small businesses. I am able to efficiently operate a global business from the heartland of Illinois, something that years ago wouldn’t have been possible for sellers like me who live in more rural areas of the country. Amazon is revolutionizing what it is to be a small business.”

Full-time fulfillment center Amazon associates receive competitive wages and a comprehensive benefits package, including healthcare, 401(k) and company stock awards starting on day one. Amazon also offers regular full-time employees maternity and parental leave benefits and access to innovative programs like Career Choice, where it will pre-pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program’s launch, more than 10,000 employees have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.

To learn more about working at Amazon, visit www.amazon.jobs.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon announces season three premiere of the Emmy-winning docuseries All or Nothing on Friday, April 27

  • Emmy-winning actor Jon Hamm returns as narrator of the eight-episode season
  • Seasons one and two of All or Nothing are available for Prime members to stream on Prime Video

SEATTLE, 2018-Mar-05 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Mar. 1, 2018) announced that season three of the Emmy-winning docuseries All or Nothing, a Prime Original series produced by NFL Films, will launch on Friday, April 27. All or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys,once again narrated by Emmy-winning actor Jon Hamm (Baby Driver, Mad Men), follows the Cowboys through their tumultuous 2017 season, which they enter with Super Bowl aspirations and exit with disappointment, one game short of the playoffs after a rollercoaster of controversy and emotion. All eight episodes will be available for Prime members on April 27.

All or Nothing, winner of the 2017 Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Serialized Sports Documentary, is the first series to take viewers inside the locker room, on the sidelines and off the field for an unprecedented look inside an NFL franchise’s complete season. Season three, All or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys, begins with much reason for optimism. Owner Jerry Jones has been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the team is operating out of its glistening new headquarters in Frisco, Texas, and head coach Jason Garrett is the reigning NFL Coach of the Year. But a cloud hangs over everything: after a yearlong investigation, running back Ezekiel Elliott has been suspended for six games by the NFL for conduct detrimental to the league. The team never quite finds its footing, alternating between winning and losing streaks.

Being the Dallas Cowboys means being the center of the NFL universe in good times and bad. The Elliott suspension, the team’s response to the players’ social justice protests during the national anthem, and even the fortunes of Jerry Jones’s grandson – a star Texas high school quarterback – dominate national headlines. It all adds up to a wild season even by the lofty standards of America’s Team. And NFL Films is there for it all, providing the immersive coverage that has made the Emmy-winning All or Nothing a new gold standard for all-access sports programming.

“We are excited to announce that the third season of All or Nothing will feature the Dallas Cowboys. One of the best known and most captivating teams in the NFL, the Cowboys have a rabid fan base,” said Heather Schuster, Head of Unscripted, Amazon Originals. “This season will once again provide Prime members with incredible access, compelling drama and plenty of football action to entertain fans until next season.”

“We are thrilled to have the Dallas Cowboys as the featured team in the third season of the Prime Original series All or Nothing,” said Maryann Turcke, President of NFL Media. “An enormous amount of thanks goes out to the Cowboys organization for their cooperation in filming throughout the season. The team at NFL Films continuously delivers high-quality, engaging content for viewers, and through our collaboration with Amazon, the third season of All or Nothing will give football fans incredible access into one of the league’s most iconic and celebrated clubs.”

The April 27 launch of All or Nothing also coincides with the 2018 NFL Draft, which will take place Thursday, April 26 through Saturday, April 28 in Dallas, TX.

Here’s what customers are saying:

  • “Absolutely amazing documentary. I can’t wait to see this show and the unique style continue.”
  • “Wasn’t into football. Now I’m into football.”
  • “The in-depth look at how teams operate behind the doors is astounding to see.”
  • “I LOVE THIS SHOW! WAITING FOR SEASON 3!”

Produced by NFL Films, All or Nothing: The Dallas Cowboys is executive produced by Maryann Turcke, Ross Ketover (Hard Knocks, Inside theNFL), and Pat Kelleher (Hard Knocks, 30 for 30 – The Two Bills). The showrunner is Keith Cossrow (A Football Life). Directors are Shannon Furman, Jay Jackson, Steve Trout, and Terrell Riley. Supervising producer is Bennett Viseltear and senior producer is Nick Mascolo.

Prime members will be able to stream the series via the Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices and online at amazon.com/allornothing. Members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership.

Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Prime Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.

About Prime Video

Prime Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Prime Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Prime Original series like The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Sneaky Pete, and kids series Tumble Leaf, and Amazon Original Movies such as Academy Award-winning Manchester by the Sea and The Salesman, and Academy Award-nominated The Big Sick,available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  • Live Sports: Sporting events, including AVP volleyball and ATP tennis, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe
  • Amazon Channels: Over 140 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
  • Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Prime Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire tablets and Apple TV or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About NFL Films

NFL Films, the most honored filmmaker in sports television history with 126 Sports Emmy Awards – remains a groundbreaking leader in sports television, providing unprecedented access to and legendary storytelling about the sport of professional football. With more than 100 million feet of film in its library, NFL Films is the historical backbone of NFL Network and a key supplier of the network’s programming, including the three-time Emmy-nominated series A Football Life, offering untold stories into the lives of some of the NFL’s most recognizable icons, and The Timeline, chronicling seminal moments that formed the NFL’s storied past, shape the present and, in some cases, set the stage for the future.

NFL Films is a part of NFL Media, the owned and operated media division of the National Football League which is comprised of NFL Network, NFL Films, NFL.com, NFL Now, NFL Mobile from Verizon and NFL RedZone.

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon announces fifth season of one-hour Prime Original series Bosch

Based on the best-selling Michael Connelly novels, Bosch season four will premiere Friday, April 13

SEATTLE, 2018-Feb-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today announced it has greenlit a fifth season of the longest-running one-hour Prime Original Bosch. Executive Producers Eric Overmyer and Daniel Pyne are slated to team up as co-showrunners. Season four of the Emmy-nominated series will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, April 13. Bosch is produced by Fabrik Entertainment, a Red Arrow Studios company.

Based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling novels, the hour-long series Bosch stars Titus Welliver (Lost) as homicide Detective Harry Bosch, Jamie Hector (The Wire) as Jerry Edgar, Amy Aquino (Being Human) as Lt. Grace Billets, Madison Lintz (The Walking Dead) as Maddie Bosch and Lance Reddick (The Wire) as Deputy Chief Irvin Irving. In the ten-episode season four, when an attorney is murdered on the eve of his civil rights trial against the LAPD, Bosch is assigned to lead a task force to solve the crime before the city erupts in a riot. Bosch must pursue every lead, even if it turns the spotlight back on his own department. One murder intertwines with another, and Bosch must reconcile his past to find a justice that has long eluded him.

Season three has an average customer rating of 4.8, with 89% 5 star reviews. Here’s what customers have been saying:

  • “This series is so amazing…the cast is perfect.”
  • “This is THE detective show, the essence of LA noir not seen since the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammet [sic].”
  • “This is a rare example of what great television is and can be.”
  • “This series is just getting better and better.”
  • “This is still the best crime drama on TV.”

“As Amazon Prime Video’s longest-running one-hour series, Bosch has long been a cornerstone of our scripted programming, and Prime members consistently clamor for more,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series, Amazon Studios. “We are excited to give them another season with Harry Bosch, Jerry Edgar, Grace Billets and the rest of the diverse characters that make up the Bosch universe.”

“I could not be prouder of the show we are making. Bosch is entertaining and relevant to our world today,” added Connelly. “On top of that we have a fantastic writing staff and the cast and crew are the best. We feel we are just hitting our stride. Season four is based on “Angels Flight” and I don’t think we could have chosen a more timely story to tell.”

“Producing Bosch for Amazon Prime Video has been an honor and a delight,” said Fabrik Entertainment CEO Henrik Bastin, who also executive produces the series. “Sharon Tal Yguado and her entire team have shown incredible support in the creative process and we couldn’t be more pleased to debut season four this coming April and then to dive back into production on season five with Eric and Dan leading the team as co-showrunners.”

Henrik Pabst, President of Red Arrow Studios International, the TV distribution arm of Red Arrow Studios, said, “It’s fantastic news that Boschwill be back for season five. Amazon Prime Video’s longest-running drama is a huge hit internationally, and Bosch fans around the world will be delighted by the news.”

Bosch was developed for television by Overmyer (Treme, The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Streets) and is executive produced by Pyne (Backstabbing For Beginners, Fracture, The Manchurian Candidate), Overmyer, Bastin (The 100 Code, American Odyssey, The Comedians), Pieter Jan Brugge (Heat, The Insider, The Clearing), John Mankiewicz, Connelly, Pabst, Jan David Frouman and Elle Johnson. Welliver also serves as Producer.

Prime members can stream seasons one, two and three of Bosch exclusively via the Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices and online at www.amazon.com/boschtv. Members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. The series is a global release and available on PrimeVideo.com for Prime Video members in more than 200 countries and territories.

Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Prime Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.

About Prime Video

Prime Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Prime Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Prime Originals like The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Tick, and kids series Tumble Leaf, Amazon Original Movies such as Academy Award-winning Manchester by the Sea and The Salesman, and Academy Award-nominated The Big Sick, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  • Live Sports: Sporting events, including AVP volleyball and ATP tennis, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.
  • Amazon Channels: Over 140 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
  • Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About Fabrik Entertainment

Los Angeles-based television development and production company Fabrik Entertainment creates compelling, original programming both for the US and international markets. Led by CEO Henrik Bastin and President Melissa Aouate, and supported by VPs Abbey Morris and Paul Hilborn, Fabrik has built its reputation on producing outstanding high-impact series, both original and IP-based. Founded in 2005, Fabrik’s credits include Amazon’s Bosch, AMC’s Emmy-nominated The Killing, HBO’s Nordic, WGN’s 100 Code, NBC’s American Odyssey, USA’s Burn Notice, The Comedians on FX and Fox’s The Good Guys. Through a strategic partnership with Red Arrow Studios, established in 2011, Fabrik extends its reach from a traditional US production company to that of a top-tier financier and distributor both in American and international markets. Fabrik is represented by Jared Levine at Morris Yorn Barnes Levine Krintzman Rubenstein Kohner & Gellman. www.fabrikent.com

About Red Arrow Studios

Red Arrow Studios is one of the world’s leading creators and distributors of entertainment content. Red Arrow Studios is comprised of 20 production companies in seven territories, including 10 companies based in the United States; world-leading digital studio, Studio71, based in six countries; and global film and TV distributors Red Arrow Studios International and Gravitas Ventures. The group’s significant output includes scripted, non-scripted and formatted content and IP, from TV and film to short-form and branded content, made for an array of global networks and platforms. Red Arrow Studios is part of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, one of Europe’s leading media groups. For more information, please visit: redarrow.tv

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline: 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

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Amazon and Whole Foods Market announce the introduction of Prime Now free two-hour delivery in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach

Amazon and Whole Foods Market announce the introduction of Prime Now free two-hour delivery in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach

Prime customers can enjoy free 2-hour delivery for orders over $35 from Whole Foods Market; Whole Foods Market groceries can be delivered through Prime Now to neighborhoods in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Virginia Beach

AUSTIN, Texas and SEATTLE, 2018-Feb-09 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon and Whole Foods Market today announced the introduction of free two-hour delivery of natural and organic products from Whole Foods Market through Prime Now, with plans to expand across the U.S. in 2018. Starting today, Prime customers in neighborhoods of Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach can shop through Prime Now for bestselling items including fresh produce, high quality meat and seafood, everyday staples and other locally sourced items from Whole Foods Market. Customers can start shopping from Whole Foods Market selection at www.primenow.com or by using the Prime Now app available on Android and iOS devices.

“We’re happy to bring our customers the convenience of free two-hour delivery through Prime Now and access to thousands of natural and organic groceries and locally sourced favorites,” said John Mackey, Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO. “Together, we have already lowered prices on many items, and this offering makes Prime customers’ lives even easier.”

Prime customers can shop thousands of items across fresh and organic produce, bakery, dairy, meat and seafood, floral and everyday staples from Whole Foods Market available for free two-hour delivery. Select alcohol is also available for delivery to customers. Prime members receive two-hour delivery for free and ultra-fast delivery within one hour for $7.99 on orders of $35 or more.

Delivery from Whole Foods Market through Prime Now is available daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Customers can visit www.primenow.com or download the Prime Now app to enter their zip code to see if they are in the delivery area.

SOURCE: Whole Foods Market

MEDIA CONTACT
SWmedia@wholefoods.com

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Amazon and Whole Foods Market celebrate Valentine’s Day with a special discount on Whole Trade roses

Amazon and Whole Foods Market celebrate Valentine’s Day wit a special discount on Whole Trade roses

 

All customers to receive lower prices; Prime members to receive an even deeper discount

AUSTIN, Texas, 2018-Feb-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon and Whole Foods Market will celebrate Valentine’s Day with customers by offering a special discount on Whole Trade roses from Feb. 7 to 14. Customers nationwide will be able to purchase two dozen roses at the reduced price of $24.99. Prime members will save even more on two dozen roses for just $19.99, while supplies last. Whole Foods Market Team Members will also be available in all stores across the U.S. to wrap bouquets and arrange flowers while shoppers pick up other gifts for their sweetheart.

“We are excited to make this Valentine’s Day extra special for customers by lowering prices on our beautiful Whole Trade roses,” said A.C. Gallo, president and chief operating officer at Whole Foods Market. “As we continue to integrate with Amazon, we plan to share additional savings, values, and promotional events with our shoppers and Prime members while continuing to support responsible ecosystems and communities worldwide.”

Each purchase of Whole Trade roses gives back to communities where the flowers were sourced. Whole Foods Market created the Whole Trade Guarantee in 2007 to highlight our commitment to ethical trade, working conditions, and the environment, while also meeting our standards for high quality products. From building schools and funding scholarships, to providing childcare, or simply ensuring fair wages, every purchase of a Whole Trade product funds community projects.

“We know our members are looking to express their love and we are thrilled by all the times Prime marriage proposals have been shared with us on social media,” said Cem Sibay, Vice President, Amazon Prime. “We hope that nothing says Prime and Commitment quite like beautiful roses from Whole Foods Market. This is the second special promotion we have done for Prime members and we are planning to do more in the future.”

While browsing the floral section, customers can also pick up delicious ingredients to create a date night at home. Start by creating a cheese and charcuterie board featuring Hervé Mons Ovalie Cendrée, exclusively available at Whole Foods Market, as a first course. Next, create an impressive at-home surf-and-turf entrée, featuring fresh and sustainably sourced seafood and Animal Welfare Rated New York Strip Steaks. Pair it all with De Chanceny Crémant de Loire Brut or Brut Rose, selected by Whole Foods’ Master Sommelier, Devon Broglie and finish off the romantic meal with fair trade chocolates or Whole Foods Market’s chocolate, heart-shaped Sweetheart Cake.

For more details about this promotion, or to sign up for free trial of Prime, visit www.amazon.com/roses.  Whether reducing prices on everyday staples or offering competitive promotions for specialty items that enhance holiday moments, Whole Foods Market and Amazon will continue to work closely together to offer exciting programs and savings in new and unexpected ways.

Every Day Made Better with Prime

Prime was designed to make your life better every single day. Tens of millions of members around the world enjoy the many benefits of Prime. In the U.S. that includes unlimited access to award-winning movies and TV episodes with Prime Video; unlimited access to Prime Music, Audible Channels for Prime, Prime Reading, Prime Photos, Twitch Prime; early access to select Lightning Deals, one free pre-released book a month with Amazon First Reads, and more. Prime was built on the foundation of unlimited fast, free shipping and members receive unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 100 million items, Prime FREE One-Day Shipping and Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery in more than 8,000 cities and towns, and two-hour delivery with Prime Now in more than 30 major cities.  Start a free trial of Amazon Prime at amazon.com/prime.

Contact:

SOmedia@wholefoods.com

Source: Whole Foods Market

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Amazon opens its newest Seattle HQ buildings — The Spheres

  • The Spheres—the newest buildings on Amazon’s campus in downtown Seattle—have no enclosed offices, conference spaces, or desks, and employees can meet in treehouses suspended under 40+ foot trees or in sitting areas and walking paths alongside cascading waterfalls
  • Plants, trees, sunlight, soil, and water take center stage – the sound of running water and the scent of flowering plants create an instant botanical immersion that takes visitors far away from the urban landscape
  • The project created more than 600 full-time jobs, and is part of Amazon’s more than $4 billion investment in the design, development, and construction of its Seattle HQ
  • The Spheres will be open to provide educational opportunities to the Seattle community through tours, field trips and partnerships with local schools and universities

SEATTLE, 2018-Jan-31 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Jan. 29, 2018) announced the opening of The Spheres, the company’s newest Seattle HQ buildings that are home to more than 40,000 plants from around the world. There’s no place else in the world quite like The Spheres – a spot where Amazon employees can work in an environment that’s more like a tropical rainforest in the clouds than an office. Plants, trees, sunlight, soil, and water take center stage – the sound of running water and the scent of flowering plants create an instant botanical immersion that takes visitors far away from the urban landscape. The Spheres are a result of innovative thinking about the character of the workplace and an extended conversation about what is typically missing from urban offices – a direct link to nature. Studies suggest that spaces that embrace biophilic design can inspire creativity and even improve brain function.

“Our goal with The Spheres was to create a unique gathering place where employees could collaborate and innovate together, and where the Seattle community could gather to experience biodiversity in the center of the city,” said John Schoettler, Amazon Vice President of Global Real Estate and Facilities. “I am very proud and thankful to the entire team who made The Spheres a reality – they did a terrific job from the design all the way to the finishing touches. We are thrilled to officially open the doors.”

The Spheres feature treehouse meeting rooms, river and waterfall features, paludariums, a four-story living wall, and epiphytic trees. They are home to more than 400 species spanning five continents and 50 countries, and many of the plants have journeyed from botanical gardens, tree nurseries, and conservation programs from around the globe. Many of the plants inside The Spheres are from cloud forest ecosystems, where plants thrive on mountainsides at an altitude ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 feet. Plants in these ecosystems have adapted to cooler temperatures, which makes their climate needs comfortable for people, too.

Amazon is committed to sharing the beauty and biodiversity inside The Spheres with the public, and will provide educational opportunities to the Seattle community through tours, field trips and partnerships with local schools and universities. The Spheres also include a visitor center – called The Understory – that is open to the public year round. The Understory provides a fully immersive, 360-degree experience where visitors can get up close and personal with the science, engineering, and plants behind The Spheres.

“The Spheres are sure to become an iconic part of downtown Seattle, and I applaud Amazon for its latest innovation,” Gov. Jay Inslee said. “These unique buildings are so much more than a beautiful creative space for Amazon employees. They will help conserve a number of rare plant species from around the world and provide countless educational opportunities for local students – and that’s something Washington can take pride in.”

“Seattle is the coolest city in the country, leading the way with innovative urban projects like The Spheres. This unique landscape will bring together students, visitors, and residents in the heart of our City,” said Mayor Jenny Durkan.

“The most delightful design feature of Amazon’s Spheres goes far beyond bringing natural beauty into Seattle’s urban core,” said Toby Bradshaw, Professor and Chair, UW Department of Biology. “The use of plant biodiversity — including the ‘weird’ and ‘ugly’ specimens — to tell the story of interconnections among living things will be an inspiration to all who visit and work at The Spheres.”

Learn about The Spheres, The Understory, and how to visit on www.seattlespheres.com. For regular updates about the plant life inside The Spheres, follow @SeattleSpheres on Instagram.

About The Spheres

Find out about opening day: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/amazon-campus/the-spheres-blossom-in-seattle

The Spheres were built to create a wide variety of ways to communicate, work and dine on five different levels in the backdrop of dramatic plant installations including living walls, paludariums and treehouse gathering spaces. Below are a few facts about The Spheres, as well as what visitors will find within and around them:

  • More than 600 full-time jobs created through the design, build and construction of The Spheres
  • More than 620 tons of steel, or enough steel to build the Space Needle three times
  • 12 million pounds of concrete used in the construction, or enough concrete to build a highway from Seattle to Sacramento, CA.
  • The exterior façade features a naturally occurring shape in nature called a “Catalan,” which is derived from the face of a pentagonal hexecontahedron Catalan solid – the shape repeats throughout The Spheres with 60 faces per Sphere and 180 total
  • The Spheres’ façade contains 2,643 panes of glass that are ultra-clear and energy-efficient, with a film interlayer to keep out infrared wavelengths that produce unwanted heat
  • Structural engineers tested The Spheres for all kinds of environmental factors, including 91 different scenarios. At the base of The Spheres, a 400,000-pound ring beam transfers heavy loads of gravity, wind and seismic forces from the glass-and-steel façade to columns in the parking garage below
  • The largest Sphere is more than 90 feet tall and 130 feet in diameter
  • All three Spheres share a single indoor environment, which makes air flow critical between the buildings. Radiant floor heating and cooling is an efficient way to balance indoor temperature, and also ensures that less hot and dry air circulates through the HVAC system.
  • More than 40,000 plants and over 400 species will call The Spheres home at any given time
  • The Spheres’ plant collection spans five continents, and includes specimens from The University of Washington and Atlanta Botanical Garden
  • Many of the plants inside The Spheres are found in cloud forests, a remarkably diverse type of high-elevation tropical forest that receives much of its moisture from direct contact with clouds rather than from rain
  • Cloud forest ecosystems are typically located at high altitudes (3,000 to 10,000 feet), and they are found in tropical and subtropical mountainous regions of the world, where cooler temperatures on mountain slopes cause clouds to form
  • Cloud forest plants depend on cool, humid conditions. To ensure that both people and plants can thrive, The Spheres operate on a diurnal cycle – the daytime temperature inside will average 72 degrees with humidity around 60 percent, and the nighttime temperature will average 55 degrees with humidity around 85 percent
  • The Spheres largest inhabitant – a Ficus rubiginosa dubbed “Rubi” – was planted at a tree farm in California in 1969. Today, Rubi is 55-feet tall, 22-feet wide and weighs nearly 36,000 lbs.

UW Partnership Background

Over the past 30 years the University of Washington has cultivated a world-class plant collection at the UW Botany Greenhouse (9,000 specimens, 3,000 species). This past summer, the building was torn-down to pave the way for a new, state-of-the-art greenhouse facility. Amazon is providing a home to all of these plants at a greenhouse in Woodinville, WA while construction is taking place, providing the space and care to keep the collection thriving for future UW students.

The UW plant collections are a vital component of UW Biology’s missions — research, teaching, and public outreach. Indeed, the outreach mission alone brings thousands of visitors annually to the greenhouse — K-12 students and their teachers, garden clubs, horticultural societies, photographers and artists, and Seattleites looking for warmth and light in midwinter! UW has also shared some plants for use in The Spheres, and there will be many more such opportunities to share resources and expertise as Amazon and UW Biology move into their respective homes.

Amazon Sustainability Background

In addition to the on-going conservation efforts inside The Spheres, Amazon puts its scale and innovative culture to work for sustainability in many other ways. By the numbers:

7 – Amazon’s Sustainability team includes 7 expert groups: Energy and Environment, Packaging, Social Responsibility, Sustainability Services, Science and Innovation, Transportation, and Technology.

50 – Last year, Amazon announced a goal to have over 50 fulfillment facilities with solar on rooftops by 2020. You can read the announcement and watch a video about the project here.

55 – About 55% of employees at our Seattle headquarters get to work by walking, riding bikes, or taking public transit. It’s one of the big benefits of an urban campus.

330,000 – In 2017, we launched our largest wind project to-date – Amazon Wind Farm Texas. Amazon’s projects will generate enough clean energy to power more than 330,000 homes a year.

3 million – That’s how many square feet we’ll be heating in Seattle using recycled energy from a non-Amazon data center across the street from our buildings. It’s an innovative project called ‘District Energy’ and it’s 4x more efficient than traditional heating.

3.6 million – To date, Amazon has announced or commenced construction of a total of 3.6 million megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy.

360 Million – Amazon’s packaging initiatives (like Frustration-Free Packaging and Ships in Own Container) eliminated more than 215,000 tons of excess packaging as of 2017. That’s 360 million boxes avoided.

Be sure to check out www.Amazon.com/sustainability to stay informed about Amazon’s sustainability initiatives.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon’s Treasure Truck will bring new offers and incentives at select Whole Foods Market locations

SEATTLE & AUSTIN, Texas, 2018-Jan-31 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon and Whole Foods Market today (January 30, 2018) announced that Treasure Truck will pop-up at various Whole Foods Market locations across the country with new offers and incentives. Treasure Truck handpicks new, trending, local, or delicious items, loads them on the truck, and cruises around town spreading joy for everyone with a smartphone and an appetite for fun.

Today Amazon’s Treasure Truck will have an offer customers can’t refuse –  the Best-Selling Instant Pot 3 Qt. 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker – will be available for purchase from the Treasure Truck through the Amazon App. Customers can then pick-up their order from the Treasure Truck at select Whole Foods Market locations. Whether customers want to perfect crowd-pleasing culinary delights for the big game, or meal prep health-focused recipes in the New Year, the Instant Pot is a kitchen MVP with settings ranging from pressure cooker to slow cooker.

Customers who purchase the Instant Pot from Treasure Truck through the Amazon App will be treated to a $10 off $40 purchase coupon at Whole Foods Market. And for some culinary inspiration, customers will receive recipes from Feed Your Resolution influencer, author and creator of Nom Nom Paleo, Michelle Tam. Customers can stop by for some Treasure Truck fun, pick-up their Instant Pot order, coupon, and recipe cards and then head into Whole Foods Market to gather what you need to impress your game-watching guests or keep you on track with healthy eating goals until long after the last touchdown.

Customers can sign-up for offer-day notifications to be among the first to find out #WhatsOnTheTruck in their city. Visit www.amazon.com/treasuretruck to learn more.

Contact:

SOmedia@wholefoods.com

Source: Whole Foods Market

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Amazon Prime Video announces return of original series Sneaky Pete for its second season on Friday, March 9

Critically acclaimed series stars Emmy nominee Giovanni Ribisi, Marin Ireland, Emmy winner Margo Martindale, Peter Gerety, Libe Barer andShane McRae, with Emmy winners Graham Yost and Bryan Cranston executive producing

SEATTLE, 2018-Jan-29 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon Prime Video today (Jan. 25, 2018) announced its original dramatic series Sneaky Pete will return for its second season on Friday, March 9. The critically acclaimed Prime Original, a co-production with Sony Pictures Television Studios, revolves around a con man, Marius (Giovanni Ribisi, Avatar) who left prison only to find himself hunted by the vicious gangster he once robbed. With nowhere else to turn, he took cover from his past by assuming the identity of his cellmate Pete, “reuniting” with Pete’s estranged family. In the new season, Marius is on the verge of starting fresh, when two thugs, believing he is Pete, threaten to kill the family unless he takes them to Pete’s estranged mother Maggie (Jane Adams, Twin Peaks) and the millions she stole from their mysterious employer. Now Marius must tread a dangerous line to find the elusive Maggie, protect the family, and keep up the Pete con, all while finagling a way to ditch the thugs and keep the money for himself.

During its series debut last year, Sneaky Pete was the second most streamed original scripted series on an opening day with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Customers can watch the first season online at Amazon.com/SneakyPete before the next season’s ten episodes air on March 9. The series is also available on PrimeVideo.com for Prime Video members in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.

“After the tremendous critical and customer reception in its first season, we’re excited to debut another season of Sneaky Pete,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series, Amazon Studios. “Graham and his team have crafted a second season that really raises the stakes for Marius and everyone involved.”

Sneaky Pete is created by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and David Shore (The Good Doctor), with Cranston, Graham Yost (The Americans), James Degus (All The Way), Michael Dinner and Fred Golan (Justified) serving as executive producers. The series also stars Marin Ireland (Side Effects) as Julia Bowman, three-time Emmy winner Margo Martindale (The Americans) as Audrey Bernhardt, Shane McRae (Still Alice) as Taylor Bowman, Libe Barer (Parenthood) as Carly Bowman and Peter Gerety (Prime Suspect) as Otto Bernhardt.

The entire second season of Sneaky Pete will be available on Prime Video to stream and Prime members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. The series will be available in more than 200 countries and territories for Prime members to watch via the Prime Video app for popular smart TVs, Fire TV, Fire Tablets and Android and iOS phones and tablets. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free 30-day trial at amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Prime Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.

About Prime Video

Prime Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Prime Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Prime Originals like The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Tick, Amazon Original Movies such as Academy Award-winning Manchester by the Sea, The Big Sick and The Salesman and kids series, Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com
  • Live Sports: Sporting events, including AVP volleyball and ATP tennis, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe
  • Amazon Channels: Over 140 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
  • Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, Fire tablets and Apple TV or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon announces its Best of Prime 2017

  • More new paid members joined Prime worldwide than any previous year
  • Prime members around the world used Prime digital benefits this year more than ever before
  • Best of Prime 2017 in the U.S. includes Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot, Prime Video: The Grand Tour, Prime Music: “Believer” by Imagine Dragons and Prime Reading: The Handmaid’s Tale
  • December 30 was Prime’s largest day for streaming around the world, with Prime Originals — The Grand Tour 2 and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — its top two shows

Prime members now enjoy unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 100 million items in the U.S.

SEATTLE, 2018-Jan-03 — /EPR Retail News/ — (NASDAQ: AMZN) — Amazon today announced its Best of Prime 2017 – revealing some of the Prime member favorites of the year. Built on a foundation of fast, free delivery, more than five billion items worldwide shipped with Prime in 2017, including free same-day, one-day, and two-day shipping. Prime is designed to make members’ lives easier and more fun with a unique combination of shipping, shopping and entertainment. Prime members used their digital benefits in 2017 more than in any previous year – putting The Grand Tour on Prime Video, “Believer” by Imagine Dragons on Prime Music and The Handmaid’s Tale on Prime Reading on the U.S. ‘best of’ list for 2017. Find Amazon’s Best of Prime 2017 on Prime Insider.

Best of Prime 2017 in the U.S. includes Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot, Prime Video: The Grand Tour, Prime Music: “Believer” by Imagine Dragons and Prime Reading: The Handmaid’s Tale (Graphic: Business Wire)

“From Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot to Imagine Dragons, Manchester by the Sea and even the Instant Pot, Prime members certainly have great taste! Tens of millions of members around the world enjoy the many benefits included with Prime, and in fact, more new paid members joined Prime worldwide this year than any previous year. In 2017, more than five billion items worldwide shipped with Prime and members used digital benefits like Prime Video, Prime Music and Prime Reading more than ever before,” said Greg Greeley, Vice President, Amazon Prime. “Our Best of Prime feature not only demonstrates what was trending this year, it also gives us insight into what members love, providing additional inspiration as we continue to innovate, invest and make Prime even better in 2018.”

Prime is even better with Amazon devices and Amazon devices are even better with Prime
Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot top the Best of Prime 2017 as the best-selling products purchased by U.S. Prime members from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon. Prime members in the U.S. embraced smart home shopping in 2017, with Prime members adding millions of new Amazon devices to their homes, including Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, Echo Dot and Amazon Echo. These devices allow Prime members to get even more from their membership by accessing music, video, photos, voice shopping and more.

Best of Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading and Twitch Prime
In the U.S., Prime offers members unlimited access to award-winning movies and TV episodes with Prime Video; unlimited access to Prime Music, Audible Channels for Prime, Prime Reading, Prime Photos and Twitch Prime; early access to select Lightning Deals, one free pre-released book a month with Amazon First Reads, and more.

Amazon Originals Were in Demand on Prime Video

  • Amazon Prime Video had a record year as a global streaming service. Customers in over 240 countries and territories around the world made The Grand Tour Season 1 and Sneaky Pete the most streamed Prime Originals.
  • December 30, 2017 was the biggest streaming day of the year around the world, and the top streamed series on Prime Video that day were The Grand Tour Season 2 and Golden Globe-nominated The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
  • Manchester by the Sea was the most watched Amazon Original Movie in the U.S.
  • Live coverage of 10 NFL Thursday Night Football games on Prime Video this season reached more than 17 million combined viewers in over 200 countries and territories.
  • Based on trailer views, among the most anticipated Prime Originals in the U.S. were Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and Man in the High CastleSeason 3.

Prime Music Playlists Provided Prime Members with a Perfect Soundtrack

  • “Believer” by Imagine Dragons and “Something Just Like This” by The Chainsmokers & Coldplay were top played songs on Prime Music in the U.S.
  • Some of the most played artists in 2017 in the U.S. included Luke Combs, Imagine Dragons, Shawn Mendes, Kesha, Brett Young and Halsey.
  • Prime members in the U.S. loved listening to curated playlists by Amazon Music experts, including; “Top Prime Songs,” “Uptempo Pop for Work” and “Relaxing Acoustic Pop.”

Prime Reading Unlocks What’s New and Brings Back Classics

  • Dystopian novels held the top spots on Prime Reading’s 2017 ‘most borrowed’ list in the U.S., including Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and George Orwell’s 1984.
  • When it came to magazines, food publications Clean Eating and Bon Appétit Magazine held the top ‘most read’ spots in the U.S. on Prime Reading.
  • The most popular Prime-eligible audiobook on Audible in the U.S. was No Excuses! by Brian Tracy and the most popular Audible Original Series for Prime in the U.S. was Bedtime Stories for Cynics.

More Great Entertainment with Twitch Prime

  • Twitch Prime members worldwide ordered more than five million pre-release games with a Prime discount.
  • Twitch Prime offered more than $1,100 in free gaming content in 2017 including 23 full games for free, 113 pieces of loot across 19 of the most popular games of the year. This included rare or exclusive content in Overwatch, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, and Warframe, which were three of the most popular bundles of loot among Twitch Prime Members in 2017.

Instant Pot was Hot
A Prime Day favorite in the U.S., the Instant Pot heated things up in 2017. Instant Pot was the most gifted item on Amazon Wedding Registry and the most Wish Listed item of the year by members and the Instant Pot Cookbook was the most gifted book by members as well in the U.S. in 2017. In fact, the Instant Pot found itself a spot in homes from coast to coast as it was delivered to 27,000 U.S. zip codes.

Unlimited Fast, Free Prime Shipping
In 2017, more than five billion items were shipped with Prime worldwide. Members in the U.S. can now enjoy unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 100 million items – expanded from more than 50 million items. This is in addition to Prime FREE One-Day Shipping and Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery in more than 8,000 U.S. cities and towns, and two-hour delivery with Prime Now in more than 30 major cities.

Continued Prime Investments in Speed and Selection
With over 100 million items now eligible for free Prime shipping, Amazon continued to expand its fulfillment capacity for Prime members and the millions of small and medium-sized businesses that are able to offer free Prime shipping through Fulfillment by Amazon. In 2017, the Amazonfulfillment and shipping network increased by more than 30% in square footage worldwide. In the U.S. alone, more than 6,000 trailers and 32 Amazon Air planes were in place to serve Prime members during the year.

Every Day Made Better with Prime – Now in 16 Countries
Prime was designed to make your life better every single day. Tens of millions of members around the world in 16 countries enjoy the many benefits of Prime. In the U.S. that includes unlimited access to award-winning movies and TV episodes with Prime Video; unlimited access to Prime Music, Audible Channels for Prime, Prime Reading, Prime Photos, Twitch Prime; early access to select Lightning Deals, one free pre-released book a month with Amazon First Reads, and more. Prime was built on the foundation of unlimited fast, free shipping and members receive unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 100 million items, Prime FREE One-Day Shipping and Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery in more than 8,000 cities and towns, and two-hour delivery with Prime Now in more than 30 major cities. New countries that joined Prime in 2017 include Mexico, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Singapore. Prime is also available in the U.S., U.K., Spain, Japan, Italy, India, Germany,France, China, Canada, Belgium and Austria. Start a free trial of Amazon Prime at amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Source: Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc.
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Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

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Amazon marks its biggest holiday season with customers shopping at record levels worldwide

  • Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were the #1 and #2 top-selling products across all categories on Amazon
  • Items shipped with FREE One-Day Shipping or FREE Same-Day Delivery or Ultra-Fast Delivery with Prime Now more than doubled this holiday season
  • Small businesses and entrepreneurs had a record-breaking season with more than one billion items ordered worldwide

SEATTLE, 2017-Dec-28 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon celebrated its biggest holiday season with customers all around the world shopping at record levels. Prime membership continued to grow this holiday – in fact, in one week alone, more than four million people started Prime free trials or began paid memberships, to benefit from free two-day, one-day or same-day shipping, in addition to ultra-fast one and two hour delivery with Prime Now.

Customers shopped from hundreds of millions of products, including a vast selection from small businesses and entrepreneurs. More than one billion items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide this season – and over just five days, from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, nearly 140 million items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs. Amazon Devices also had its best holiday yet, with tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices sold worldwide. Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were not only the top-selling Amazon devices this holiday season, but they were also the best-selling products from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon.

“Since Day One we have obsessed over what we believe our customers care about – incredible deals and low prices, fast and free shipping, and a wide selection of top products – and we continue to provide all three, all the time. We’re excited that people continued to join Prime this holiday, to take advantage of more fast and free shipping options plus new convenient delivery like Amazon Key, as well as early access to Lightning Deals and unlimited streaming of TV shows and movies, including Prime Originals and more,” stated Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer. “Thank you to the millions of customers and hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees all around the world who made this holiday better than ever before. We look forward to another great year ahead.”

Amazon Devices and Alexa

  • It was a record holiday shopping season for Amazon Devices, with millions more devices purchased worldwide this year than last year’s holiday season.
  • This holiday season was better than ever for the family of Echo products. The Echo Dot was the #1 selling Amazon Device this holiday season, and the best-selling product from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon, with millions sold.
  • Customers purchased more than twice as many Amazon Fire TV Sticks compared to last year’s holiday season. Fire TV continues to be the #1 streaming media player family in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan, across all retailers.
  • It was the best holiday season ever for Fire Kids Edition Tablets with 2.4x as many devices purchased from Amazon.com compared to the same time period last year.
  • Echo devices have been an extremely popular gift this year, with Echo Spot, Echo Dot and Echo Buttons selling out this holiday season; customers can still pre-order to reserve their place in line and orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
  • This year, Kindle celebrated its 10th holiday season.
  • This holiday, millions of Prime members voice shopped with Alexa for gifts, Amazon devices and everyday household essentials. The most popular items purchased by voice were the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and TP-Link Smart Plug Mini.
  • Alexa helped mix tens of thousands of cocktails this holiday season with Martini and Manhattan being the most requested drinks.
  • The recipe for chocolate chip cookies was the most requested recipe this holiday season.
  • The most requested song from Alexa customers this holiday season was “Jingle Bells.”
  • The East Coast was more in the holiday spirit this season, asking Alexa to play holiday music 2.5x as many times as the West Coast.
  • Alexa customers turned on their holiday lights more than a million times via Alexa this holiday season.
  • Alexa customers asked for tens of millions of jokes this holiday season.
  • The most common person people called this holiday season was ‘Mom’ in the U.S. and Germany, and ‘Dad’ in the U.K.
  • Music listening time on Alexa was 3x as much this holiday season compared to last holiday season.
  • Customers wished Alexa a Merry Christmas, Happy holidays and Happy Hanukkah 3.5x more this year when compared to last year’s holiday season.
  • People asked about Santa 4x as much this holiday season compared to last holiday season.
  • Customers asked Alexa for cooking related advice more than 9x as much this year compared to last holiday season.
  • The most requested movies this holiday season via Alexa were Trolls and Elf.
  • Alexa on Fire TV is more popular than ever before, with usage in the United States up 889% over the same time period last year.
  • Alexa customers set 3x as many timers this year compared to last holiday season.

Amazon Delivered this Holiday

  • Across North America and the Europe, associates at 10 fulfillment centers picked, packed, and shipped more than one million customer packages in a single day.
  • Amazon’s peak day of customer fulfillment in 2017 was December 19, 2017.
  • In 2017, we increased the size of our fulfillment and shipping network by more than 30% in square footage worldwide.
  • In the U.S., more than 6,000 trailers and 32 Amazon Air planes helped get holiday orders to customers this season.
  • Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Amazon Air carried enough packages to equal over a billion Echo Dots.
  • An Amazon Air cargo plane can hold more than 10,000 Instant Pots.
  • The last Prime Now order in time for Christmas was delivered in 58 minutes at 11:58 p.m. on Christmas Eve in Baltimore, MD. The order included the Kid Galaxy Amphibious RC Car Morphibians Shark Remote Control Toy, the Crayola Oil Pastels Art Tools, 28 ct., and the VTechClick and Count Remote.

Mobile Shopping

  • The top five items ordered on a mobile device were the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and the TP-Link Smart Plug.
  • Customers worldwide shopping on the Amazon App increased nearly 70% this holiday season.
  • More than 1,400 electronics products were ordered per second on a mobile device this holiday season.
  • AR view saw the most usage on Cyber Monday. The most popular item viewed with AR view throughout this holiday season was a black chair with ottoman. Top categories viewed with AR view are furniture, toys, Amazon devices, kitchen items and consumer electronics.

Community Giving

  • Amazon’s Treasure Truck fleet and festively wrapped Amazon semi-trucks made special deliveries as part of Amazon’s “Delivering Smiles” holiday tour. Together, the trucks stopped in over 30 communities where Amazon employees live and work, donating thousands of items including STEM toys, books, devices, and household essentials to women, children, and families in immediate need. At the end of the tour, Amazon donated $1 for every mile the trucks traveled to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
  • The “Delivering Smiles” holiday tour expanded Amazon’s growing support of children and families in immediate need. To learn more about each nonprofit Amazon visited throughout their “Delivering Smiles” tour in the US and Canada, visit https://blog.aboutamazon.com/delivering-smiles.

Digital Entertainment

  • This year, 4x more music from Amazon Music was streamed over Alexa compared to last holiday season.
  • Amazon Music listeners loved using the lyrics feature to ask for songs on Alexa over the holidays, requesting “Jingle Bells” more than any other festive track just by saying a few words from the song.
  • Listeners wanted to slow down and unwind this season, asking Alexa to play “relaxing” music more than any other mood through Amazon Music.
  • Listeners in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Houston and San Diego streamed more holiday songs on Amazon Music via Alexa, than any other cities in the U.S.
  • Christmas by Michael Bublé was once again the most played album on Amazon Music during the holiday season.
  • “All I want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey held the top spot for the most streamed holiday song on Amazon Music for the second year in a row.
  • The most watched season over the holidays was the Golden Globe-nominated Prime Original The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
  • The most watched series this holiday was The Grand Tour.
  • The most watched Amazon Original movie this holiday season was The Big Sick.
  • The most watched Kids Prime Original over the holidays was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
  • The most purchased movie over the holidays was Elf.
  • The most purchased series over the holidays was The Walking Dead.
  • The most watched Amazon Channel subscriptions this holiday season were HBO, Showtime and STARZ, and the current seasons of Game of Thrones, Shameless and Power were the top watched shows on each channel, respectively.
  • The top match-up of Prime Video’s 10-game Thursday Night Football schedule this season was on Dec. 7, when two million worldwide viewers watched the Atlanta Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints 20-17
  • The most-read Kindle book in Amazon First Reads in 2017 was, Beneath A Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
  • The best-selling and most-listened-to audiobook of 2017 was The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson, narrated by Roger Wayne.
  • The most-listened-to fiction audiobook of 2017 was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale.
  • The most-commented-on audiobook of 2017 was Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, narrated by the author.
  • According to Amazon Charts, the most read and most gifted Kindle book in the U.S. this holiday season was Origin: A Novel by Dan Brown.
  • According to Amazon Charts, the top book Kindle readers in the U.S. found ‘Unputdownable’ this holiday season was Year One: Chronicles of the One, Book 1 by Nora Roberts, reading it cover-to-cover faster than other books.
  • According to Amazon Charts, the Most Wished For books of 2017 in the U.S. were: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil Degrasse Tyson, and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.
  • Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was the most borrowed book from Prime Reading, worldwide, in 2017.
  • Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph, independently published through Kindle Direct Publishing, has been topping Amazon Charts throughout the holiday season – reaching #1 on the most sold non-fiction list the week of Cyber Monday.

Holiday Bestsellers

  • Prime members shopped more than 100,000 Lightning Deals on Amazon.com with Prime Early Access.
  • Customers shopped hundreds of Deals of the Day on Amazon.com throughout the holiday season.
  • Millions of customers in the U.S. watched deals with Watch a Deal.
  • This holiday season, Whole Foods Market sold over 500,000 pounds of sweet treats at the cookie bars featured in stores across the U.S. – that’s enough to feed Santa more than 6 million cookies throughout his trip around the world on Christmas Eve.
  • Across Amazon Books’ 13 bookstores, the top selling nonfiction book was Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza; the top selling fiction book was Origin by Dan Brown; the top selling kids book was Diary of a Wimpy Kid #12, The Getaway by Jeff Kinney; and, the top selling poetry book was the sun and her flowers by Rumi Kaur.
  • Across Amazon Books’ 13 bookstores, one out of seven customers who purchased a book also donated a children’s book to local charities supporting children in need. The top selling book given to local charities was the classic, Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman; it was also the top selling book across all 13 stores.
  • The Echo Dot was the top-selling device across Amazon Books’ 13 stores; the Kindle Paperwhite was the best-selling Kindle; the TP-Link Smart Plug was the best-selling accessory; and WowWee Fingerlings were the top selling toy.
  • The best-selling kitchen item in the U.S. and worldwide was the Instant Pot DUO80.
  • The best-selling toy and game item in the U.S. was the Nerf N-Strike Elite Strongarm Blaster, while the best-selling toy and game item worldwide was What Do You Meme? Adult Party Game.
  • The best-selling smart home product in the U.S. and worldwide was the TP-Link Smart Plug.
  • The best-selling beauty and grooming items in the U.S. included the Finishing Touch Flawless Women’s Painless Hair Remover, the Philips Norelco Multigroom All-In-One Series 3000 and the Oral-B Black Pro 1000 Power Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush, while the best-selling item worldwide was the Philips Sonicare Diamond Clean Rechargeable Toothbrush.
  • The best-selling home, health and personal care products in the U.S. this holiday season include Fitbit Charge 2, the 23andMe DNA Test, the AncestryDNA: Genetic Testing – DNA Ancestry Test Kit and Radha Beauty Aromatherapy Top 8 Essential Oils.
  • Robot vacuums were among the best-selling home items on Amazon.com over the holiday season.
  • The best-selling products from Amazon Launchpad businesses included WowWee Fingerlings Interactive Baby Monkey, Exploding Kittens Card Game, and Watch Ya Mouth Throwdown Edition Card Game.
  • The best-selling sports items in the U.S. this season included Titleist Pro V1 Golf Balls, Wilson NFL MVP Junior Football and Spalding NBA Street Basketball.
  • The best-selling fashion items in the U.S. this holiday season include ASICS Men’s GEL Venture 5 Running Shoe, Alex and Ani Initial Expandable Wire Bangle Bracelet, 2.5″, Levi’s Men’s 505 Regular Fit Jean, UGG Women’s Classic Short II Boot.
  • The best-selling products from AmazonFresh in the U.S. this holiday season, were organic bananas, limes, cucumbers, navel oranges, yellow onions.
  • The best-selling furniture products in the U.S. included the Zinus Memory Foam 12 Inch Green Tea Mattress, the LinenSpa 8″ Memory Foam and Innerspring Hybrid Mattress and the LINENSPA 6 Inch Innerspring Mattress.
  • The best-selling automotive products in the U.S. included the Dark Seasonal Snow & Ice Car Scraper, the NOCO Genius Boost Plus GB40 1000 Amp 12V UltraSafe Lithium Jump Starter and the STANLEY J5C09 Jump Starter.
  • The best-selling pet products in the U.S. included the PEDIGREE DENTASTIX Holiday Treats for Dogs, the KONG Wild Knots Bears Durable Dog Toys and the Taste of the Wild, Canine Formula.
  • The best-selling baby products in the U.S. include the Nuby Ice Gel Teether Keys, Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes Musical Toy and the Nuby Bundle of 3 Toys, which was also the best-selling baby product worldwide.
  • The best-selling luxury beauty item in the U.S. was the Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe Herbs and Rosewater, stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner and Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Water, Cleansing and Make-Up Removing Solution.
  • The best-selling grocery item in the U.S. was Green Mountain Coffee Keurig Coffee Lover’s Variety Pack Single-Serve K-Cup Sampler, 40 Count, the Glaceau Smartwater Vapor Distilled Water, and Viva Naturals Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil.
  • The best-selling tools include the Black + Decker LDX 120C 20-Volt MAX Lithium-Ion Cordless Drill/Driver and the MagnoGrip 311-090 Magnetic Wristband.
  • The best-selling wireless products in the U.S. include Tile Mate – Key Finder. Phone Finder, PopSockets: Expanding Stand and Grip for Smartphones and Tablets and Wemo Mini Smart Plug.
  • The best-selling major appliances in the U.S. include Samsung MS11K3000AS 1.1 cu. ft. Countertop Microwave Oven, the Danby 120 Can Beverage Center and the NewAir AB-1200 126-Can Beverage Cooler.
  • The best-selling musical instruments on Amazon.com were the Snark SN5X Clip-On Tuner for Guitar, Singing Machine SML385BTW Top Loading CDG Karaoke System with Bluetooth, Sound and Disco Light Show, and the Singing Machine SMM-205 Unidirectional Dynamic Microphone.
  • The best-selling outdoor items in the U.S. were Intex Comfort Plush Elevated Dura-Beam Airbed with Built-in Electric Pump, the Stanley Classic Vacuum Bottle and the BV Bicycle Light Set Super Bright 5 LED Headlight.
  • The best-selling home improvement products on Amazon.com were the Philips Hue White A19 Single LED Bulb (Works with Amazon Alexa), Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance 3rd Generation A19 10W Equivalent Dimmable LED Smart Bulb (Works with Amazon Alexa) and Himalayan Glow Pink Salt Lamp.
  • The best-selling lawn and garden products in the U.S. this holiday season included the Weber 6492 Original Instant-Read Thermometer, Snow Joe SJBLZD Telescoping Snow Broom with Ice Scraper and Bounty Hunter TK4 Tracker IV Metal Detector.
  • The best-selling office products in the U.S. were Elmer’s Liquid School Glue (1 Gallon) – Great For Making Slime, Georgia-Pacific Spectrum Standard 92 Multipurpose Paper (8.5 x 11 Inches) and Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens (Assorted Colors, 12-Count).
  • The best-selling business, industrial and scientific supplies in the U.S. included the First Aid Only All-Purpose First Aid Essentials Kit, Rubbermaid Commercial Stainless Steel Oven Monitoring Thermometer and TOPGREENER TU2154A High Speed USB Charger Outlet.
  • The best-selling TVs in the U.S. this holiday season were the TCL 32-Inch 720p Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model), Samsung Electronics 40-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2017 Model), TCL 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model) and Samsung Electronics 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2017 Model).

Holiday Fun Facts

  • This season, Amazon customers purchased enough WowWee Fingerlings Interactive Baby Monkey toys on Amazon.com to hang end-to-end down the Empire State Building more than 100 times.
  • Amazon.com customers purchased enough TVs to create nearly 2,500 towers the size of the Space Needle.
  • Amazon customers purchased enough littlebits Star Wars Droid Inventor Kits on Amazon.com to man an Imperial-II class Star Destroyer.
  • Amazon customers purchased enough Calvin Klein products on Amazon.com during the holiday to give five items to every attendee at Coachella 2017.
  • Amazon customers purchased enough shoes on Amazon.com during the holiday season were lined up end-to-end, they would stretch fromAlaska to Miami.
  • This holiday season, Amazon.com customers purchased enough Wickedly Prime Truffle Spreads to make over half a million dipped strawberries.
  • Treasure Truck customers purchased enough holiday wreaths that when stacked, one on top of the other, would reach the top of the Empire State Building nearly five and a half times.
  • Amazon.com customers purchased enough Instant Pot pressure cookers this holiday to make more than nine million bowls of chili at once.
  • Amazon.com customers purchased enough AmazonBasics hangers to hold an outfit for each person in the city of Houston, TX – the fourth most populated city in the U.S.
  • If you lined up all the copies of Jeff Kinney’s, The Getaway that Amazon sold during the holiday season, you would reach the height of 444 Saturn V rockets.
  • If you collected all of the copies of Walter Isaacson’s, Leonardo Da Vinci that Amazon sold over the holidays, they would weigh the equivalent of 25,417 gallons of paint – enough paint to cover over Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling 1,592 and a half times.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon to host second annual Digital Day on Friday, December 29

  • Save up to 80% on over 5,000 apps, games, movies, eBooks, and more
  • 40% more deals than Digital Day last year

SEATTLE, 2017-Dec-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — (NASDAQ:AMZN) – The second annual Digital Day will take place on Friday, December 29, offering the biggest savings of the year on digital content across Amazon. Customers will be able to access more than 5,000 deals over eight categories including movies, TV shows, mobile games, apps, eBooks, and more at amazon.com/digitalday.

Last year on Digital Day, Amazon customers ordered hundreds of thousands of items with record-breaking sales across digital apps, games, and comics.

“Amazon Digital Day is an amazing time to shop for deals on digital content,” said Aaron Rubenson, VP, Amazon Appstore. “The customer response was incredibly positive last year, and we’re excited to help customers find great discounts again this year—whether they just received a new Amazon Fire TV, Fire Tablet, or Fire Kids Edition Tablet over the holidays or are looking to add new content to their current device.”

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the Amazon Digital Day deals:

  • Save 60% off Wonder Woman on Amazon Video
  • $10 Amazon.com credit when you subscribe to HBO NOW on Amazon
  • Save 25% off $49.99 Lapis bundle for Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
  • Save 50% off all in-game items for Marvel Puzzle Quest
  • Save up to 80% off in-game items for Playrix games
  • Save up to 75% off ROBLOX New Year’s Eve themed wearables
  • Save up to 33% off video games like Sonic Forces, Civilization VI, NBA 2K 18, and WWE 2K18
  • Save up to 75% off on Kindle best-selling books, including titles such as The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, The Silent Corner, and Modern Romance
  • Save up to 80% off best-selling Marvel graphic novels like Civil War II, House of M, World War Hulk, and Star Wars
  • Three free audiobooks when you sign up for an Audible trial
  • 25% or more off PC software like Rosetta Stone and Adobe Creative Cloud Photography
  • First 3 months free in Daily Burn streaming workouts

Customers can visit amazon.com/digitalday to sign up to receive notifications when the deals begin, or follow #DigitalDay for updates. Customers may also shop Digital Day deals using the Amazon App and the Amazon Appstore (to download, visit amazon.com/mobileapps or amazon.com/androidapp from your mobile browser). As a preview of the sale, some deals will be available starting as early as December 26, with the biggest savings launching at 12:00 am ET time on December 29.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
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Amazon: Shop all the way up to Christmas Eve with Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Now

  • Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Free One-Day Shipping now available in more than 8,000 cities and towns
  • Prime Now delivering holiday magic until 11:59pm on Dec. 24 – exclusively for Prime members in more than 30 cities
  • Try Prime for free for 30-days and get two-day, one-day and same-day shipping free

SEATTLE, 2017-Dec-14 — /EPR Retail News/ — (NASDAQ:AMZN) — There is still plenty of time to shop! Amazon customers can shop all the way up to Christmas Eve with Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Now. Eligible customers can start a 30-day free trial and get fast, free Prime shipping including two-day, one-day, same-day and Prime Now, delivered right to their door. Today, Amazon announced it expanded Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Free One-Day Shipping – now available to members in more than 8,000 cities and towns. For more information about holiday shipping or to start a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime, customers can go to amazon.com/prime.

“We are continually investing in Prime, adding more selection and making delivery faster and more convenient. In fact, in 2016, the last Prime Free Same-Day order from Amazon.com delivered in time for Christmas was ordered at 10:23 a.m. on Christmas Eve. The order included Venum Contender Boxing Gloves, and was delivered to a Prime member in Richmond, Virginia at 2:42 p.m. – the very same day, for free,” saidGreg Greeley, Vice President of Amazon Prime. “Even if you are not currently a member, holiday shoppers can try Prime for free for 30-days and get two-day, one-day and same-day shipping for free. We offer a variety of options for customers to receive their products when they want and need them, delivered right to their door.”

Holiday Shipping Cheat Sheet
For free shipping before Christmas, visit amazon.com/holidayshipping. The following shipping dates apply*

  • Dec. 15: Free shipping on millions of items fulfilled and shipped by Amazon, free for all customers
  • Dec. 18: Last day for standard shipping, free for Prime members
  • Dec. 22: Last day for two-day shipping, free for Prime members
  • Dec. 23: Last day for one-day shipping, free for Prime members
  • Dec. 24: Last day for same-day delivery, free for Prime members (order by 9:30 a.m. local time or earlier)
  • Dec. 24: Prime Now offers Prime members free two-hour delivery windows (order by 9:00 p.m. local time or earlier)
  • Dec. 24: Whole Foods Market stores and Amazon Books open Christmas Eve (store hours vary by location)
    *Please note that not all shipping speeds are available for all products in all regions, and order minimums may apply.

Free Shipping on 100 Million Products
All Amazon customers can choose from more than one hundred million items that are eligible for free shipping this holiday and all year long. This includes eligible orders of $25 or more shipped by Amazon, as well as free shipping offers from the millions of small business and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon.

Prime Free Same-Day and Prime Free One-Day Shipping Expand
Amazon expanded Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Free One-Day Shipping – now available to members in more than 8,000 cities and towns. To find items eligible for Prime Free Same-Day or Prime-Free One-Day shipping, Prime members simply look for those logos next to product listings or filter using the check box located in the filter menu. Select free same-day or one-day shipping at checkout and eligible orders over $35 will be delivered for free. Prime members receive same-day and one-day orders delivered to their doorstep for free, seven days a week – even Sunday. Eligible same-day orders placed in the morning arrive between 6-9 p.m., orders placed in the evening, or through the one-day option, arrive the next day. Not a Prime member? Same-day delivery is easy and inexpensive. All customers in eligible zip codes can enjoy same-day delivery for only $8.99 per order plus $0.99 per item. More shipping information including a zip code finder available at amazon.com/sameday.

Procrastinators Rejoice – Prime Now is Delivering Holiday Magic Until 11:59 on Dec. 24
Prime members in more than 30 cities in the U.S. can get ultra-fast delivery of tens of thousands of items, including handcrafted products by Amazon Handmade Artisans in select cities, right to their door in an hour or less. Whether you run out of eggnog, forget that key ingredient for Christmas dinner or an unexpected guest arrives at your holiday party, Prime Now has you covered bringing fast and convenient solutions to customers so they can spend more time this holiday doing the things they love with the people they love. Through the service, Prime members can get free two-hour delivery windows on eligible orders over $35 from Amazon and one-hour delivery for a fee. Customers can shop through a mobile application available on iOS and Android devices and at www.primenow.com.

Amazon Books and Whole Foods Market Make Last-Minute Holiday Gifting Easy
Customers in Seattle, Bellevue (Wash.), New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Chicago, Boston (Dedham and Lynnfield), Portland, and Paramus (N.J.) can also shop for last minute gifts in-store at Amazon Books. Walk out of the store with highly-rated books; devices from our Echo, Kindle, Fire tablet and Fire TV family of devices; an Amazon Gift Card; or toys, games and other Amazoncustomer favorites. For store hours and locations visit: amazon.com/amazonbooks.

Whole Foods Market and Amazon are offering customers a variety of gift options for family and friends. From Amazon devices, to beauty and body care sets benefitting charitable foundations, to an exclusive collection of sustainable holiday gift wrap from Paper Source, customers can find something for everyone on their list while they grocery shop.

Give a Gift that Keeps on Giving – Amazon Gift Cards and Amazon Prime
Give your loved ones the gift of Prime and give them great entertainment, shopping and fast, free shipping at amazon.com/giftprime. Customers can purchase three months ($33) or one year ($99) this holiday. Prime is designed to make your life better including unlimited access to Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading, Audible Channels for Prime, Prime Photos, Twitch Prime and more, along with fast, free shipping. Amazon Gift Cards are also a great gift for anyone on your list. Amazon Gift Cards are redeemable for millions of items storewide and never expire. Customers can send digital gift cards via text, email, or messaging app; find a great selection of gift cards that can be printed at home; or choose to mail a boxed or packaged gift card with free one-day shipping, or through Prime Now for even faster delivery. Shop this season’s new selection at amazon.com/giftcards.

From Amazon Key to Amazon Lockers – Customers Have a Variety of Delivery Options
Prime members in 37 cities and surrounding areas across the U.S. now have access to Amazon Key, the new service that radically improves the convenience of receiving deliveries. Amazon Key allows Prime members to have eligible packages securely delivered inside their homes without having to be there. For customers who prefer to pick up their packages when it’s convenient for them, Amazon Locker is a safe and secure way to receive Amazon deliveries. Available in more than 50 cities across the U.S., Amazon Lockers are strategically located near offices, major convenience stores, grocery stores, apartment buildings and malls across the country. To learn more about Amazon Locker, visit amazon.com/locker or to find the nearest Locker visit amazon.com/findalocker.

Additionally, customers can use Amazon pickup locations in 33 cities across the U.S. Pickup locations are fully staffed for additional customer support and offer Prime members free same-day and free one-day pickup on millions of items and peace of mind with convenient, secure pickup options. Customers should order by noon on December 23 for pick-up on Christmas Eve. Pickup locations are open until 5 p.m. onDecember 24.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Source: Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc.
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www.amazon.com/pr

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Products from Amazon Handmade Artisans now available through Prime Now this holiday season

  • From handmade holiday gifts to party supplies, a specially-curated list of products from Amazon Handmade Artisans are available through Prime Now this holiday season
  • Amazon expands on its commitment to small businesses by offering its fastest delivery method yet to dozens of local Artisans to extend their holiday selling season
  • Last minute shoppers can order unique, handcrafted gifts from Amazon Handmade Artisans for delivery until 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Evethrough Prime Now

SEATTLE, 2017-Dec-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — Prime Now, Amazon’s one and two-hour delivery service, and Amazon Handmade, the premier destination for genuinely handcrafted items, today  (Dec. 5, 2017) announced that unique, handcrafted products from local Artisans are now available on Prime Now, just in time for the holidays. This marks the first time Amazon Handmade Artisans are leveraging the company’s fastest delivery method yet to extend their selling season through Christmas Eve on Prime Now. Amazon Handmade products are available via Prime Now starting today for Prime members to shop in Austin, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle through the holiday season.

“Amazon is thrilled to continue expanding on our commitment to small businesses and artisans who can leverage Amazon’s last-mile delivery technology to get their handcrafted items to Prime members in an hour or less,” said Stephenie Landry, vice president of Prime Now. “This holiday season, customers can shop an even greater selection of handcrafted, giftable items and have the products delivered through Christmas Eve – the ultimate solution for those procrastinators who still want to get a unique, quality gift for their loved ones.”

The new holiday selection includes handmade products such as handcrafted pottery, necklaces, skincare, tote bags and candles from local artisans. All products available from Amazon Handmade Artisans on Prime Now are genuinely handcrafted. Prime Now features a variety of product categories from Amazon Handmade including Jewelry, Home Décor, Artwork and Party Supplies and Kitchen and Dining.

“I never imagined that one day customers across the U.S. would be able to receive my handmade pottery in an hour or less,” said Sarah Bak of Sarah Bak Pottery, an Amazon Handmade Artisan. “Being part of Amazon Handmade has truly given me the ability to grow my business while I pursue my passion as an artist. As part of the Prime Now pilot program, I’m excited to know my holiday selling season is extended through Christmas Eve and last-minute shoppers can now order thoughtful, last-minute gifts for everyone on their list.”

Since launching in Manhattan in 2014, Prime Now has expanded to more than 30 cities across the U.S. The addition of products made by Amazon Handmade Artisans reflects Amazon’s continued commitment to small businesses while also creating even more convenience for customers looking for unique, handcrafted last-minute gifts and products this holiday season. In select cities, the service offers ultra-fast delivery from local stores, popular restaurants as well as delivery of beer, wine and spirits.

With Prime Now, Prime members can receive Amazon Handmade products with one-hour delivery for a fee and two-hour delivery for free. Prime members can download the Prime Now app, available on iOS and Android devices, and check eligibility of delivery in their ZIP code.

Since launching in 2015, Amazon Handmade has grown to encompass 10 categories (e.g. Jewelry, Home & Kitchen, Stationery and Party Supplies) offering customers hundreds of thousands of handcrafted items from thousands of Artisans across more than 30 countries. Shopping Amazon Handmade, customers support local Artisans and purchase the handcrafted products they want with the convenience of all things Amazon.

To explore products available from local artisans on Prime Now or to learn more about the service visit www.primenow.com or www.amazon.com/handmade.

Every Day Made Better with Prime

Prime was designed to make your life better every single day. Tens of millions of members around the world enjoy the many benefits of Prime. In the U.S. that includes unlimited access to award-winning movies and TV episodes with Prime Video; unlimited access to Prime Music, Audible Channels for Prime, Prime Reading, Prime Photos, Twitch Prime; early access to select Lightning Deals, one free pre-released book a month with Kindle First, and more. Prime was built on the foundation of unlimited fast, free shipping and members receive unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 50 million items, Prime FREE One-Day Shipping and Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery in more than 5,000 cities and towns, and two-hour delivery with Prime Now in more than 30 major cities. Start a free trial of Amazon Prime at amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Source: Amazon

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Amazon makes Prime Video app available on Apple TV in over 100 countries

  • Integration with the Apple TV App, Siri Remote and universal search make finding and playing Prime Video favorites remarkably easy for viewers
  • Prime Video on Apple TV arrives just in time for the premiere of The Grand Tour Season 2 on December 8

SEATTLE, 2017-Dec-07 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Dec. 6, 2017) announced the Prime Video app is available on Apple TV 4K and previous generations of Apple TV in over 100 countries. Prime Video members now have even more ways to stream award-winning and critically-acclaimed titles including Amazon Original Movies, Prime Originals and Hollywood blockbusters and TV series and over 140 Channel subscriptions in the US and 95 in the UK, Germany and Austria. Starting tomorrow, customers can enjoy Thursday Night Football live on Apple TV 4K and Apple TV. Amazon’s library of 4K High Dynamic Range (HDR) titles are available on Apple TV 4K. Finding content on Prime Video is remarkably easy for Apple TV viewers with the Apple TV App, Siri Remote and universal search in select countries.

“There is nothing that excites us more than delighting our customers, and we are thrilled for them to stream Prime Video on Apple TV,” said Mark Eamer, Vice President of Prime Video. “The app arrives just in time for the highly anticipated new season of The Grand Tour, which launches on December 8th, and Prime Video members streaming on the Apple TV 4K will have the exceptional viewing experience of 4K HDR.”

Apple TV owners around the world now have access to Amazon Original Movies and Prime Originals such as The Grand Tour, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Tick along with the upcoming premieres of Jean-Claude Van Johnson on December 15 and Phillip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams on January 12. Prime Video offers a wide array of award-winning kids content including Tumble Leaf, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and The Snowy Day as well as popular licensed titles coming to the service every month.

About Prime Video

Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers members the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Prime Video offers thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Prime Originals from Amazon Studios like The Tick, the most-watched Prime Video series worldwide The Grand Tour from Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May, and award-winning series like The Man in the High Castle, Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle and more available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to members in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Amazon makes available a collection of 15 films from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on Amazon Prime Video

  • The 15 Sundance titles are the first feature-length festival films from the AVD’s Film Festival Stars Program to stream on Prime Video
  • Amazon Video Direct to extend Film Festival Stars—the program that brings high quality independent film to Prime Video audiences—to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival

SEATTLE, 2017-Dec-04 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Dec. 1, 2017) announced the official selections from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival are now available on Amazon Prime Video. The collection of 15 films are made available through the Amazon Video Direct Film Festival Stars (FFS) program that is designed to establish an attractive distribution model for films screened at film festivals that either don’t secure theatrical distribution deals or are looking for distribution options after a theatrical release. The official selections from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival currently streaming include Manifesto starring Cate Blanchett, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize winner Marjorie Prime, and Special Jury Award for Cinematic Vision, Free and Easy. These films enjoyed robust distribution strategies throughout the year, including award-winning festival and theatrical runs, and are now available in the U.S. with select titles available in additional territories.

“Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars program accelerates the career of deserving films, elevating cinematic curation into a galvanic connection with audiences who might never have discovered them,” said Richard Lorber, President and CEO of Kino Lorber, Inc. “It’s an innovative strategy that allows specialty film distributors like us to amplify support for the worthiest films—not only with additional financial backing, but unparalleled outreach only an amazing entity like Amazon can provide. I don’t know what genius dreamed this up, but we at Kino Lorber are enthusiastically participating—proud to be populating the Film Festival Stars roster with many of our most important releases.”

“We launched the Film Festival Stars Program at Sundance earlier this year because we heard from our customers they love watching independent films,” said Eric Orme, Head of Amazon Video Direct. “So far in 2017, FFS has secured the streaming rights to 76 feature films that we’re confident will thrill and delight our customers. These films appear alongside other great festival films already available on the service, including Amazon Studios’ The Big Sick. We’ll be extending Film Festival Stars to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival with an emphasis on global distribution and enhanced bonuses for filmmakers, and look forward to seeing the great films we’ll be able to bring exclusively to Prime members.”

500 Years – available worldwide

From a historic genocide trial to the ousting of a president, director Pamela Yates tells the sweeping story of mounting resistance in Guatemala through the eyes of the majority indigenous Mayan population, who now stand poised to reimagine their society.

Axolotl Overkill – available in the U.S. and Canada

In Axolotl Overkill, 16-year-old Mifti is a beautiful and reckless young girl. Her mother is dead, and her wealthy, eccentric father is too self-absorbed to be responsible for her. Mifti has no use for peers her own age, and being aware of the sexual power she wields with her looks and youth, she immerses herself in a world of adults of questionable character. Lovesick over an elusive older woman, she strikes up a friendship with Ophelia, an actress, and together they test the limits through Berlin nightlife and extreme partying.

Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl! – available in the U.S. and Canada

The film follows Joca, a 13-year-old Brazilian boy, and Basano La Tatuada, a Paraguayan indigenous girl, living on the border between the two countries, marked by the waters of the Rio Apa. Joca is in love with Basano and wants to do everything to win her love.

Family Life – available in the U.S.

In Family Life, a young man spends a few weeks housekeeping for a relatively distant relative and enjoys taking over the comfort of their lives in Santiago. Soon, he meets a cute neighbor and starts pretending for his personal benefit.

Free And Easy – Special Jury Award for Cinematic Vision – available in the U.S. and Canada

When a traveling soap salesman arrives in a desolate Chinese town, a crime occurs, and sets the strange residents against each other with tragicomic results.

Machines – Sundance Jury Award for Excellence in Cinematography – available in the U.S. and Canada

Director Rahul Jain presents an intimate, observantly portrayal of the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in Gujarat, India. Moving through the corridors and bowels of the enormous and disorientating structure, the camera takes the viewer on a journey to a place of dehumanizing physical labor and intense hardship, provoking cause for thought about persistent pre-industrial working conditions and the huge divide between first world and developing countries.

Manifesto – available in the U.S. and Canada

In the film, Actress Cate Blanchett portrays 13 distinct characters in vignettes that incorporate timeless manifestos—among them a school teacher, a puppeteer, a newsreader, a factory worker and a homeless man. Director Julian Rosefeldt draws on the writings of Futurists, Dadaists, Supremacists, Situtationists, and other artist groups, and the musings of individual artists, architects, dancers and filmmakers to create Manifesto.

Marjorie Prime – Sundance Film Festival’s Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize – available in the U.S.

Set in the near future, Michael Almereyda’s sci-fi pic Marjorie Prime, is based on Jordan Harrison’s Pulitzer-nominated play exploring memory, identity, love and loss. 86-year-old Marjorie has a handsome new companion who looks like her deceased husband and is programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance?

Motherland – World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award – available in the U.S. and Canada

Motherland is set at one of the world’s largest and busiest maternity hospitals in the Philippines. Ramona S. Diaz’s film follows three women as they navigate through the severe conditions of giving birth there — from jam-packed delivery rooms to overflowing corridors where babies are misplaced and then found.

Plastic China – available worldwide

Plastic China captures a plaintive sense of the human casualties from unfettered global consumerism. The gently observed portrait of families toiling at a plastic recycling factory in Shandong builds into a damning commentary on a modern China marked by extreme divides in wealth and opportunity.

Pop Aye – World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for screenwriting – available in the U.S. and Canada

On a chance encounter, a disenchanted architect bumps into his long-lost elephant on the streets of Bangkok. Excited, he takes his elephant on a journey across Thailand, in search of the farm where they grew up together.

RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World – World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling – available in the U.S.

This powerful documentary about the role of Native Americans in contemporary music history features some of the greatest music stars of our time—Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, and Randy Castillo. The film exposes a critical missing chapter, revealing how indigenous musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives and, through their contributions, influenced popular culture.

Sueño en otro idioma (I Dream in Another Language) – World Dramatic Audience Award – available in the U.S. and Canada

When a language dies, a unique vision of the world is lost forever. In I Dream in Another Language, a linguist arrives in a small jungle settlement hoping to record a conversation between two elderly men, the last two remaining speakers of the Zikril language. Unfortunately for him, the men are feuding and haven’t spoken to each other in 50 years.

The Good Postman – available in the U.S. and Canada

On the eastern edge of Bulgaria, bordering Turkey, amid wizened orchards and an ancient patchwork of farmlands, sits a poor and sleepy hamlet that time seems to have forgotten. Despite the sparse population of silver-haired citizens wistful for the brighter days of communism, democracy is in full force as the village prepares in earnest for its mayoral election. Meanwhile, an endless train of Syrian refugees bound for Europe silently traipses through the rural terrain, visible through the binoculars of one gentle and taciturn candidate, the good postman.

World Without End (No Reported Incidents) – available in the U.S.

Known for decades as a visual poet, filmmaker Jem Cohen has captured various corners of the world with a perceptive eye in World Without End (No Reported Incidents). Often filming by himself, Cohen takes a camera (16mm film, and more recently, video) and walks on the street like a modern-day Walker Evans, capturing images of people and landscapes in our smallest moments—everyday faces, vacant street corners, trinkets in windows, all the things we might see sitting on the bus and wish we could see again in a film.

Returning to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the Amazon Video Direct Film Festival Stars program will emphasize global distribution, with enhanced bonus payments being paid for worldwide rights, as AVD aims to support overall Prime Video global growth.

Prime members will be able to stream the films exclusively via the Amazon Prime Video app for compatible TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices, and online at www.amazon.com/primevideo.

Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.

About Amazon Video

Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like The Grand Tour, The Tick, Landline, The Big Sick and kids series, Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at.
  • Live Sports: Sporting events, including NFL Thursday Night Football and ATP tennis, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.
  • Amazon Channels: Over 140 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
  • Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon Web Services announces powerful new features for AWS Marketplace

  • New Enterprise Contract and Private Image Build features for AWS Marketplace make purchasing software and running applications on AWS even easier for buyers and sellers
  • New AWS Solution Provider Program, AWS SaaS Factory, and AWS SaaS Accelerate Program help increase cloud adoption and APN Partner success
  • New Competencies recognize APN Partners with demonstrated expertise in Machine Learning and Networking and enable AWS customers to select the right partners to fit their needs

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-29 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (Nov. 28, 2017) at AWS re:Invent, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ:AMZN), announced powerful new features for AWS Marketplace to further simplify the purchasing and deployment of third-party software on AWS. AWS also introduced new APN programs to increase Consulting Partner success and aid ISVs in building their SaaS businesses on AWS, as well as new APN Competencies in Machine Learning and Networking to help customers select APN Partners with the right expertise. For more information, visit http://aws.amazon.com/partners.

“As businesses of all sizes continue to move to AWS, the majority of the Fortune 500 companies and over 90 percent of the Fortune 100 utilize APN Partners for specialized technology and expertise,” said Terry Wise, Vice President of Global Alliances for Amazon Web Services. “In fact, in the past year we have added more than 10,000 new APN Partners to the APN, and more than 160 thousand active AWS customers are using software from AWS Marketplace. To support this growth, we are continuing to invest heavily in the APN Program to ensure that AWS customers have access to the best software and services for AWS and so that our partners can continue to build successful cloud businesses on AWS.”

AWS Marketplace

With more than 4,200 software listings from more than 1,280 software sellers across 35 categories, the AWS Marketplace is the cloud industry’s most utilized one-stop-shop to find, buy, deploy, and manage software solutions, including SaaS applications, for AWS. Today, customers around the world are using over 480 million hours a month of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to run the technology solutions offered through the AWS Marketplace. Recently, AWS Marketplace added SaaS Contracts to enable the most popular cloud-based business applications running on AWS to provide customers with flexible subscription options for annual and multi-year contracts. AWS Marketplace also recently added Seller Private Offers, which enable sellers to offer specific pricing and end user license terms, including volume discounts, through the online marketplace. AWS Marketplace sellers can provide their customers all the benefits of consolidated billing, cost analysis, and subscription management while also offering individual customers privately-negotiated prices and terms that are visible only to them in the AWS Marketplace.

Today, AWS is introducing the preview of yet another new enterprise feature for sellers and buyers in the AWS Marketplace: the Enterprise Contract for AWS Marketplace. Designed by a working group of 30 enterprise software buyers and sellers, the Enterprise Contract for AWS Marketplace is an agreed upon standardized contract template between enterprise software buyers and sellers that resolves challenging terms including liability, dispute resolution, IP protection, warranty, and more across multiple vendors. Participating customers using Enterprise Contract for AWS Marketplace are able to eliminate lengthy procurement negotiations that can delay projects for months. Enterprise Contract for AWS Marketplace is currently available in preview to interested enterprise customers and will be generally available to all sellers and enterprise buyers who choose to accept the standardized enterprise contract terms in the first quarter of 2018. Participating software companies in the preview are AppDynamics, Barracuda, CA Technologies, Cisco, Checkpoint, Chef, F5, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks, Pitney Bowes, Snowflake, and Trend Micro.

According to Arien Malec, Senior Vice President R&D, Change Healthcare, “Enterprise software contracting, particularly in a regulated environment like healthcare, is hard. Combining the cloud-deployment advantages of AWS Marketplace, which we already use, with a new streamlined pre-negotiated contractual set of terms, will speed innovation in our industry. We are pleased to endorse and support the use of Enterprise Contract for AWS Marketplace.”

Also introduced today, Private Image Build enables customers to build and run custom Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) that combine their own IT-approved base operating system images with installable software provided by AWS Marketplace sellers. By running third-party software on their own private images, customers can better comply with their organizations’ specific IT policies and internal security requirements, while still taking advantage of all the conveniences of AWS Marketplace, including consolidated AWS billing, AWS Marketplace pricing and licensing models, and rapid, automated deployment. AWS Marketplace’s Private Image Build is currently available in preview to AWS Marketplace customers.

AWS Partner Network (APN)

The AWS Partner Network (APN) provides technical, business, and marketing support to tens of thousands of APN Partners across the globe to help them build their cloud businesses with AWS. Today, AWS introduced the AWS Solution Provider Program for APN Consulting Partners and new programs for Technology Partners to build and grow their AWS-based SaaS offerings.

The AWS Solution Provider Program, which will be available in early 2018, replaces the Channel Reseller Program and offers a new, tiered incentive structure that rewards APN Consulting Partners who are innovating on behalf of their customers with proven solution capabilities and have achieved competencies in the areas of Migration, Managed Service Provider (MSP), and/or DevOps. The program also provides more flexible contracting and support options for APN Partners in key competency areas.

The new AWS Software as a Service (SaaS) Factory provides a comprehensive set of enablement content and collateral for APN Technology Partners with SaaS offerings. The program includes reference architectures with best practices for building SaaS solutions on AWS, AWS Quick Starts which automate deployments for key workloads on AWS, and SaaS on AWS Training that delivers prescriptive guidance on building a SaaS business on AWS.

The new SaaS Accelerate Program aids Technology Partners in driving increased profitability with go-to-market support for their SaaS solutions including funding for lead generation and customer proof-of-concepts, and resources for joint sales support. The AWS SaaS Factory and SaaS Accelerate Program will be available in early 2018.

AWS Competencies

The AWS Competency Program identifies APN Partners who have demonstrated technical proficiency and customer success in specific workloads, industries, or solutions. The AWS Competency Program includes 17 categories in solution areas such as IoT, DevOps, Big Data, as well as industry verticals such as Education, Financial Services, Government, and Healthcare/Life Sciences. Based on customer demand, AWS is expanding the AWS Competency Program with two new competency areas for Networking and Machine Learning. For more information and a complete list of awarded partners visit: https://aws.amazon.com/partners/competencies.

New AWS Premier Consulting Partners

The AWS Premier Consulting Partner tier highlights the top APN Consulting Partners globally that have significant AWS investments. These APN Partners have extensive experience in deploying customer solutions on AWS, have a strong bench of trained and certified technical consultants, and have a healthy revenue-generating consulting business on AWS. Today, AWS is announcing the following 15 new AWS Premier Consulting Partners: eCloudvalley, Deloitte, Flux7, ITOCHU, Silver Lining, Relus Cloud, HCL, Sturdy Networks, Stelligent, Contino, Datacom, VirtUSA, Linke, Cloud Kinetics, and Powerupcloud. For a complete list of all 67 AWS Premier Consulting Partners visit: https://aws.amazon.com/partners/premier/.

About Amazon Web Services

For more than 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 100 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, and application development, deployment, and management from 44 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world–including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies–to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.

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Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

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Amazon Web Services announces AWS PrivateLink

  • New managed service allows SaaS application developers who build on AWS to offer private endpoints as an additional option for accessing their service, increasing security for end customers by eliminating the need to expose data to the public Internet
  • Aqua Security, Autodesk, CA Technologies, Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud, Dynatrace, Salesforce, SigOpt, Snowflake, and Twilio are among the SaaS providers who are or will be using AWS PrivateLink to enhance the security, privacy, and performance of their applications running on AWS
  • AWS PrivateLink also makes it easy for customers to connect services across different accounts and VPCs within their organization to simplify their network architecture

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-29 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (Nov. 28, 2017) at AWS re:Invent, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ:AMZN), announced that customers can now use AWS PrivateLink to access third-party SaaS applications from their Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) without exposing their VPC to the public Internet. Customers can also use AWS PrivateLink to connect services across different accounts and VPCs within their own organizations, significantly simplifying their internal network architecture. To get started with AWS PrivateLink visit: https://aws.amazon.com/vpc/details/.

Since the introduction of Amazon VPC in 2009, AWS customers have been able to define and control private, secure networks without having to invest in and manage a VPN infrastructure. The vast majority of Amazon EC2 instances now run in Amazon VPCs, and many customers rely on the ability to limit access to their VPC from the Internet as a critical component of their security. However, this presents a challenge when using third-party SaaS applications, as customers often have to make a choice between allowing Internet access from their VPC in order to access these SaaS applications, or not using them at all. With AWS PrivateLink, customers can now connect their VPCs to third-party services in a secure and scalable manner. Earlier this month, AWS introduced the ability for customers to access AWS services over AWS PrivateLink. Now, AWS has extended AWS PrivateLink to support non-AWS services so that customers no longer have to choose between using a third-party SaaS offering or exposing their critical data to the Internet. Traffic between a customer’s VPC and a AWS PrivateLink-powered service stays within the AWS network and doesn’t traverse the Internet, reducing threat vectors such as “brute force” and distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Services supported on AWS PrivateLink are delivered using private IP connectivity and security groups, and function like services that are hosted directly on a customer’s private network.

“We have seen a growing desire from our enterprise customers to move from traditional on-premises applications to SaaS offerings hosted in the cloud. However, we have also heard that adoption of many SaaS offerings is limited by customers’ desire not to expose their data to the Internet. With AWS PrivateLink, customers now have a way to access third-party services over their dedicated AWS network,” said Matt Garman, Vice President, Compute Services, AWS. “With AWS PrivateLink, it has never been easier or more secure for our customers to use SaaS applications within their AWS environment.”

When customers use AWS PrivateLink to connect to SaaS applications like Twilio or Snowflake, their exposure to common security threats is significantly reduced. “At Twilio, we care about the security of our customers. As part of our Twilio Interconnect offering, AWS PrivateLink will provide another option for our customers, whether they are running on AWS or on-premises, to establish secure and private connections directly to the Twilio cloud,” said Richard Seiersen, CISO and VP of Trust, Twilio. “AWS PrivateLink complements the investments we have made to meet the security and compliance needs of our customers.”

“Snowflake continues to drive innovation by offering fast, affordable and secure data warehouse solutions,” said Matt Glickman, Vice President of Product Management, Snowflake. “One of the key concerns our enterprise customers have is how to securely transmit data in the cloud. By embracing AWS PrivateLink, Snowflake can now offer customers an end-to-end solution to securely access their data without ever having to go over the public Internet.”

Combining the developer experience coders love with the trust and infrastructure services big companies need, Heroku is the leading platform for building transformative enterprise apps, fast. “Customers are increasingly building applications that span both Heroku and existing AWS resources – all while leveraging AWS to extend Salesforce deployments,” said Adam Gross, SVP of Heroku at Salesforce. “AWS PrivateLink is a secure new way for joint Salesforce and AWS users to harness customer data and build applications with speed and speed.”

Using AWS Marketplace, customers can easily discover SaaS products that support AWS PrivateLink. AWS Marketplace features a wide range of AWS PrivateLink-enabled products, many of which are available today with many more coming soon. Sellers that will be supporting AWS PrivateLink include Aqua Security, CA Technologies, Cisco Stealthwatch Cloud, Dynatrace, and SigOpt.

SigOpt is a SaaS optimization platform that amplifies research by taking customers’ research pipeline and tuning it, right in place, from machine learning and data science to manufacturing and process engineering. “Last month, we announced the availability of SigOpt on AWS,” said Scott Clark, Co-founder and CEO, SigOpt. “Today, we are doubling down on our collaboration with AWS through AWS PrivateLink. With AWS PrivateLink, customers can now use SigOpt from a custom, secure endpoint within their Amazon VPCs. This allows SigOpt to function as if the service were available in customers’ own networks, while maintaining all of the benefits that make our SaaS solution so great.”

AWS PrivateLink will make it easier for customers like Autodesk to manage their growing network as a series of smaller and interconnected VPCs. “At Autodesk, we have hundreds of developer teams using their own accounts and VPCs for building products and services,” said Reeny Sondhi, Chief of Product Security, Autodesk. “AWS PrivateLink will give our developers an easy, secure, and scalable way to enable private connectivity for shared services and microservices across different accounts and VPCs. We are excited to use a solution that will deliver higher agility in product development and improved security posture at the same time.”

Availability

AWS PrivateLink is generally available today in US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), US West (N. California), EU (London), EU (Ireland), EU (Frankfurt), Canada (Central), Asia Pacific (Mumbai), Asia Pacific (Seoul), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Sydney), Asia Pacific(Tokyo) and South America (São Paulo) regions.

About Amazon Web Services

For more than 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 100 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, and application development, deployment, and management from 44 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

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Amazon Music launches “The U2 Experience” available to U2 fans from U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria

  • Amazon to Launch an Exclusive Broadcast of New and Archived Interviews from U2, Including Live Recordings of Songs from the Band’s Upcoming Album “Songs of Experience”
  • Available to Amazon Music Account Holders in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria via Amazon Music on Web, Mobile, and Amazon Echo Devices Where Available For a Limited Time; Launching Simultaneously Across Multiple Time Zones on November 29 at 6pm EST
  • Prime Members and Amazon Music Unlimited Subscribers Just Ask, “Alexa, Play the U2 Experience”

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-29 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon Music today (Nov. 28, 2017) announces “The U2 Experience”: a first-of-its-kind broadcast for Amazon Music designed with the voice experience in mind. Launching simultaneously across multiple time zones on November 29 at 6 pm EST, “The U2 Experience” is a new type of radio, filled with historical and new exclusive content produced by Amazon Music and available to U2 fans who tune in from the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria, ending just before the release of the band’s upcoming album, Songs of Experience, on December 1. Only available during its one-time broadcast and exclusively on Amazon Music, “The U2 Experience” will be available at www.amazon.com/theu2experience and on the Amazon Music mobile app and Web Player for iOS, Android, Mac, and PC. In a new way of listening, the broadcast will also be available to all Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the U.S. and UK through Alexa, on Amazon Echo devices, simply by asking, “Alexa, play The U2 Experience.”

“I hope you don’t need to know anything about U2, or anything about the context, to enjoy [Songs of Experience],” says U2 guitarist, The Edge. “I think it’s an album of just classic songs, great melodies great hooks, great lyrics. I think there’s very few bands in the history of rock and roll that have been around and made as many albums as we have with the same lineup…that perspective is unique, you know? On the last record [Songs of Innocence] we wrote about where we came from. How this band came together, Dublin of the late 70s early 80s, and this new record is the companion album. But it’s from this current perspective now… So many years later, what have we learned?”

For a limited time, fans will be able to drop into the broadcast and begin listening wherever the unique audio is currently in progress. “The U2 Experience” features a chronology of the band’s career, including commentary surrounding the significance behind iconic songs and legendary stories from the road, as told through live broadcast interviews with the band spanning nearly 40 years. Also included are some of the legendary rock group’s biggest hits, and live recordings of songs from The Joshua Tree and Songs of Experience, recorded during The Joshua Tree Tour 2017. The immersive audio show also includes a new and exclusive interview with U2 and Amazon Music’s global head of programming, Alex Luke, which took place during a stop in Sao Paolo, Brazil on tour this Fall.

“Few bands have as storied a career as U2, and we saw an incredible opportunity to build a broadcast for their fans,” said Luke. “This all goes back to voice innovation, and what we’ve built is an immersive, ephemeral listening experience for our customers, with a wealth of interviews and content going back nearly 40 years.”

In a brand-new format for Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based voice service, Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the U.S. and UK can simply ask, “Alexa, play The U2 Experience,” and will immediately be dropped into the broadcast, wherever the unique audio session is currently in progress. “The U2 Experience” is available to listen on the mobile app and Web Player in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria, to all customers with an Amazon Music account, with or without an Amazon Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, available only before the launch of U2’s new album, Songs of Experience, on December 1. Immediately following the show, the band’s new album, Songs of Experience, will be available to purchase on Amazon Music and stream for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.

“The U2 Experience” is the latest feature to launch within Amazon Music’s personalized natural language voice controls powered by Alexa, which has reimagined how customers experience music. When paired with Alexa, customers can ask for music by lyrics, mood, genre, era, and activities, simply by voice. Learn more about Amazon Music by visiting: www.amazon.com/music.

Start Times for “The U2 Experience”:

  • UK: Wednesday, 29 November 23:00
  • U.S.: Wednesday, 29 November 18:00 EST / 15:00 PST
  • Germany/Austria: Thursday, 30 November, 12:00am

From “The U2 Experience”:

Interview with Bono, 2017:

“Songs of Experience is kind of a rhyme. Your world view when you’re 17 or 18, contrasted with where you are now. I was very strict, very black and white, with the way I saw the world, whereas now I’m not. I see it in very different terms. When I was a kid – I saw the world as us and them. I think Edge was the same. But now I realize that the biggest obstacles you come up against in your life are probably not what you thought they were. It’s probably you.” – Bono

Interview with The Edge, 1987:

“‘Bullet the Blue Sky’ is a great example of why I love being in a band, as opposed to trying to be a solo artist. And it’s because, when Adam [Clayton] started playing that bass part… it is something I never, ever would have come up with in a million years. I think it is his greatest-ever bass part. He changed that piece of music, utterly, and made it what it is. The bass is of something totally different and unique.” – The Edge

Interview with Adam Clayton, 1981:

“I suspect we’ve always had this sound. We’ve always been U2. And you know, U2 is a thing that evolves constantly. And maybe a year from now, the sound will be slightly different from the sound on Boy. It’s impossible to tell because it’s a natural evolvement, all the time.”- Adam Clayton

About Amazon Music

Amazon Music is the destination for customers to have the most choice in how to access and listen to all their favorite music. In addition to streaming with Amazon Music Unlimited (standalone, on-demand music streaming service) and Amazon Prime Music (included in Prime memberships), where available, Amazon Music offers a wide selection of CD and Vinyl, including AutoRip on more than a hundred thousand albums, and tens of millions of MP3 songs to purchase and own. For more information on Amazon Music visit  and follow @AmazonMusic.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Source: Amazon

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AWS announces a fully managed intelligent threat detection service — Amazon GuardDuty

  • New intelligent threat detection service analyzes trillions of events per day to identify new and evolving threats and provide simple, tailored, and cost-effective protection for AWS accounts and workloads
  • GE, Netflix, Autodesk, Twilio, Webroot, and Mapbox among the customers using Amazon GuardDuty

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-29 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today at AWS re:Invent, Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced Amazon GuardDuty, a fully managed intelligent threat detection service that helps customers protect their AWS accounts and workloads by continuously monitoring account activity for malicious or unauthorized behavior. Customers can enable AmazonGuardDuty with a few clicks in the AWS Management Console and immediately begin analyzing API calls and network activity across their accounts to establish a baseline of “normal” account activity. Then, Amazon GuardDuty continuously applies machine learning to identify any events that fall outside the normal patterns. Amazon GuardDuty correlates activity using both proprietary, AWS-developed threat intelligence sources and industry-leading third-party sources. When anomalies are detected, Amazon GuardDuty delivers a detailed security alert to the AWS account owner, making alerts actionable and easy to integrate with existing event management and workflow systems. With Amazon GuardDuty, there is no hardware or software to deploy and no third-party subscription costs; customers pay only for the events analyzed. To get started with Amazon GuardDuty, visit: https://aws.amazon.com/guardduty.

As customers grow their cloud usage and increasingly deploy microservices architectures, they may have multiple AWS accounts with up to hundreds of thousands of instances. Identifying and assessing anomalous behavior across multiple accounts, networks, and instances at this scale can be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Whether looking for attackers scanning web servers for vulnerabilities, monitoring for compromised instances being used to serve malware or mine cryptocurrency, or finding unauthorized resource provisioning, security teams have had to build or integrate multiple tools to detect anomalies. Customers also have to collect API access and network flow logs and correlate them with threat intelligence sources, applying algorithms to identify anomalies based on known threats. And, often, as soon as the algorithms are well-tuned, the threats evolve and the algorithm requires rework. Now, with Amazon GuardDuty, customers can easily deploy intelligent threat detection that takes care of all of this undifferentiated heavy lifting. Once activated, Amazon GuardDuty immediately begins consuming AWS CloudTrail and Amazon VPC Flow Logs to find indications of account-based threats that traditional solutions might miss, such as an unusual instance type being deployed in a region that has never been used, or an attempt to obscure user activity by disabling AWS CloudTrail logging. Amazon GuardDuty generates anomaly alerts that are tailored to each customer’s AWS use, and AWS continuously updates the threat intelligence sources Amazon GuardDuty employs. Amazon GuardDuty can be enabled instantly with no risk of negatively impacting existing application workloads.

“Customers often tell us that the best way we can help them stay secure is to give them smarter tools that make it easier to get security right,” said Stephen Schmidt, Chief Information Security Officer, Amazon Web Services. “We designed Amazon GuardDuty to be so simple and cost effective that turning it on would be an easy choice for every AWS customer, regardless of their security expertise or the existing security services they use. Amazon GuardDuty intelligently identifies hard-to-detect threats that might slip through the cracks of other security products and easily scales to meet the needs of any organization, whether they have two AWS accounts or two thousand.”

General Electric (GE) is the world’s Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive, and predictive. “Security is a top priority at GE and ingrained in our company culture,” said Nasrin Rezai, Vice President, Global Chief Information and Product Security Officer at GE. “GE runs thousands of applications on AWS. Deploying Amazon GuardDuty across our AWS global footprint required only a matter of hours and enhances our threat detection capabilities.”

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) oversees more than 3,900 securities firms with approximately 640,000 brokers and processes approximately 6 terabytes of data and 37 billion records on an average day. “We’ve found that we can be more secure in the cloud than we can on-premises,” said John Brady, CISSP, VP Cyber Security/CISO, FINRA. “With AWS, my team has access to outstanding tooling for patching, encryption, auditing and logging, entitlements, compliance, and now threat detection. We’re excited about how this new product can help us take advantage of machine learning to analyze all of our account activity, accurately detecting behavioral anomalies and enabling us to respond quickly.”

Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with over 109 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day. “We’re excited about the capabilities of Amazon GuardDuty,” said Shaun Blackburn, Security Manager, Netflix. “By delegating the management and monitoring of flow logs to AWS, we can extend our detection capabilities and pursue Netflix-specific security work. AWS has deep knowledge of common attack patterns and trends. By leveraging their unique position as the largest cloud providers, they are able to train sophisticated models that we can immediately consume. With Amazon GuardDuty, we can continue to innovate to deliver the greatest convenience, selection, and value to our members.”

Mapbox is a location data platform for maps, search, and navigation that serves more than 300 million end users each month. It’s all-in on AWS and runs across 10 regions. “Amazon GuardDuty vastly improves cloud intrusion detection, replacing multiple in-house systems with a more advanced, more accurate, and much lower-maintenance service,” said Ian Ward, Engineering Manager, Security at Mapbox. “We were able to enable Amazon GuardDuty instantly, replacing a large-scale engineering project with a fully managed, much more complete service.”

Autodesk is a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software. “It’s incredibly important we give our developers the freedom to be agile, while at the same time maintaining our high security standards,” said Kolby Dauler, Lead Engineer for Cloud Security at Autodesk. “Amazon GuardDuty helps us secure our AWS accounts owned by our developers, without slowing them down to install and maintain monitoring infrastructure. Using Amazon GuardDuty also gives our security team visibility into actionable metrics and involves them earlier in decisions that help drive better security practices.”

Amazon GuardDuty can send all findings to AWS CloudWatch Events and supports API endpoints through the AWS SDK, allowing for robust interoperability with third-party solutions. Leading providers such as Alert Logic, Evident.io, Palo Alto Networks, Rapid7, Redlock, Splunk, Sumo Logic, and Trend Micro have built integrations with Amazon GuardDuty, with more coming soon. These integrations allow customers to easily incorporate intelligence from Amazon GuardDuty into their existing security workflows for deeper analysis and automated prevention. Amazon GuardDuty also incorporates threat intelligence feeds from CrowdStrike, Proofpoint, and the AWS Security team to help identify and protect customers from known bad actors.

About Amazon Web Services

For more than 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 100 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, and application development, deployment, and management from 44 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon Web Services Inc.

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AWS announces a new Bare Metal instance offering for Amazon EC2 and introduces a new H1 Storage Optimized instances

  • New Amazon EC2 Bare Metal instances enable customers to run workloads directly on AWS hardware, or bring their own hypervisor or virtualization stack; preview starts today
  • New Storage Optimized instance family, H1, is designed for high-performance, big data workloads
  • The next generation of General Purpose instances, M5, deliver even better compute, memory, and networking performance, powered by the latest 2.5 GHz Intel Xeon Platinum 8000 series processors

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-29 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today at AWS re:Invent, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ:AMZN), announced a new Bare Metal instance offering for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), and introduced a new Storage Optimized instance family (H1 instances). The new H1 Storage Optimized instances are designed for data-intensive workloads such as MapReduce, distributed file systems, network file systems, log or data processing, and big data clusters. AWS also launched the next generation of General Purpose instances, M5, which have up to 50 percent more vCPUs, 50 percent more memory, and 25 percent more network bandwidth than previous generation M4 instances. To get started with the new Amazon EC2 instances, visit https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/.

“AWS continues to expand and enhance what was already the cloud’s broadest and most capable compute service,” said Matt Garman, Vice President, AWS Compute Services, AWS. “Most of our customers have diverse computing needs, and they’ve told us having the right instance for the right workload really matters. Today, we expand the options we give customers across three dimensions, introducing a brand new capability with Bare Metal instances for the I3 High I/O family, launching a new family of Storage Optimized instances designed for big data workloads with H1, and providing higher performance and lower prices for general purpose workloads with the launch of M5.”

  • Available today in preview, Amazon EC2 I3 Bare Metal instances are the first AWS instances to allow customer applications to run directly on the underlying hardware while still providing access to all the elasticity, scalability, and security of the cloud. Designed for workloads that are not virtualized, require specific types of hypervisors, or have licensing models that restrict virtualization, EC2 I3 Bare Metal instances give applications direct access to Intel Xeon E5-2686 v4 processors, 512 GiB of memory, 36 hyperthreaded cores, and 15.2 TB of local, SSD-based NVME storage. I3 Bare Metal instances are not simply repackaged bare metal servers—they provide all of the flexibility and capability customers have come to expect from EC2 instances, including support for attaching Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) volumes, the ability to use Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) and security group settings, and the ability to use Elastic IP addresses or Elastic Load Balancers. Bare Metal instances are built on top of AWS’s innovative Nitro System, which includes AWS-engineered hardware that enables high performance and high availability through hardware offload cards, as well secure protection of the hardware and system software with a custom AWS Nitro security processor that is built directly onto the motherboard. As with all Amazon EC2 instances, customers can deploy applications to Bare Metal instances in minutes, and scale these applications up and down in seconds.

VMware is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and services, and business mobility. “VMware and AWS have jointly engineered VMware Cloud on AWS, an on-demand VMware vSphere-based service, powered by VMware Cloud Foundation and optimized to run on Amazon EC2 Bare Metal instances,” said Mark Lohmeyer, Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Platform Business Unit, VMware. “We are delivering a seamless hybrid cloud to enable our mutual customers to run their business-critical applications in a trusted VMware environment, while taking advantage of high-performance access to AWS services. Whether our mutual customers need on-demand capacity, want to migrate their applications to cloud, or use cloud for disaster recovery, Amazon EC2 Bare Metal instances have made it possible for us to offer an operationally consistent VMware environment both on premises and in AWS.”

  • Available today, H1 instances are a new family of Amazon EC2 Storage Optimized instances designed for popular big data and data-intensive workloads, including MapReduce, distributed file systems like HDFS and MapR-FS, network file systems, log or data processing applications like Apache Kafka, and big data clusters. Powered by 2.3 GHz Intel Xeon E5 2686 v4 (Broadwell) processors, H1 instances provide up to 64 vCPUs and 256 GiB of DRAM. With up to 16 TB of inexpensive, magnetic storage and Enhanced Networking that provides 25 Gbps of network bandwidth per instance, H1 instances are ideal for processing very large data sets. Compared to existing D2 (dense storage) instances, H1 instances provide more compute and memory per terabyte of magnetic disk, along with increased network bandwidth. This provides an optimal balance of resources that reduces costs for big data uses cases that require more processing power.
  • Available today, M5 instances are the next generation of Amazon EC2 General Purpose instances, powered by 2.5 GHz Intel Xeon Platinum 8000 series (Skylake-SP) processors. With Enhanced Networking, and a new larger instance size that provides up to 96 vCPUs and 384 GiB of memory, M5 instances have up to 50 percent more vCPUs, 50 percent more memory, and 25 percent more network bandwidth than M4, making them ideal for web and application servers, backend enterprise applications, gaming servers, caching fleets, and application development environments.

About Amazon Web Services

For more than 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 100 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, and application development, deployment, and management from 44 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

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Amazon celebrates Ten years of “Frustration-Free Packaging”

  • Certified Frustration-Free Packaging is easy to open, with no annoying clamshells or twist ties, and 100% recyclable
  • Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Programs have grown to include both Frustration-Free Packaging and Ships in Own Container, which produce less waste than traditional packaging – great for customers and the environment
  • Amazon works directly with thousands of manufacturers to redesign their packaging, eliminating waste throughout the supply chain while ensuring products arrive undamaged on customers’ doorsteps

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — Ten years ago this holiday season, Amazon introduced “Frustration-Free Packaging,” an invention designed to reduce waste and delight customers with easy-to-open, 100% recyclable packaging. Frustration-Free Packaging ends customer “wrap rage” by removing plastic bindings, wire ties, and clamshell casings – making boxes simple to open. And it’s great for the environment because products ship in their original packaging, eliminating the need for an additional shipping box.

Since launching in November 2008 with 19 items, Amazon’s packaging programs have grown to include both Frustration-Free Packaging and “Ships in Own Container.” In 2017 alone, Amazon has delivered 120 million shipments with packaging that is certified Frustration-Free or Ships in Own Container. To date, Amazon’s sustainable packaging innovations have eliminated 181,000 tons of packaging material and avoided 307 million shipping boxes – enough boxes to fill more than 550,000 semi-trucks.

“A decade ago we set out to invent packaging that is easy for customers to open, eliminates waste, and ensures products arrive undamaged on our customers’ doorsteps,” said Kim Houchens, Director of Customer Packaging Experience at Amazon. “Our certified packaging programs, including Frustration-Free Packaging, have delighted tens of millions of customers around the globe – and we’re adding new products to these programs every day.”

One of the biggest challenges in e-commerce packaging is designing it to be as compact as possible while ensuring that products arrive fully intact. Amazon works with manufacturers worldwide, helping them re-think and re-build their packaging, reducing waste throughout the supply chain while ensuring products are delivered to the customer undamaged. By thoroughly testing products in the Amazon Packaging Lab located in Seattle and also in fulfillment centers across the globe, Amazon identifies specific steps that manufacturers can take to improve their packaging. Manufacturers can even work alongside packaging engineers in Amazon’s Lab to create new packaging for a specific product and test the packaging the same day. Only products that successfully pass this rigorous testing program are certified as part of Amazon’s Frustration-Free Packaging Program.

Every year, Amazon receives millions of comments from customers delighted with the company’s innovations in packaging. Here are just two examples:

“The old frustration-full packaging took scissors and blood and sweat to open. The new way is perfect! Pull cardboard tab, open envelope, memory card in hand.”

“I am a huge fan of Amazon Frustration Free Packaging … Thank you for offering packaging that allows me to access my purchases without endangering myself.”

“For years, Hasbro has been hard at work to make our toy and game packaging more sustainable,” said Kathrin Belliveau, Senior Vice President, Global Government, Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Social Responsibility, Hasbro, Inc. “We love how Frustration-Free Packaging allows us to deepen our commitment to sustainability, enables our consumers to enjoy their toys and games the minute they unwrap the box, and reduces waste – good for the environment, good for consumers, and good for business.”

“Sustainable growth for Colgate Palmolive means a focus on minimizing our environmental impact while continuing to expand our global business. Working with Amazon on packaging innovations has enabled us to do just that,” said Mike Corbo, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Colgate Palmolive. “Packaging waste is costly – for the business and for the planet – so we’re excited to be working with Amazon to drive sustainability improvements.”

For more about Amazon’s commitment to sustainability, visit www.amazon.com/sustainability.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
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Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Calvin Klein, Inc. and Amazon Fashion announce the CALVIN KLEIN X Amazon Fashion holiday retail experience

Calvin Klein, Inc. and Amazon Fashion announce the CALVIN KLEIN X Amazon Fashion holiday retail experience

 

NEW YORK, 2017-Nov-21 — /EPR Retail News/ — Calvin Klein, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PVH Corp. [NYSE: PVH], and Amazon Fashion today (Nov. 16, 2017) announced the CALVIN KLEIN X Amazon Fashion holiday retail experience, available for customers to shop now through December 31st. The experience will include pop-up shops in New York City and Los Angeles, as well as an online brand store on Amazon.com/mycalvins.

The holiday retail experience is a first between Amazon Fashion and CALVIN KLEIN, and will include exclusive styles available only to Amazoncustomers at the pop-ups and the online brand store. The pop-ups will be located in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood and in the city of Santa Monica in Los Angeles. Each location will sell CALVIN KLEIN UNDERWEAR products, including men’s and women’s underwear and loungewear offerings, while the online CALVIN KLEIN brand store will offer an expanded selection of both CALVIN KLEIN UNDERWEAR and CALVIN KLEIN JEANS product.

”We are proud to collaborate with Amazon Fashion on this exciting retail concept,” said Cheryl Abel-Hodges, head of Calvin Klein Underwear and President, The Underwear Group of PVH. “It is our goal to deliver an immersive and content-driven shopping environment to the consumer, and we are thrilled to introduce this experience to CALVIN KLEIN and Amazon shoppers, both online and offline, just in time for the holiday season.”

Visitors to the pop-up shops will be able to easily purchase by scanning a bar code in the Amazon App and having their items delivered to their home, or they can purchase in-store. Fitting rooms will contain AmazonEcho devices, which will allow shoppers to ask Alexa various questions about the CALVIN KLEIN product and experience, control lighting features, and play music of their choice.

Both pop-up shops will feature areas aimed to engage and entertain customers. Customization stations will allow shoppers to have their purchased CALVIN KLEIN UNDERWEAR items personalized with special embroidery. Content creation spaces will encourage shoppers to create their own unique, sharable social media clips. Lounge areas will connect shoppers between the bi-coastal shops via video calling on the AmazonEcho Show, allowing them to interact and share exciting content in real time.

Throughout the holiday season, the shops will host special events with notable personalities, including supermodel and entrepreneur Karlie Klossand comedian and author Lilly Singh. Both Kloss and Singh are featured in the Amazon.com/mycalvins brand shop and prominently in store throughout the duration of the holiday retail experience.

“The holiday season is one of the most important shopping times for our customers, and we are delighted to team up with CALVIN KLEIN to provide a fun, interactive experience that connects our customers to product in an engaging way,” stated Michelle Rothman, Vice President at Amazon Fashion. “Customers will also be able to shop exclusive CALVIN KLEIN items on amazon.com/mycalvins.”

CALVIN KLEIN is a global lifestyle brand that exemplifies bold, progressive ideals and a seductive aesthetic. We seek to thrill and inspire our audience while using provocative imagery and striking designs to ignite the senses.

Founded in 1968 by Calvin Klein and his business partner Barry Schwartz, we have built our reputation as a leader in American fashion through our clean aesthetic and innovative designs. Global retail sales of CALVIN KLEIN brand products exceeded $8 billion in 2016 and were distributed in over 110 countries. CALVIN KLEIN employs over 10,000 associates globally. We were acquired by PVH Corp. in 2003.

With a history going back over 135 years, PVH has excelled at growing brands and businesses with rich American heritages, becoming one of the largest apparel companies in the world. We have over 35,000 associates operating in over 40 countries and over $8 billion in annual revenues. We own the iconic CALVIN KLEIN, TOMMY HILFIGER, Van Heusen, IZOD,ARROW, Speedo*, Warner’s and Olga brands, as well as the digital-centric True & Co. intimates brand, and market a variety of goods under these and other nationally and internationally known owned and licensed brands.

*The Speedo brand is licensed for North America and the Caribbean in perpetuity from Speedo International Limited.

EDITORIAL CREDIT: CALVIN KLEIN
RETAIL CREDIT – NYC: CALVIN KLEIN X Amazon Fashion Pop-Up, 545 Broadway, New York, NY 10012
RETAIL CREDIT – LA: CALVIN KLEIN X Amazon Fashion Pop-Up, 1444 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica, CA 90401
IMAGE CREDITS – NYC: © 2017 Griffin Lipson/BFA.com
IMAGE CREDITS – LA: © 2017 Owen Kolasinski/BFA.com
SOCIAL MEDIA: facebook.com/calvinklein; calvinklein.tumblr.com;google.com/+calvinklein;
youtube.com/calvinklein; twitter.com/calvinklein;instagram.com/calvinklein;
pinterest.com/calvinklein
snapchat: calvinklein
brand handle: @calvinklein

Contact:
Alexandra Wagner
212-292-9794
SVP, Corporate Communications
alexandrawagner@ck.com

Amanda Peña
212-292-9223
Director, Corporate Communications
amandapena@ck.com

Source: Calvin Klein, Inc.

###

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Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You is now available on Prime Video

  • The film is also available to buy or rent through Amazon Video and for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray
  • Mariah Carey’s song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” was the most streamed holiday song on Amazon Music last year

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Nov. 16, 2017) announced a deal with NBC Universal to make Prime Video the exclusive subscription streaming service for new animated film Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You from Universal 1440 Entertainment. The film is inspired by Mariah’s classic holiday hit of the same name, which was the most streamed holiday song on Amazon Music last year. The movie is narrated and executive produced by Mariah Carey and features a new original song by Mariah Carey and three of her classic holiday hits.

“I am thrilled to have Amazon Prime Video as the exclusive streaming home of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You. Amazon already brings my music to fans around the world, and now I am excited to share my holiday film with Amazon customers,” said Mariah Carey.

When Little Mariah (Breanna Yde) sees a darling little puppy named “Princess” at the pet store, she suddenly knows exactly what she wants for Christmas. Before her Christmas wish can come true, she must prove that she can dog-sit her uncle’s dog, Jack, a scraggly rascal; in fact, the worst dog in the county! Jack turns Mariah and her family’s perfect holiday preparations upside down in hilarious ways. It wasn’t exactly the Christmas she wished for…it was more than she ever wanted. Based on the iconic Christmas song and popular illustrated book of the same name, Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You featuring Mariah’s music and narration will be a family favorite for years to come.

The film is available exclusively for Prime members in the U.S. and Canada to stream, and Amazon customers may start their holiday shopping with the digital movie available for $14.99. Customers looking for a holiday rental have the option to rent for $4.99 (SD) or $5.99 (HD). The DVD and Blu-ray are also available for purchase.

Originally released in 1994, the single “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has sold more than 14 million copies across all retail markets. In 2016, more than two decades later, it dominated at #1 on Billboard’s Holiday 100 for four consecutive weeks. Carey’s critically acclaimed picture book of the same name was published in 2015.

About Amazon Video

Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Tick, Manchester by the Sea and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  • Live Sports: Sporting events, including NFL Thursday Night Football and ATP Next Gen ATP Finals, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.
  • Amazon Channels: Over 100 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more, plus Anime Strike – the first curated on-demand subscription by Amazon Channels. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
  • Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon: critically acclaimed thriller Absentia to debut exclusively on Prime Video in 2018

Series will debut exclusively to Prime members in the U.S., U.K., Germany and select territories globally in 2018

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Nov. 15, 2017) announced it has added critically acclaimed thriller Absentiato its lineup of original dramatic series—all episodes will debut exclusively on Prime Video in the U.S., as well as in select markets globally, including Australia, Austria, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey and the U.K. The series, premiering in 2018, will also be available in additional territories after its linear broadcast debut. Starring and executive produced by Castle’s Stana Katic, Absentia centers on FBI agent Emily Byrne (Katic). While hunting one of Boston’s most notorious serial killers, Agent Byrne disappears without a trace and is declared dead. Six years later, Emily is found in a cabin in the woods, barely alive, and with no memory of the years she was missing. Returning home to learn her husband has remarried and her son is being raised by another woman, she soon finds herself implicated in a new series of murders.

Absentia, produced by Masha Productions and distributed by Sony Pictures Television in association with Sony Pictures Television’s International Networks, garnered much fanfare when it opened this year’s Monte Carlo Television Festival and marks Katic’s first leading television role since Castle. The series was the number-one program in its timeslot when it debuted in Spain, Portugal, Romania and Poland on SPTN’s AXN channels (Source: Techedge: Kantar Media [Live+VOSDAL], and ARMA – Kantar Media, Nielsen Audience Measurement; all timeslot rank stats based on competitive set of channels for each market).

The series is executive produced and directed by Oded Ruskin (False Flag), alongside executive producers Matt Cirulnick (South Beach), Julie Glucksman, Katic and Maria Feldman (False Flag, Fauda). The series was created by Gaia Violo and Cirulnick and is based on a pilot script originally written by Violo.

“Absentia is an exciting new thriller which combines family and love with suspense and vindication,” said Brad Beale, Vice President, Worldwide TV Content Acquisition, Amazon Prime Video. “Prime members worldwide are going to love this well written show with remarkable performances by a terrific ensemble cast led by Stana Katic in her newest lead role.”

“Amazon is the perfect home for this innovative new thriller series. We believe Absentia will be a stand-out show for Amazon Prime members around the world,” said Paul Littmann, EVP, Worldwide Television Distribution, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“Absentia started as a passion project for Sony’s Networks group with a brilliant director and producer and a stellar cast of international talent, all willing to jump into an entirely new model. We are thrilled to share this premium independent drama series with Amazon’s global viewers,” said Marie Jacobson, EVP, Programming & Production, Sony Pictures Television Networks.

Absentia also stars Patrick Heusinger (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back) as Emily’s husband and fellow FBI agent Nick who struggles with the guilt that he stopped looking for Emily, and his feelings for her that have resurfaced—especially now that he’s married to another woman. Nick is now tasked with the unthinkable: having to bring Emily into custody as the prime suspect in a string of shocking new murders. Forced to prove her innocence, Emily goes on the run. But the closer Emily gets to answers, the more she puts herself and her family in danger. Can she prove her innocence before it is too late and discover the truth about her abduction?

In addition to Katic and Heusinger, Absentia’s ensemble cast includes Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey), Neil Jackson (Sleepy Hollow), Angel Bonanni (False Flag), Richard Brake (Game of Thrones), Ralph Ineson (Game of Thrones), Paul Freeman (The Dogs of War), Bruno Bichir (Narcos) and Patrick McAuley (The Conjuring 2).

Absentia will be available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Amazon Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online with other Amazon Original Series online at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Eligible customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.

About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Love & Friendship, and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  • Amazon Channels: Over 100 video subscriptions to networks like HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV, and more, available to Amazon Prime members in the US as add-ons to their membership. To view the full list of available channels, visit www.amazon.com/channels.
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers.
  • Instant Access: Customers can instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on compatible TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content.

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalog with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is one of the television industry’s leading content providers, producing and distributing programming worldwide in every genre and for every platform. In addition to managing one of the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, SPT is home to a thriving global production business operating 22 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 12 countries around the world. Sony Pictures Television is a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company.

About Sony Pictures Television Networks
Sony Pictures Television Networks operates branded entertainment channels reaching nearly two billion subscribers around the world. Based in Culver City, Amsterdam, Budapest, London, Madrid, Miami, Milan, Moscow, Mumbai, Munich, Singapore and Tokyo, Sony’s linear and digital networks offer high quality film and television content from Sony Pictures and third-parties, as well as original content commissioned globally and locally. Sony Pictures Television Networks is a division of Sony Pictures Television Inc., a Sony Pictures Entertainment company.

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon offers a sneak peek of its plans for Black Friday deals

  • Black Friday will feature more than 30 Deals of the Day and thousands of Lightning Deals across 30 categories
  • Save up to 35% on Melissa & Doug toys and furniture; Premium brand 40-inch smart TV only $279.99; Echo Dot only $29.99 – the lowest price ever!
  • Shop deals from small businesses and entrepreneurs, including startups in the Amazon Launchpad and Amazon Exclusives programs, on everything from toys and electronics to sporting equipment and clothes

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon is offering a sneak peek of its plans for Black Friday and, with deals across 30 categories, there is something for everyone this holiday. Now through Black Friday, customers will find deals on items including toys, electronics, fashion, beauty, kitchen, sporting goods, and more, in addition to Amazon Devices and products from small businesses and entrepreneurs, at amazon.com/blackfriday. Customers can expect to find incredible deals across a wide selection of top holiday products throughout the duration of the “Turkey 5” – those five popular shopping days starting at midnight PT on Thanksgiving and continuing through Cyber Monday. Black Friday will feature more than 30 Deals of the Day and thousands of Lightning Deals. Customers will find new deals every day, all season long.

Discover all of the great Amazon Black Friday deals at amazon.com/blackfriday or shop anytime, anywhere with the Amazon App (to download, visit amazon.com/mobileapps from your mobile browser). Customers shopping with the Amazon App can also set Watch a Deal alerts to ensure they never miss out on a hot holiday product, and even use AR view, a new augmented reality feature, to view thousands of items in their space before they buy. Voice Shoppers can shop select Black Friday deals, starting as early as 5pm PT, Wednesday, Nov. 22 – just ask Alexa.

All Amazon customers can choose from more than one hundred million items that are eligible for free shipping this holiday and all year long. This includes eligible orders of $25 or more shipped by Amazon, as well as free shipping offers from small business and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon.

The deals included below will be available on various dates and times between Nov. 17 and Nov. 24 (Black Friday), while supplies last, at amazon.com/blackfriday or on the Amazon App.

Amazon Devices

  • Save $20 on Echo Dot, only $29.99 – the lowest price ever for Echo Dot
  • Save $20 on All-New Echo, only $79.99
  • Save $30 on Echo Plus, only $119.99
  • Save $50 on Amazon Tap, only $79.99
  • Add a smart plug to any Echo purchase for only $5 ($20 off)
  • Save $20 on Amazon Cloud Cam, only $99.99
  • Save $30 on Fire 7 Kids Edition, only $69.99 – and save an additional $10 when you buy two Fire 7 Kids Edition tablets, only $129.98
  • Save $40 on Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, only $89.99 – and save an additional $10 when you buy two Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, only $169.98
  • Save $50 on Fire HD 10, only $99.99 – the lowest price ever for the Fire HD 10
  • Save $30 on Fire HD 8, only $49.99
  • Save $30 on Kindle Paperwhite, only $89.99
  • Save $30 on Kindle, only $49.99
  • Save $30 on Kindle for Kids Bundle, only $69.99
  • Save $15 on Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote, only $24.99

Electronics

  • Premium brand 40-inch smart TV, only $279.99
  • Sony 75-inch 4K Ultra HD smart LED TV (2017 Model), only $1,999.99
  • Sony 70-inch 4K Ultra HD smart LED TV (2017 Model), only $1,199.99
  • Samsung UN65MU8000 65-inch 4K Ultra HD smart TV (2017 Model), only $1,297.99
  • Sony 65-inch 4K Ultra HD smart LED TV (2017 Model), only $1,499.99
  • Samsung UN55MU8000 55-inch 4K Ultra HD smart TV (2017 Model), only $897.99
  • Sony 55-inch 4K Ultra HD smart LED TV (2017 Model), only $999.99
  • 32-inch 720p TV, only $69.99
  • 49-inch 4k TV, only $159.99
  • Save up to 30% on select TP-Link smart home and networking products
  • Save up to 25% on select Seagate hard drives
  • Save up to $150 on Acer Helios 300 Gaming Laptop
  • Save up to $120 on Cyberpowerpc Gaming Desktop
  • Save 30% on Corsair K70 Gaming Keyboard
  • Save up to 35% on select SanDisk memory products
  • Save up to 40% on PC gaming laptops, desktops, components and more
  • Save up to 25% on select 3D printers

Toys

  • Save up to 35% on Melissa & Doug toys and furniture
  • Save up to 40% on K’NEX Thrill Rides-Kraken’s Revenge Roller Coaster
  • Save up to 30% on select Crayola arts and crafts
  • Save up to 30% on select Paw Patrol toys
  • Save up to 50% on select Zoomer toys

Home Furnishings

  • Save up to 35% on select Thanksgiving and holiday décor
  • Save up to 40% on select mattresses, furniture and area rugs
  • Save up to 35% on select Rubbermaid products
  • Save up to 40% on select Thermos products

Smart Home

  • Save up to $40 on Schlage Smart Lock – Works with Amazon Alexa
  • Save $50 on Bluetooth-enabled Opal Nugget Ice Maker
  • Save $100 on SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit

Video Games

  • Save up to $100 on select Playstation virtual reality bundles
  • Save up to 50% on Just Dance 2018 Gold Box

Music, TV, Movies & Books

  • For the first time ever, non-Prime members as well as Prime members who haven’t yet tried Amazon Music Unlimited can get three months of the full catalog on-demand service with access to tens of millions of songs, for just $0.99 starting today
  • Save 40% on new release movies and TV seasons, as well as catalog best sellers available to rent or purchase and instantly stream on Amazon Video
  • Save up to 80% on select Kindle best-selling books

Pets

  • Save 35% on Soft WellBites Dog Treats
  • Save 15% on Fluval 2.6-Gallon Aquarium Kit

Sports & Outdoors

  • Save up to 60% on New Balance shoes and apparel
  • Save up to 30% on Under Armour TB12 Recovery Sleepwear
  • Save 20% on select Tumbl Trak products
  • Save on Bushnell Binoculars and Camelbak Hydration
  • Save up to 35% on select camo apparel
  • Save 20% on select Barska products
  • Save up to 25% on Nikon Coolshot 80 Rangefinder
  • Save 20% on Atomic Foosball Table
  • Save 25% on select X-Rocker Gaming Chairs
  • Save up to 35% on select Killerspin Table Tennis Rackets
  • Save 20% on select Paragon popcorn machines

Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs: Small businesses and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon come from every state in the U.S., and more than 130 countries around the world. Customers can shop deals from small businesses and entrepreneurs, including startups in the Amazon Launch pad and Amazon Exclusives programs, on everything from toys and electronics to sporting equipment and clothing:

  • Save 30% on Segway Minipro 2018 Edition
  • Save 20% on Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit
  • Save $30 on Anki Cozmo
  • Save 80% on Queen Rose Full Pregnancy Body Pillow
  • Save 20% on CoffeeGator Pour Over Coffee Maker
  • Save 60% on Silpada ‘Santa Fe’ Sterling Silver, Brass and Turquoise Bracelet

Voice Shop to Get Early Access to Deals: Customers who voice shop with Alexa will get an exclusive shopping window several hours earlier than the general public with access to some of the best deals starting at 5pm PT, Wednesday, Nov. 22. Available on the Amazon Echo, Echo Plus, Echo Dot and Amazon Tap, as well as screened devices such as the all-new Amazon Fire TV, all-new Fire HD 10 Tablet, Echo Show and soon to be released Echo Spot, it’s as simple as asking Alexa. Customers can voice shop with Alexa for tens of millions of Prime-eligible items every day of the year. Changed your mind? No problem, any physical product purchased with your voice is eligible for free returns. Customers must be Prime members with default payment and shipping information. To learn more, visit amazon.com/voiceshopping.

Amazon Prints: Beginning Nov. 19 for a limited time, holiday cards are 50% off. Create high-quality, custom cards and share holiday messages with friends and loved ones. Cards are printed on ultra-thick, matte cardstock and include envelopes with free return address printing plus free delivery with Prime. Go to amazon.com/prints to learn more.

Amazon Restaurants: Prime members making their first Amazon Restaurants order will get $10 off their order plus FREE delivery when they make a qualified purchase on Amazon.com or Prime Now between Nov. 24 and Nov. 27. Go to amazon.com/restaurants to learn more.

Amazon Books: Customers can also discover great deals on books, devices, toys and games in store at Amazon Books in Seattle, New York City (on 34th St and at Columbus Circle), Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston (Dedham and Lynnfield), San Diego, San Jose, Portland, Bellevue(Wash.) and Paramus (N.J.). Whether customers want to discover a new book for the holidays, test-drive a device, or purchase Amazon Gift Cards, Amazon Books offers gifts for everyone.

Amazon.com in Spanish: Customers can shop, browse and search for deals across 30 categories in Spanish. Customers can update their language settings in their Amazon App, as well as visit Amazon.com and click the ‘globe’ button – located in the navigation bar at the top of their Amazon home screen – to set and begin shopping in their preferred language. Preferred language settings will be saved for future site visits under ‘Your account’ settings.

Fast Shipping, Deals and More with Prime: Prime is designed to make your life better every day including the convenience of fast, free shipping and great entertainment. Prime members can shop thousands of Lightning Deals with 30-minute early access and, with the Amazon Prime credit card, members will earn even bigger rewards this holiday season. Members can also enjoy Free Two-Day Shipping with AmazonPrime, as well as Prime FREE One-Day Shipping and Prime FREE Same-Day Delivery on more than one million items in orders of $35 or more available to members in over 5,000 cities and towns. And, with Prime Now, Prime Members in more than 30 U.S. cities can benefit from one-and-two hour delivery. In addition, Prime members in 37 cities and surrounding areas across the U.S. now have access to Amazon Key, the new service that radically improves the convenience of receiving deliveries. Amazon Key allows Prime members to have eligible packages securely delivered inside their homes without having to be there.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Amazon acquires global television rights to The Lord of the Rings, based on novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, with a multi-season commitment

Television adaptation, exploring new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, slated to debut exclusively on Prime Video

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon today (Nov. 13, 2017) announced it has acquired the global television rights to The Lord of the Rings, based on the celebrated fantasy novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, with a multi-season commitment. The upcoming Amazon Prime Original will be produced by Amazon Studios in cooperation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

“The Lord of the Rings is a cultural phenomenon that has captured the imagination of generations of fans through literature and the big screen,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, Head of Scripted Series, Amazon Studios. “We are honored to be working with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, HarperCollins and New Line on this exciting collaboration for television and are thrilled to be taking The Lord of the Rings fans on a new epic journey in Middle Earth.”

“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings,” said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trustand HarperCollins. “Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”

Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The deal includes a potential additional spin-off series.

A world-renowned literary work, and winner of the International Fantasy Award and Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, The Lord of the Rings novels was named Amazon customers’ favorite book of the millennium in 1999 and Britain’s best-loved novel of all time in BBC’s The Big Read in 2003. Its theatrical adaptations, from New Line Cinema and Director Peter Jackson, earned a combined gross of nearly $6 billion worldwide. With an all-star cast that included Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom, The Lord of the Rings trilogy garnered a combined 17 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

The upcoming Amazon Prime Original will be available for Prime members to stream and enjoy using the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Amazon Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online with other Amazon Prime Originals online at Amazon.com/originals, at no additional cost to their membership. Eligible customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Prime Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream. The series will be a global release for members to watch via the Prime Video app or online at PrimeVideo.com in more than 200 countries and territories.

About Amazon Video

Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Love & Friendship, and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  • Amazon Channels: Over 100 video subscriptions to networks like HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV, and more, available to Amazon Prime members in the US as add-ons to their membership. To view the full list of available channels, visit www.amazon.com/channels.
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers.
  • Instant Access: Customers can instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on compatible TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content.

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalog with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About New Line Cinema

Building on five decades of innovation and creativity, New Line Cinema continues its long and successful history of producing critically acclaimed hit films that resonate with both mainstream and niche audiences around the world. New Line became a unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment in March 2008. The company maintains separate development, production, and business affairs operations, but coordinates those functions with Warner Bros. to maximize film performance and operating efficiencies.

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.

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Morrisons launches “voice skill” using Amazon’s Alexa

Bradford, UK, 2017-Nov-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Customers can now order from Morrisons.com without lifting a finger using Amazon’s Alexa.

Morrisons online shoppers will now be order their weekly shop from Morrisons.com using only their voice.

Customers will be able to ask Alexa to add milk, bread or any other item to their Morrisons.com shopping list.

They will also be able to ask Alexa to edit their order; ask if their delivery is on time; or check their basket to see if an item has been requested.

The service will be particularly helpful when customers find out that they’ve run out of an item in the fridge or store cupboard – they can just ask Alexa.

It will also be helpful for people who are disabled or even on the move – BMW recently announced that Alexa would be in its new cars from next year.

To access this service, customers will need to activate the Morrisons ‘skill’ or app, which is available on devices with Amazon Alexa such as the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot or Amazon Tap.

Matt Kelleher, Morrisons Online Director, said: “Customers are increasingly using voice commands in their everyday lives to check the weather, play music, or find out the latest news. It is important we follow this emerging trend and make Morrisons an easier and more accessible place to shop for groceries online. It’s exciting that our customers can now shop without even needing to login to a computer or mobile phone.”

The Morrisons.com skill on Alexa will be able to:

  • Add items to your basket
  • Remove items from your basket
  • Check the total of your order
  • Check if you have an item in your order
  • Check if Morrisons sells a product
  • Check if you can still edit your order
  • Check if your delivery is on time

The new app will suggest the right item based on previous shops, helping customers to add to their basket.

For further information please contact the Morrisons press office on 0845 611 5111

Source: Morrisons

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Amazon and Manchester City announce brand new Amazon Prime Video behind-the-scenes multi-part exclusive series

  • The multi-episode Amazon Prime Original Series will follow current English Premier League leaders Manchester City through their entire 2017/2018 season
  • The series will launch exclusively on Prime Video next year in over 200 countries and territories

SEATTLE, 2017-Nov-14 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon and Manchester City today (Nov. 9, 2017) announced a groundbreaking brand new Amazon Prime Video behind-the-scenes multi-part exclusive series following the four-time top flight championship winning soccer team, Manchester City, through the current 2017/18 season.

The Amazon Prime Original series will offer fans a glimpse into the historic Club, its legendary coach, Pep Guardiola and the weekly stories that unfold within the lives of the players currently sitting on top of the English Premier League table. Guardiola was one of the best players and coaches of his generation, having won three Champions League titles during his time at FC Barcelona. He joined Manchester City in 2016, coaching stars such as Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne.

“This new Amazon Prime Original series will give Prime members extraordinary insight into Manchester City, the top English Premier League Football team and one of the most exciting and respected teams globally,” said Heather Schuster, Head of Unscripted, Amazon Originals. “The story behind the coaches and players is fascinating and we are very excited to work with the Manchester City team to deliver an exclusive all access experience to our Prime members.”

Ferran Soriano, CEO of Manchester City, said, “We are delighted to begin this strategic relationship with Amazon, one of the world’s leading companies. Amazon Prime Video is the perfect home for a groundbreaking project that will offer a unique and authentic inside view into Manchester City’s season like never before. This is an extremely exciting time for Manchester City and through Amazon’s world-class service, we will be able to share it with football fans all over the world.”

This new series will take viewers on a behind the scenes journey through the whole of Manchester City’s 2017/18 season from the world-leading training facilities at the City Football Academy, to interviews with the manager and executive meetings.

The series will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in 2018. Prime members will be able to stream the series via the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices and online at amazon.com/originals. Members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. The series will be a global release and available on Amazon Prime Video for members to watch via the Prime Video app or online at PrimeVideo.com in more than 200 countries and territories.

The show joins Prime Video’s growing stable of Amazon Original sports entertainment shows including The Grand Tour, two seasons of All Or Nothing which follows the Arizona Cardinals and The Los Angeles Rams over an entire NFL season, New Zealand All Blacks, McLaren F1, and live streaming of NFL Thursday Night Football and the ATP Next Gen Finals.

Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.

About Amazon Video

Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  • Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed and self-published content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Tick, Manchester by the Sea and kids series, Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  • Live Sports: Sporting events, including NFL Thursday Night Football and ATP Next Gen ATP Finals, are available to watch live on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.
  • Amazon Channels: Over 100 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more, plus Anime Strike – the first curated on-demand subscription by Amazon Channels. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels
  • Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
  • Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
  • Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR), X-Ray and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About Manchester City Football Club

Manchester City FC is an English Premier League club initially founded in 1880 as St Mark’s West Gorton. It officially became Manchester City FC in 1894 and has since then gone onto win the European Cup Winners’ Cup, four League Championship titles, including two Premier Leaguetitles (2012, 2014), and five FA Cups.

Under manager Pep Guardiola, one of the most highly decorated managers in world football, the Club plays its domestic and UEFA Champions League home fixtures at the Etihad Stadium, a spectacular 55,000 seat arena that City have called home since 2003. Today, the Stadium sits on the wider Etihad Campus, which also encompasses the City Football Academy, a state-of-the-art performance training and youth development facility located in the heart of East Manchester. Featuring a 7,000 capacity Academy Stadium, the City Football Academy is also where Manchester City Women’s Football Club and the Elite Development Squad train on a daily basis and play their competitive home games. For more information, please visit www.mancity.com

Media Hotline:

206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

Source: Amazon.com, Inc.