Amazon is hiring 100,000 people in U.S. and Canada to meet the increased demand in its operations. The full- and part-time jobs start at $15 an hour and include signing bonuses of up to $1,000 in some areas. Many of the new positions will be at 100 new warehouse and operations sites that Amazon is opening this month.

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• The new hires represent a roughly 10% expansion in Amazon's permanent global workforce, which is now around a million employees.
• The news come a week after Amazon said it plans to hire another 33,000 U.S. workers in corporate and tech roles at an average salary (including stock options) of $150,000.
• To help fill the positions, the company will provide 20,000 career coaching sessions with 1,000 recruiters for free to anyone who signs up for its virtual Career Day on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
• This spring, Amazon announced hiring for 175,000 new operations positions.
• In Q2 of 2020, Amazon said its sales rose 40% year-on-year, to $88.9b from $63.4b. Its net income doubled to a record $5.2b.

Where Amazon is hiring:

• Bellevue, Washington: 10,000 workers...

Three U.S. Senators are calling on Amazon to end sales of certain AmazonBasics products that have caught fire and/or exploded. Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), and Ed Markey (Mass.) contacted the company after a CNN report revealed that dozens of AmazonBasics products are still for sale, despite customer reviews claiming they had experienced dangerous electrical malfunctions.

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• More than 70 products from AmazonBasics, the company's budget-friendly private label line, have caught fire, smoked, or exploded, according to 1,500 customer reviews written in recent years and discovered by CNN.
• Examples included microwaves, surge protectors, charging cables, and toasters. Around 30 of these items were still for sale on Amazon as of Friday.
• In a joint letter to Jeff Bezos, the senators asked Amazon to stop all sales and recall the defective products and immediately notify customers about the risks. They said Amazon's notification and recall process is “inadequate and underutilized."
• Their letter cited an AmazonBasics surge protector that continued to be sold despite posing a serious fire hazard, according to 40+ reviews. One buyer received $1,500 to cover home damages. Amazon has since pulled the product from its site but didn't notify customers.
• The senators also mentioned a man who was hospitalized with second-degree burns after his AmazonBasics USB cord caught fire while he was asleep.
• Amazon hasn't directly responded to the senators but said customers can contact customer service if there is a problem and it will investigate. The company told news outlets: "Safety is a top priority."
• In a blog post responding to the allegations, Amazon said it tests its products and works alongside third-party labs to meet standards. Any product that fails testing is removed or altered, it said.
• Amazon heavily promotes its ~5,000 AmazonBasics products, many of which have 4+ star ratings and are bestsellers for the company.

Amazon was accused of price gouging on essential items during the pandemic, according to a report from the consumer rights group Public Citizen. The report details how prices on some items, such as hand soap, face masks, and toilet paper, rose 75% to over 1,000% from May to August, which runs counter to Amazon's Fair Pricing Policy.

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• While Amazon third-party sellers have been accused of price gouging in the past, the report details how some company-sold products (listed as “sold by Amazon") saw major price increases during the pandemic.
• Some examples were antibacterial soap listed for $7 instead of $1.49, and an eight-roll pack of toilet paper for $36.39 when it's normally as low as $6.89.
• While the U.S. doesn't have federal price gouging laws, the government can prosecute companies that fix PPE prices under antitrust law. There are price gouging laws in some states.
• Amazon has said there's "no place for price gouging" in its business and its system is designed to offer "the best available online price." If the company finds an error, "we work quickly to fix it," it said.
• Amazon said it's removed more than 1 million offers and suspended more than 10,000 selling accounts for attempted price-gouging. In some cases, it contacted law enforcement. It asks customers to flag any instances they come across.

Two U.S. representatives said police were called when they tried to visit an Amazon warehouse in Michigan to investigate working conditions. In a tweet Friday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib said she and Rep. Debbie Dingell, both of Michigan, were eventually let in to tour the site and "remain deeply concerned about worker safety." They plan to share more details about their tour soon.

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• Amazon called it an "unfortunate misunderstanding" involving a night shift security guard who didn't expect external visitors to film at the facility in Romulus, Michigan, which is why the police were called.
• The lawmakers said they waited 1.5 hours to check on workers' safety at the request of employees and Amazon itself.
• Dingell later tweeted: "Have a lot of thoughts from tonight's visit with @RashidaTlaib that will share when I've fully considered them."

Amazon-owned Whole Foods has announced that it will offer pickup at 480 of its 487 U.S. locations by the end of September. The store has already tripled the number of stores offering this service from just 80 in December. Whole Foods also offers a two-hour delivery service in over 2,000 cities worldwide. 

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• Whole Foods stores are replacing their dining spaces with pickup facilities to accommodate demand. One location revealed this change cost them $21,000.
• The company also opened its first virtual store in Brooklyn earlier this month. This store only accepts online orders. 
• The pickup service is free for Amazon Prime members with orders ready within an hour. Amazon Prime costs $119 per year. 
• Grocery pickup accounts for 54% of e-commerce grocery sales compared to 46% for delivery.

A version of this story first appeared in Inside E-Commerce. To receive this newsletter, sign up here.

Amazon is in talks to buy a 40% stake in Indian retail giant Reliance Industries’ retail business for ~$20b. If signed, it would be the biggest deal ever for India, and also for Amazon. Reliance's stock price increased by 7% yesterday and the company's market cap crossed $200b. 

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• Last month, Reliance Industries bought its rival Future Group’s retail chain (1,700 stores) in a $3.4b deal. Overall, Reliance has ~12,000 retail stores. Reliance retail generated revenue of $22b during the last FY.
• The company’s digital arm Jio Platforms – which includes eCommerce platform JioMart – received $20b in investment for a 33% stake since April from investors including Facebook, Google, and Intel.
• Mukesh Ambani said in July that he is seeking investors for Reliance's retail business.
• Earlier this month, Walmart merged its wholesale eCommerce service with online retailer Flipkart (owned by Walmart). Walmart bought Flipkart in a $16b deal in 2018. 
• This week, Silver Lake invested $1b in Reliance retail for a 1.75% equity stake.

The Bigger Picture:

Amazon’s plan of venturing into China as a sole competitor didn’t work, as it faced heavy competition from Chinese companies including Alibaba and JD. This deal is expected to give Amazon a stake in brick and mortar retail business in India, and also a much-needed domestic partnership in the Indian retail market, which is expected to be worth $1.3 trillion in 2025.

A version of this story first appeared in Inside Business. You can read the full issue here. 

QUICK HITS

• Amazon picked up an eight-episode scripted series that will star Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic, the infamous "Tiger King."
• AWS head Andy Jassy is the heir apparent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos after former frontrunner Jeff Wilke announced his retirement.
• Fortnite streamer Ninja signed a multi-year deal to livestream exclusively on Amazon's Twitch.
• Cancer detection startup Grail, which counts Jeff Bezos as among its investors, has filed for an IPO.
• Walmart and Zipline will deliver health and wellness products by drone next year, competing with Amazon Prime Air's drones.
• Amazon hired Peter Marquez, a former White House space national security official, as its first head of AWS space policy.
• Slack is gathering industry leaders and product experts at Slack Frontiers, a free virtual conference dedicated to digital transformation.*

*This is a sponsored post.

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Tweet of the Day: @boardingsoon shared a pic of her kitten that took up residence in an Amazon shipping envelope.