Oct 9, 2018

The Amazon advertising mafia

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

For traditional retailers, existing alongside Amazon on the internet is getting tougher.

The big picture: Amazon is gobbling up Google search results for companies even when users search specific key words related to those firms, market research firm Gartner L2 notes in a new report.

What's going on: When you search "ethan allen recliners," the first result that comes up may not be Ethan Allen, but Amazon. That's because Amazon is buying Google ads against these customer search queries, forcing retailers to buy ads, too, says Griffin Carlborg, the lead author of the Gartner report.

Amazon is popping up for 23% of Ethan Allen's search terms, 32% of Ashley Furniture's terms and 47% of HomeGoods' terms, per Gartner's analysis.
The report found that Amazon owned 15% of a sampling of 1,353 search keywords representing businesses ranging from sporting goods to home appliances.
Amazon wins half of this 15% with the sheer power of its own brand, and it pays for the other half.

The bottom line: The Amazon effect is changing companies from top to bottom, influencing their decisions on everything from how much they pay their employees to what they spend on Google ads.

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Mass shooting in Milwaukee: What we know

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in 2012. Photo: John Gress/Corbis via Getty Images

Six people died in a shooting at the Molson Coors Brewing Company in Milwaukee on Wednesday, including the gunman, Mayor Tom Barrett told reporters at a Wednesday evening press conference with local police.

Details: All of the victims worked at the brewery complex, as did the shooter who died of "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," police confirmed in a statement late Wednesday.

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Coronavirus updates: South Korea case count tops 2,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens.

33 people in California have tested positive for the coronavirus, and health officials are monitoring 8,400 people who have recently returned from "points of concern," Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.

The big picture: COVID-19 has killed more than 2,850 people and infected over 83,000 others in some 50 countries and territories. The novel coronavirus is now affecting every continent but Antarctica, and the WHO said Wednesday the number of new cases reported outside China has exceeded those inside the country for the first time.

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Syria's darkest chapter

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The worst humanitarian crisis of Syria’s brutal civil war is colliding today with what could be the war’s most dangerous geopolitical showdown, after at least 29 Turkish troops were killed in an airstrike.

The big picture: The fighting is taking place in Idlib in northwest Syria, where a ferocious Syrian and Russian offensive has displaced 1 million civilians and infuriated Turkey, which borders the region.

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