Amazon, Best Buy Team Up to Sell Smart TVs

Retail rivals Amazon.com Inc. and Best Buy Co. join forces to sell television sets powered by Amazon's Fire TV operating system.  The two US-based companies partnered to sell next-generation TVs for America and Canada customers.

Fire TVs are products sold by Amazon that gives the user a wide range of apps, such as Netflix and Hulu, on their smart televisions.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly revealed their partnership on Tuesday at a Best Buy store in Bellevue, Washington. Both companies will sell 11 models on the start of summer season, along with Toshiba and Best Buy house brand Insignia TVs. Best Buy also features the Amazon-powered Fire TV on its website and official stores.

“What we’re doing is so deeply integrated,” Mr. Bezos said, knowing the fact that the two companies are considered rivals in the retail industry, “It’s only possible because we trust each other.”

However, both companies say they were partners for years, “Amazon and Best Buy have a long history of working together, and today we take our partnership to a new level,” Mr. Bezos added.

Mr. Joly said, “What’s new in this partnership is the depths of the physical integration between the software and the hardware. The two companies are retailers, but they’re also product companies.”

Both companies declined to respond on whether Best Buy would pay a standard commission as an Amazon merchant, or a different deal has been negotiated between the two companies.

The Amazon – Best Buy partnership means that the latter’s house brand Insigma will stop producing TV sets powered by Roku Inc.’s operating system. However, they said that they will continue selling other brands of Roku-powered TVs.

By selling the TV models on Amazon’s site, Best Buy risks pulling sales away from its own website and its physical stores. Best Buy stated that they will only sell Fire TV models on Amazon’s website.

Amazon’s International Shipping from US Now Available

On the other hand, Amazon has launched its international shopping feature which allows customers around the world to shop more than 45 million items that can be shipped to their country from the United States, the shipping company’s origin.

This feature, available on every iOS and Android devices’ mobile browser and application, extends users to purchase products outside their home markets. According to Amazon, this new feature is available in five languages: Spanish, English, Simplified Chinese, Brazilian, Portuguese, and German.

Furthermore, the feature will allow customers to shop in 25 currencies, with more languages and currencies to be added in 2018. Customers can also vary their specified shipping options and delivery speeds.

Finally, the feature will show pricing, shipping, and import duty costs, with Amazon’s managing courier service and customs clearance in case of potential surprises at the time of purchase or delivery.

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