Bloomberg says AWS leans on massive colo and edge network...

STORY: Black Friday crowds are expected to be bigger than ever this year, but their spending may not keep pace.Retailers strained by tariffs are rolling out fewer deals this year, making true bargains harder to find for shoppers. The National Retail Federation projects nearly 187 million people will shop in the five-day stretch from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. That would be the most ever and up from about 183 million last year.Retailers have launched early promotions to lock in sales.Walmart’s began on November 14 and will run in three phases through December 1, with Walmart+ members getting early access.Amazon started its Black Friday deals week on Thursday, while Macy's has opened a dedicated Black Friday portal.Sales in stores and online in November and December are forecast to top $1 trillion for the first time, according to the National Retail Federation.It expects sales growth of about 4% but that would be down from the nearly 5% rise in sales in 2024. Spending per person is seen falling slightly and a National Retail Federation poll shows that more consumers than last year say they will wait for Thanksgiving weekend deals.Eric Matisoff, an Analytics & Data Science Evangelist at Adobe who works with retailers, says consumers are also looking to pay less of the purchase price up front.“One big increase for growth this year that we're seeing is an increase in usage of buy now, pay later. So we're expecting $2 billion worth of purchases to be made using that type of technology, which shows that consumers are still really excited to make purchases and get value out of the discounts that we're seeing. However, they're looking to figure out ways to make the most of their money and stretch it.”One analyst who tracks consumer pricing tells Reuters that knowing when the best prices will appear is hard to determine because retailers have started promotions so early this year that those deals may not be available for Black Friday or the items could be out of stock...

Retailers performing well this year should generate low- to midsingle-digit gains for the 2025 holiday season; others could see declines...

AWS has been working with the U.S. government since 2011 and is now building AI infrastructure specifically for the entity...