Amazon has announced that it will be closing its AmazonSmile Charity Platform in the coming month. The program, launched in 2013, allowed customers to shop on Amazon as usual but with the option to choose a charity for which the retailer would donate 0.5% of the price of all eligible items. Amazon claims that more than $377 million has been donated through the program since its inception. However, it has been stated that more than the amount was needed to sustain the program.
the company wrote in a press release. “With so many eligible organizations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.” The AmazonSmile Charity Platform will close on the 20th of February. The charities that are part of the program will still be able to receive donations until the program is completed. At that point, Amazon announced that it would make an unrestricted donation to the charities that participated in the program “equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program.”
The decision to close AmazonSmile Charity Platform is part of a broader effort by Amazon to cut costs. The company became the first publicly traded company to drop $1 trillion in value in November 2022 and subsequently announced plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees. Amazon has also shut down other businesses in the past year, such as the Amazon Care telehealth service and Fabric.com retail website, and has halted plans to construct 42 new facilities.
It is worth noting that this move comes as a part of a broader cost-cutting effort by Amazon. The company had to lay off many employees as part of the effort and shut down several other businesses in the past year. This is a significant change in the company’s strategy, as it has always been known for investing in new initiatives and enterprises.