Amazon is sunsetting its AmazonSmile program, which allows shoppers to donate a percentage of purchases to their charity of choice, by Feb. 20.

The news comes as the company tightens spending and lays off 18k+ employees — some of whom received notification by email this week, per Business Insider.

Why?

Amazon says it’s donated $449m+ to 1m+ charities since AmazonSmile launched in 2013, but says the program was “spread too thin” and failed to have the desired impact.

In 2022, charities received an average of less than $230, per NPR.

Yet small organizations say it helped:

• The SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary tweeted that the $9.3k+ it’d received made a “huge difference.”
• The Cat’s Meow tweeted that the ~$4k it’d received covered expenses when donations fell short.

Meanwhile…

… others argue Amazon could have done more.

In 2017, journalist Marc Gunther pointed out AmazonSmile only gave 0.5% — so a dime for a $20 purchase — and only when shoppers remembered to use the right URL.

• Case in point: In 2015, the AmazonSmile Foundation donated ~$12.8m — 0.00012% of Amazon’s ~$99.1B in retail sales that year.

What now?

Customers can still donate to their favorite charities until the program ends, buy items from their wish lists, or, obviously, donate without Amazon.

Meanwhile, Amazon says it will continue to invest in areas “where it can make meaningful change,” including local nonprofits and — perhaps conveniently for Amazon — its own charitable efforts, like Amazon Future Engineer, which funds computer science education.

BTW: We know you’re dying to see the farm animals at SquirrelWood Equine Sanctuary, so here ya go.

Last year, the Chinese economy expanded at its slowest annual rate of growth since 1976.

The country’s National Bureau of Statistics reported a drop from 8.1% in 2021 to 3% in 2022 — a number Wall Street says may even be overstated, per Axios.

What’s happening?

• The country faces a sagging housing market after years of speculative building and buying.
• Foreign investors have also been diversifying capital and their supply chains away from the country.

On top of all this, China’s recent covid wave and lockdown policies left many businesses inoperable for an extended timeframe.

This week, China announced its population shrank for the first time since 1961, declining by 850k people. As the country’s supply of young workers shrinks, it will need to find other ways to drive productivity to continue growing its economy.

In case you missed ‘em, here’s this week’s best…

• Tweet: When your manager tries to convince you that the new project will be an amazing growth opportunity.
• Blog: If you have a killer product, you should be centering your business around it. That’s the model for product-led growth.
• Chart: Google search interest in “canned fish.” The category has seen a lucrative resurgence, partly attributed to TikTok.
• Story: Check out Mark’s deep dive into the economics of snow.
• Video: Watch our quick “Hustlenomics” original on the business of unused gift cards.