Gap’s newest ad campaign attempts to clarify its identity ahead of the Old Navy spinoff at CNBC. "A 7-year-old blind pianist and 13-year-old electric-guitar player, rocking out to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” are the stars of Gap’s newest ad campaign. The videos, which rolled out last week on Gap’s social media channels, are also a step to focus Gap’s identity..." Read more   J.C. Penney's top executive over stores and supply chain leaves abruptly as replacement hired by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. "Michael Robbins...is leaving J.C. Penney effective Saturday., and his replacement worked in the past with [...]

  Amazon plans imminent launch of online food delivery service in India: sources at Reuters. "...is working with local partner Catamaran, founded by IT industrialist Narayana Murthy...Amazon is aiming to launch the new service delivering from restaurants ahead of India’s month-long festive season, which starts in September, one of the sources said." Read more   Gatik's self driving vans have started shuttling groceries for Walmart by Kirsten Korosec at TechCrunch. "Gatik’s autonomous vehicles (with a human safety driver behind the wheel) is now delivering customer online grocery orders from Walmart’s main warehouse to its neighborhood stores in Bentonville, Arkansas. The [...]

  Bed Bath & Beyond cuts 7% of corporate staff by Carleton English at NY Post. "...eliminated the combined roles of president and chief operating officer, which had been held by Eugene Castagna...But Wall Street seemed unimpressed at the news and sent the stock down more than 2% in midday trading. “No one is terribly surprised by this,” one analyst told The Post." Read more   U.S. Justice Department launches sweeping antitrust probe into top U.S. tech companies by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. "No company is named in the announcement but DOJ says it will review “market-leading online platforms” with [...]

  Former head of Amazon Business takes a top job at Boxed at CNBC. "After building Amazon’s business marketplace to $10 billion in annual sales volume, Prentis Wilson is headed to the start-up world. Wilson, who spent almost eight years at Amazon and before that worked at Cisco and Honeywell, is joining Boxed as the company’s first president, CNBC has learned." Read more   GNC plans to close up to 900 stores with big cuts to mall locations expected by Kelly Tyko at USA Today. "I think it could be likely that we'll reduce our mall count by a nearly [...]

  J.C. Penney taps debt restructuring advisers: sources at Reuters. "J.C. Penney’s restructuring plans are at an early stage, one of the sources cautioned. The discussions with restructuring specialists reflect J.C. Penney’s resolve to take steps in coming months to increase its financial breathing room and avoid confronting a potential bankruptcy filing down the road, the source added." Read more   Amazon threatens to sue major pharmacy if it prevents PillPack from accessing patient drug data at CNBC. "Amazon’s PillPack is considering legal action against Surescripts and other drug supply-chain players in a dispute over patient health data. PillPack was [...]

  Amazon’s Most Ambitious Research Project Is a C-store by Brad Stone & Matt Day at Bloomberg. "Will all this work be worth it? Some Go stores seem almost deserted except for the lunchtime rush. Employees familiar with Amazon’s internal projections say the outlets in Chicago, in particular, are falling short of expectations, and the company has had to resort to raffles and giveaways of tote bags and other branded goodies." Tiered subs.   Inside the massive Amazon Prime activation at Comic-Con 2019 by Phillip Molnar at San Diego Union-Tribune. "Amazon Prime...has taken over a 60,000-square-foot lot across from the [...]

  EU says it will investigate Amazon over possible anti-competitive business practices at CNBC. "Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the EU opened a formal investigation to determine how Amazon uses data from independent retailers who sell on the company’s marketplace. The investigation centers on Amazon’s “dual role” as both a retailer and a marketplace, Vestager said." Read more   Walmart CEO McMillon says the retailer has been playing ‘catch up’ in e-commerce at MarketWatch. "We’re not proud, we’re not egotistical,” McMillon said. “If somebody’s doing something better than we are, let’s copy and paste what we should. In the case [...]

  Amazon offers $10 to Prime Day shoppers who hand over their data at Reuters. "The deal is for new installations of the Amazon Assistant, a comparison-shopping tool that customers can add to their web browsers. It fetches Amazon’s price for products that users see on Walmart.com, Target.com and elsewhere." Read more   On the other side of Prime Day, Amazon workers brace for 'two months of hell' at NBC News. "(Ex-truck driver) Brady said that Prime Day doesn’t come with any specific bonus or special pay rate outside of regular overtime pay, but did say management gives workers a special [...]