Waymo strikes deals with Walmart, others to boost access to self-driving cars at CNBC. “Waymo autonomous vehicles will pick up customers and drive them to various locations in the Phoenix area. In some cases, customers will be offered savings or deals in order to be shuttled around in Waymo vehicles.” Read more

 

Congressional committee hears opinions on the online tax issue by Allison Enright at Internet Retailer. “Eight citizens provided testimony before the committee, including online sellers, a representative of state legislatures and tax reform proponents.” Read more

 

Lululemon names former Sears Canada exec Calvin McDonald as new CEO via Financial Post. “McDonald joins from cosmetics retailer Sephora, where he was head of the Americas region, and will start in his new role on Aug. 20.” Read more

 

Mass. Attorney General fires up e-cig battle by Brian Dowling at Boston Herald. “(Maura) Healey announced her office is investigating Juul, which has nearly two-thirds of the U.S.’ $2 billion vaping market, for its marketing strategies and has issued cease-and-desist orders to three websites that sell the products in Massachusetts without age verification systems.” Read more

 

7-Eleven at odds with franchisees over new agreements by Kyle Arnold at Orlando Sentinel. “Franchisees are just discovering the details of the new deal, which starts in 2019 and requires for the first time a renewal fee of $50,000, a bigger share of profits to the corporate parent and for stores to stay open on Christmas.” Read more

 

Three internet bosses lead list of top-paid retail CEOs by Patrick Thomas at The Wall Street Journal via Toronto Star. “The highest-paid chief executive in the retail industry…was Stephen Kaufer, CEO of the online travel company TripAdvisor…Third place was Reed Hastings, of Netflix. Then came Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart.” Read more

 

Walmart adding a tasting station to liquor store in Missouri by Kim Souza at Talk Business. “The tasting area is located in the center of the store and will be run by third parties like other demo stations seen routinely in supercenters, according to Anne Hatfield, corporate spokeswoman at Walmart.” Read more

 

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Why millennials are plant addicts by Lisa Boone at LA Times. “Gutierrez stocks about 100 tillandsia per week and says the majority are purchased by young people. She even had to change the store’s credit card policy because millennial customers seem to rarely have cash.” Tiered subs.

 

Google’s Cloud CEO takes a jab at Amazon’s Prime day failure at CNBC. “We’re proud of how we got you through Black Friday and Cyber Monday last fall,” she told Target’s chief digital officer.” Read more

 

Sears prevails in patent dispute with wrench inventor by Brigid Sweeney at Crain’s Chicago Business. “The decision…reverses a decision last year that awarded LoggerHead nearly $6 million in damages. At the time, LoggerHead’s victory—combined with owner Dan Brown’s impassioned explanation of the harm to small inventors inflicted by big businesses’ patent infringement—made news.” Tiered subs.

 

Jason Ropell Out as Amazon Film Chief by Brent Lang at Variety. “His ouster comes as newly minted Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke is shaking things up…Salke is moving the company in a different direction and is believed to be looking to back projects on both the film and television front that are more mainstream and less esoteric.” Read more

 

Minneapolis Marshalls still closed after suspected arson causes over $500,000 in damage by David Clarey at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “On July 15, a customer allegedly set fire to a display rack and caused over $500,000 in damage to store clothing…There have been no arrests.” Read more

 

The psychology behind Instant Pot’s monster success by Mark Wilson at Fast Company. “Instant Pot’s name deserves no small amount of credit for its success. After all, it’s an electric pressure cooker. Pressure cookers have existed for decades…But the term “pressure cooker” has a psychological weight. It conjures up images of a dangerous, hissing tool that can be turned into a makeshift bomb.” Read more

 

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