“AmazonFresh is Jeff Bezos’ Last Mile Quest for Total Retail Domination” by J.J. McCorvey at Fast Company.  “By expanding grocery delivery, Amazon hopes to transform monthly customers to weekly–or even thrice-weekly–customers. And that, in turn, will produce the kind of order volume that makes same-day delivery worth investing in. “Think of the synergy between Prime, same-day delivery, and Fresh,” says Furphy. “When all of those things start working in concert, it can be a very beautiful thing.”  Read more

 

“Walmart Q2 Earnings Call Transcript” at Seeking Alpha.  Read more

 

“Facebook to Test Its Own PayPal Competitor in Bid to Simplify Mobile Purchases” by Jason Del Ray & Mike Isaac at All Things D.  “The product, sources said, would allow any shopper who has previously provided Facebook with their credit card details to make purchases on partnering e-commerce mobile apps without entering billing information.  Facebook confirmed the test, which is expected to launch in the next month or so.”  Read more

 

“Wal-Mart expands site-to-store effort; tests lockers in D.C.” by Kim Souza at The City Wire.  “Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said the company recently launched the locker test for site-to-store in the Washington, D.C. area.  “While this test is still in the early stages, the initial read on customer satisfaction and acceptance is very encouraging, with 90% of the customers who have used the service providing positive feedback,” Simon said during Thursday’s (Aug. 15) pre-recorded earnings call.”  Read more

 

“Is the consumer weak, or is it just bad retailing?” by Bob Pisani at CNBC.  “Berman made an interesting point: the consumer is not that weak, the traditional retailers are weak. Consumers are are buying cars, houses, and they are buying goods on the Internet from companies like Amazon.  And they are buying home improvement items from companies like Home Depot and Lowe’s, which will be out next week.  But not from traditional retailers.”  Read more

 

“Blue Cross Blue Shield opening retail stores: Obamacare for sale” by Michael Tomsic at Charlotte Observer.  “Soon you’ll be able to shop for books, shoes, video games – and health insurance – all in the same shopping center. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is opening retail stores in a handful of strip malls.”  Read more

 

“U.S. retailers say uneven recovery keeps consumers cautious” at Reuters.  “Everyone wants to talk about recovery – it’s like the unrecovery,” Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Bob Summers said following the Wal-Mart results. “The demographic that they cater to, not only has it not seen improvement, I would argue that things have gotten worse.”  Read more

 

“Nordstrom lowers outlook despite higher 2Q profit” at The Seattle Times.  “For the quarter, Nordstrom said sales at stores open at least a year rose 4.4 percent. But for its luxury department stores, the measure slipped 0.7 percent. It said the Southeast and Southwest delivered the strongest results…The company now expects sales at stores open at least a year to rise 2 to 3 percent, compared with its previous outlook of 3 to 5 percent.”  Read more

 

“YouTube’s Biggest Critic on How the Site Could Lose Creators” by Tim Peterson at Ad Age.  “Advertising Age: Is it fair to say that a key message in your VidCon keynote is that YouTube risks becoming a farm league for Netflix, Amazon, Yahoo and others to recruit video creators?  Jason Calacanis: YouTube is going to be number one in video for some time to come if they do nothing, however we will see at least three new competitor emerge from the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo.”  Read more

 

“One-hour supermarket delivery service launches in London” by Chloe Rigby at Internet Retailing.  “Following trials in North London, Pocket Shop has already delivered more than 3,500 items across the city with its promise of deliveries in as little as one hour. Charges are on a sliding scale depending on the time of delivery: one-hour delivery costs £6.50, two is £5.50 while three is £5.10.  Customers order their shopping online at PocketShop.com, choosing from products that available at stores near them. Once completed, their orders goes to the nearest of Pocket Shop’s team of 20 shoppers, who travel into the hotspot areas where Pocket Shop has pockets of customers.” Read more

 

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Have a great weekend!