Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, much stronger than estimate at CNBC. “…well above the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate. Excluding autos, sales were up 0.6%, also well ahead of the forecast for just 0.2%.” Read more

 

Amazon, Expedia, Glassdoor, and others form coalition to fight fake reviews at GeekWire. “The new Coalition for Trusted Reviews was announced Tuesday morning by  Amazon, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Glassdoor, Tripadvisor, and Trustpilot. The companies say they “will define best practices for hosting online reviews and sharing methods of fake review detection, aiming to stop fake reviews at the source.” Read more

 

DoorDash’s Secret to Growth: Gamers Who Order Like They Are in Lockdown at WSJ. “DoorDash has shown up to gaming conferences, streamed battles between popular gamers and deployed ads with catchphrases such as “Stay in Your Game,” a straightforward way to remind players that every minute saved in acquiring food is another minute spent blasting the enemy to pixels. The result: Videogamers are now DoorDash’s fastest-growing pool of customers and among its most frequent users, the company says.” WSJ subs. 

 

Amazon quietly rolls out support for passkeys, with a catch at TechCrunch. “The option to set up a passkey is now available on the e-commerce giant’s website, allowing users to log in using biometric authentication on their device, such as their fingerprint or face scan.” Read more

 

Rite Aid seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at AP. “The company said Rite Aid stores will continue to fill prescriptions, and customers will still be able to visit its locations or shop online while it goes through its voluntary Chapter 11 process. But that process also will allow it to speed up its plan to close underperforming stores.” Read more

 

…Rite Aid Appoints Jeffrey S. Stein Chief Executive Officer Press release

 

Amazon partners with Petco in latest expansion of return drop-off footprint at GeekWire. “(Amazon) confirmed that it recently began testing a partnership with pet giant Petco, which will accept returns from customers who purchased items on Amazon.com.” Read more

 

Dollar General Might Get Shortchanged After CEO Encore at WSJ. “Less than a year after handing over the reins, Todd Vasos was reappointed chief executive officer of the struggling retailer. By the time of the announcement, its shares were down by nearly 59% so far in 2023. Vasos ran Dollar General from June 2015 until last November and had remained on its board.” WSJ subs.

 

Jeff Bezos buys $79M mansion in Florida’s exclusive ‘Billionaire Bunker’ at GeekWire. “Bloomberg reported that the seven bedroom, 14 bath estate is located in the exclusive Indian Creek area of Miami. The man-made barrier island is referred to as “Billionaire Bunker” and is home to notable residents including investor Carl Icahn, ex-NFL star Tom Brady, singer Julio Iglesias, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.” Read more

 

Brands hand out more free samples at Walmart as online ads lose appeal Ad Age subs. 

 

San Diego District Attorney meets with businesses to crack down on organized retail crimes at Fox 5. “Stephan met with ULTA Beauty loss prevention management and employees as she toured their San Marcos location…Stephan talked with two of the store’s managers, who said a majority of the store employees are female, and fearful about the attacks, which are getting more and more aggressive.” Read more

 

LVMH boss Bernard Arnault has just lost his spot as the world’s second-richest person to Jeff Bezos Fortune subs. 

 

Billionaire former Victoria’s Secret CEO pulls funding from Harvard, accusing the school of ‘dismal failure’ to take a stand for Israel at Business Insider. “In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and The Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners,” the statement said. “Our core values and those of Harvard no longer align.” Read more