Walmart’s Flipkart warns of major ‘customer disruption’ if new India rules not delayed by six months by Aditya Kalra at Reuters. “India’s new foreign investment restrictions will, from Feb. 1, bar e-commerce companies from selling products from firms in which they have an equity interest and also ban them from reaching deals with sellers to only sell on one platform.” Read more

 

Amazon exec Jeff Wilke invests in furniture rental startup Fernish as part of $30M round by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Lucas Dickey, one of the co-founders of the startup, spent four years at Amazon from 2007 to 2011 as a product manager for Amazon’s MP3 music service and cloud player.” Read more

 

Jim Gold, President & Chief Merchandising Officer at Neiman Marcus, is leaving after 28 years by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “He started out as an assistant buyer and moved up into the corporate ranks. His previous positions with the company included CEO of its New York-based retailer, Bergdorf Goodman, from 2004 to 2010.” Tiered subs.

 

Walmart’s CTO on digital transformation at NRF. 21:42 audio

 

Amazon’s white-collar workforce says their warehouses need better conditions by Rani Molla at Recode. “41 percent of Amazon workers surveyed on anonymous workplace app Blind said the company should improve its conditions for warehouse workers, compared with 36 percent at its biggest competitor Walmart (which includes Jet.com) and just 15 percent at eBay.” Read more

 

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H-E-B makes good on Heights store promise after lobbying residents to overturn a century-old ban on off-premise alcohol sales by Paul Takahashi at Houston Chronicle. “H-E-B’s No. 1 selling category is wine…(H-E-B) hired an Austin political consulting firm, held community meetings, campaigned door-to-door and ultimately spent more than $60,000 to repeal the 1904 law…” Pics/Read more

 

Video from The Falling Prices discount store – where everything costs $6 on Tuesdays, $4 on Wednesdays and so on. By Saturdays, items are a quarter at Sacremento Bee. 1:19 video

 

Toy industry sales broke 4-year growth streak, fell 2% in 2018, thanks to Toys R Us closure at CNBC. “Lennett (at NPD Group) called the 2 percent decline a “solid performance” considering how much the landscape has changed in the last year. Toys R Us was estimated to account for 10 to 15 percent of all toy sales prior to its closure in June.” Read more

 

Jim Cramer: CVS is ‘one of the absolute cheapest stocks’ in the market at CNBC. Read more

 

Former Munchery employees sue company, blame CEO for shutdown by Kate Clark at TechCrunch. “…former Munchery facilities worker Joshua Philips is claiming the startup owes him and 250 other employees 60 days’ wages, citing The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act…” Read more

 

Sears creditors call Eddie Lampert plan ‘fantasy’ by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. Read more

 

“THEY’VE BEEN GREAT” – Sheetz steps up after semi-trailer truck crashes into church by Shayne Dwyer at NBC 10 News. “…Ryan Sheetz personally call(ed) the church to offer whatever he could. Mutliple Sheetz managers have visited the site, they fed all the volunteer workers Saturday, gave them $500 in gift cards, and even offered to pay for a rental space if the church was unable to occupy its current building.” Video/Read more

 

Personalized digital receipts lift GNC’s loyalty program and upsells by Bill Briggs at Digital Commerce 360. Read more

 

‘Chainsaw Al’ dies at Crain’s Chicago Business. Read more

 

STRAW COP – On patrol with the enforcer of D.C.’s plastic-straw ban by Fenit Nirappil at Washington Post. “Rybarczyk peeled the wrapper from a red straw and bent the end — the telltale giveaway. Plastic…The straw cop left the rattled cashier at Lotus Express with a warning that if the store was still using plastic straws by July, when a grace period expires, it could be fined up to $800.” Tiered subs.

 

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