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 half,” said Tricia Tolivar, GNC chief financial officer. “So we’ve got a little over 800 malls today and over the long-term, we could bring that closer to 400 to 500.” Read more

 

People call out Macy’s for promoting eating disorders with ‘fat shaming’ plates at Yahoo Lifestyle. “Macy’s is under fire for “promoting fat shaming and food guilt” after a woman posted a photo of plates with sections dedicated to different jeans sizes. The smallest portion is labeled “skinny jeans,” the next is “favorite jeans” and the largest one is called “mom jeans.” Pics/Read more

 

Home Depot CFO Carol Tome talks to “Mad Money’s” Jim Cramer at CNBC. “Thirty-three-year-olds made up the largest group of first-time homebuyers in 2018, and they’re buying with investing in mind, she said. “They’ve told us through our research, ‘We want to work on our house because we think it’s a good investment,’” Tomé said in a one-on-one interview with “Mad Money’s” Jim Cramer. “So that’s music to our ears.” Video/Read more

 

Walgreens Boots Alliance appoints Aaron Radelet as Global Comms Chief at Global Cosmetics News. “Chuck Greener, previously Senior Vice President for global communications and corporate affairs, will now move up into the new position of Senior Vice President and global chief public affairs officer, with both Radelet and Greener reporting to Ornella Barra.” Read more

 

Kroger Names First-Ever Agency of Record: DDB New York Press release

 

Another Costco chicken operation proposed in Lancaster County, Nebraska – this one housing 380,000 birds by Matt Olberding at Lincoln Journal Star. “…which would make it twice the size of the poultry operation that was approved in the southwest part of the county last year, and about 75% larger than the current largest broiler operation, Bevans Barns near Waverly.” Read more

 

10 minutes with Andy Dunn, Bonobos co-founder and Walmart SVP by April Berthene at Internet Retailer. “The future is that brands have an independent connection, that direct-to-consumer connection, just the same way that Bonobos came up. And then there’s an opportunity for those brands to be distributed with the right wholesale partners. And we learned this coming up at Bonobos, when about five or six years later we launched with Nordstrom and saw that business take off.” Q&A

 

Etsy is acquiring Reverb, a new and used music gear marketplace, for $275 million in cash by Dami Lee at The Verge. Read more

 

Alibaba welcomes U.S. small businesses to sell globally on its platform at Reuters. “Roughly one-third of buyers on Alibaba.com are U.S.-based. More than 95% of sellers come from China. This plan will open up markets to U.S. merchants in countries including India, Brazil and Canada. U.S. merchants will also be able to sell to other U.S.-based businesses.” Read more

 

eBay names Pete Thompson Chief Product Officer; Mazen Rawashdeh promoted to Chief Technology Officer “Thompson joins eBay from Amazon where he served as Vice President of Alexa Voice Service. Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer of TiVo.” Press release

 

Square launches robot photography service for online sellers by Julie Verhage at Bloomberg via LA Times. “It will charge about $10 plus shipping for customers to send a product weighing less than 20 pounds to the Brooklyn studio and within two weeks, receive three digital photos from different angles. (Staff will select the best ones for customers.) Square also offers a 360-degree photo service for about $30 apiece.” Tiered subs.

 

Harvard Study: Millions should stop taking aspirin for heart health at AP News. “A daily low-dose aspirin is recommended for people who have already had a heart attack or stroke and for those diagnosed with heart disease. But for the otherwise healthy, that advice has been overturned.” Read more

 

Walmart’s exec shuffle – names and details by Kim Souza at Talk Business. Read more

 

Saks Off Fifth closing only store in the Bronx by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. Read more

 

Kids clothing retailer Rockets of Awesome nabs former Walmart e-commerce exec for SVP role at CNBC. “Scott Turner, a director for Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce team who had been working at Jet.com with Marc Lore before the company was acquired by the big-box retailer back in 2016, announced in a post on LinkedIn Sunday evening that he was leaving.” Read more

 

Home improvement marketplace Porch acquires HireAHelper, doubling down on moving services by Nat Levy at GeekWire. Read more

 

Doug, Shelley McMillon give $1 million to Mercy Northwest Arkansas at Talk Business. “Mercy said the McMillon family would have its name on the new heart unit in the hospital tower. The McMillon gift puts Mercy at approximately $20 million in philanthropic support toward a goal of $25 million in the campaign.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Google’s new shopping platform is now live

The ‘Costco of cannabis’ raises $2.8M for a membership weed delivery service

Amazon taps Trump ally to lobby

Walmart, Sam’s Club offer audible prescription labels for visually impaired

Retailers are finally launching affordable clothing lines for children with disabilities

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

**

Eye on Retail Tipsheet is must-read material for retail execs every weekday morning. Tipsheet stories are carefully curated bright and early every morning to ensure fresh and unique content.

 

Subscribe to Eye on Retail Tipsheet here

 

Contact us: Put your product or service in front of the most powerful retail execs in the world, send advertising inquiries to info@eyeonretail.net

 

Website: eyeonretail.net