Espresso,The Filter,

Are brands repeating their messages or letting them sink in?

Podcast,

Short Stories — with Sam Alston of Big Lives

Podcast,

Kiddie Cup — with Miki Berardelli of Kidbox

Espresso,The Grinds,

The Grinds: Ipsy unveils members-only beauty ecommerce site, Boutique and vintage vendors turn to Instagram, Retailers invite brands to advertise with package inserts, MoviePass acquires Moviefone

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon Channels reigns over television subscriptions; Amazon upgrades its beauty shopping experience, will launch the Marketplace Appstore for sellers, is closing customer accounts because of returns; Whole Foods tests a store-in-a-store housewares concept, Acer’s new laptops are integrated with Alexa

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon Go expands to San Francisco and Chicago; Amazon outfits boxes with scannable codes to repurpose the cardboard, no longer buys product listing ads on Google; Microsoft and Amazon announce first Cortana-Alexa integration, Apple will sell some video subscriptions through its Apple TV app, Sears will provide full-service installation to tire customers on Amazon, Amazon’s return service at Kohl’s is driving foot traffic to the department store

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon is using 3D body scanning to collect data to grow its apparel business, halted its expansion in Seattle, added a children’s book subscription to Prime, launched a new private-label pet brand called Wag

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon will sell an Echo Dot for kids, raise its annual Prime membership fee, stream Thursday Night Football, double its credit line, sell Chico’s apparel; Amazon is attempting to win over HQ2 finalists and growing its retail business with profits from AWS and advertising; Private equity firms want to consolidate top Amazon sellers

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon Key delivers to cars; Walmart’s online grocery program improvements are paying off; Amazon gives Best Buy exclusive rights to sell Fire TVs, inked live video game deal with the NBA, may surpass Walmart as top U.S. apparel retailer; Home Depot amps up tech team to compete with Amazon

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon expands Prime Wardrobe, braces itself for new state taxes, outpaces Best Buy as top electronics retailer; Amazon Echo partners with home builders; Amazon Fuse will expand the company’s media ecosystem; Walmart may buy stake in Flipkart

Espresso,PrimeTime,

PrimeTime: Amazon grows its private-label presence; U.S. warehouses unfit for ecommerce fulfillment; Amazon wants Alexa to compete with Venmo; Walmart continues to compete with Amazon via price matching, pickup kiosks and healthcare; Amazon’s R&D expenses surpass those of all other U.S. companies

Playbooks,

Playbook: How to embed your company in the experience economy

Espresso,The Grinds,

The Grinds: Best Buy, other retailers crack down on returns, Duty-free airport retail thrives, ASOS stands out with its product descriptions, West Elm sells experiences with local artists

Espresso,The Filter,

Big brands need to unbundle themselves if they want to survive

Espresso,The Filter

Amazon and Absolutism