Espresso,The Grinds

The Grinds: Planet Fitness scoops up Toys R Us and Sears’ real estate leftovers, Brands capitalize on the esports industry, The Wing branches into design, Advertisers buy out billboards on the road to Coachella

Playbooks

The Medium of Exchange Playbook: How to strike a virtuous cycle by integrating content and commerce

Espresso,PrimeTime

PrimeTime: Amazon expands Whole Foods, sends free product samples, strengthens sports contracts, reduces third-party seller fees, debuts new Amazon Key services, receives criticism for copying West Elm furniture

Press

Girlboss: The Ultimate Reading And Podcast List For Women in Media

Playbooks

Playbook: How to balance running a for-profit company with actualizing a social mission

Reports

For-profits versus non-profits and the rise of philanthrocapitalism

Playbooks

Playbook: How to approach virality as a consumer brand

Reports

How much of virality is simply novelty?

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,The Grinds

The Grinds: Bulletin opens its third New York store, Aesop expands its retail footprint, Shopify moves offline, Walmart will sell Harry’s razors

Playbooks

Playbook: How brands can achieve and maintain cultural resonance

Reports

Disney World: How Disney used entertainment and hospitality to build an ecosystem, both online and offline

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

Reports,Playbooks

Culture drivers: A framework for brands that create culture

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

Podcast

Social(ism) — with Brian Schechter of SelfMade

The Archive

Ignoring effective frequency: why buy buttons failed

The Archive,Getting Started

PayPal is an emerging brand’s best friend

The Archive

Augmenting commerce with social, not the other way around

The Archive

Emulating Facebook’s News Feed will fix fashion’s inventory problems

The Archive,Getting Started

Press is like crack and how fashion brands can stay off it

The Archive,Getting Started

The fallacy of an online-only brand leading to immediate prosperity

The Archive,Getting Started

“I’m building a lifestyle brand”

The Archive,Getting Started

Gestures matter: thoughts on customer service

The Archive

It’s not all about money

The Archive

Watch Your Cash Go (Sorry, I Mean Cash Flow)