Tipsheet: Costco +5.4% | Wegmans #16 w/Gen Y | Amazon Retrain 100K
Costco June comp sales +5.4% (U.S. +6.3% / Canada +2.8% / Other Int’l +3.1% / Ecom +15.7%) Press release
Amazon plans to spend $700 million to retrain a third of its US workforce in new skills at CNBC. “The planned program is among the biggest corporate retraining initiatives ever announced, at a cost of roughly $7,000 per worker, or $700 million, the Journal said.” Read more
75 Best Large Workplaces for Millennials (Wegmans #16, Publix #34) at Fortune. List
Udelv partners with H-E-B on Texas autonomous grocery delivery plot by Darrell Etherington at TechCrunch. “This initial phase only covers one car and one store, and during this part of the pilot the vehicle will have a safety driver on board. But the plan includes the option to expand the partnership to cover more vehicles and eventually achieve full driverless operation.” Read more
Amazon apologizes after fining a college student $3,800 for returning a rented textbook 4 days late by Paige Leskin at Business Insider. “When I pointed out to him that the sum was exorbitant, he kept apologizing that I was frustrated, but that this was Amazon’s policy,” SanFilippo’s father told The Inquirer about the call with customer service.” Read more
Microsoft set to open first store in Europe by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “Microsoft pulled back the curtain on its first-ever retail outpost in Europe, a three-story mega-store just down the street from an Apple location in London’s signature shopping district. Set to open Thursday, the store is one of the company’s largest yet at more than 21,000 square feet.” Read more
Goldman says buy UPS, FedEx because concern Amazon is cutting them out is overblown at CNBC. Read more
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To stock Amazon’s shelves, merchants travel the backroads of America in search of rare soap and coveted toys by Josh Dzieza at The Verge. “I love living on wheels,” says Rose Pile, who travels in an RV with her husband and four sons. “If you don’t like your neighbors, if you don’t like your location, you just move.” “The best part is just seeing the country,” says Jamison Philippi, who recently spent nine months on the road clearing out closing Toys R Us stores.” Read more
Amazon’s Prime Day sales will jump 46% by Fareeha Ali at Internet Retailer. “The biggest reason for high growth: Prime Day will span 48 hours this year, 12 hours longer than last year’s 36-hour sale…Second, this year’s sale will feature more than 1 million discounts.” Read more
Cops bust $1 million-a-month gift card scam in Queens by Michael Gartland at NY Daily News. “The fence, allegedly controlled by the Nathoo brothers, employed a variety of confederates, including “fence manager, swipers, shoppers, fence employees, money launderer and more,” according to the DA’s Office.” Read more
Ryan Ross named President of the Williams Sonoma brand Press release
Amazon is coming under fire for ‘deceptive’ ratings and reviews on its website, and lawmakers are now demanding answers by Rebecca Aydin at Business Wire. “Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey and Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois wrote a letter to Amazon asking the company what it does about fake product reviews and ratings.” Read more
The Unlikely Rise Of Turkey’s E-Commerce Queen at Forbes. “Dogan-Boyner…is now one of the most successful women tech entrepreneurs in the world. For years, her father owned and published one of Turkey’s premier newspaper franchises, Hurriyet. She was born with a silver spoon, but had she not defied her father and quit her family business, Dogan-Boyner, 46, would not have built what is being called Turkey’s Amazon.com.” Read more
Hooters is expanding its family-friendly Hoots restaurants at NBC Today. Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
Sonic devices play high-pitched noises to repel teens
Atlanta drivers told to return money after $175K ‘cash storm’ on I-285
Former Home Depot CEO joins cannabis company
Sugar in fruit juice may raise risk of cancer, study finds
AT&T is first major wireless company to block spam calls automatically
How millennials replaced religion with astrology and crystals
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