Tipsheet: Terrell to Glaxo | B.Pro Settles | Smart & Final +1.3%

 

GlaxoSmithKline appoints Ex-Walmart exec Karenann Terrell to chief digital and technology officer at Reuters. “Terrell, who left Wal-Mart as chief information officer in February, will join GSK on Sept. 4 and will be a member of the senior corporate executive team in her new role, GSK said.” Read more

 

Birkenstock CEO accuses Amazon of “modern day piracy” by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post via Denver Post. “In a blistering five-page email obtained by The Washington Post, David Kahan last week derided the online behemoth for contacting shop owners and offering to buy their products at full price.” Read more

 

Smart & Final Q2 Comp Sales +1.3% Press release

 

Amazon patents tech for delivery drones to capture video of homes and recommend purchases by Casey Coombs at Puget Sound Business Journal. “For example, the drone’s camera may find that the roof of an Amazon customer’s home needs repair and alert the customer or a nearby technician who could fix the problem.” Read more

 

How Jony Ive Masterminded Apple’s New Headquarters by Christina Passariello at Wall Street Journal. “Norman Foster, whose architecture firm was hired by Apple to build the headquarters at a reported cost of $5 billion, calls him “a poet.” Other designers are “amazing essayists, but the difference between an essay and a poem is that you really have to work harder at the poem. It’s much more distilled, it’s much more the essence,” Foster says. “He works tirelessly at the detail, evolving, improving, refining. For me, that makes him a poet.” Read more (subs.)

 

The team who created Amazon’s warehouse robots returns with a new robot named Chuck by Lora Kolodny at CNBC. “6 River Systems recently attracted $15 million in new venture funding, Dubois said. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners, joined by Eclipse Ventures and iRobot, the company that created the Roomba vacuum.” Read more

 

Executive Pay Falls for Big Mall Owners as Retail Storm Rages On by Peter Grant at Wall Street Journal. “That’s the way the stock plans are structured,” said Macerich Chief Financial Officer Thomas O’Hern in an interview. “When the stock is down, we suffer from a compensation standpoint.” Read more (subs.)

 

Blue Apron COO Matthew Wadiak steps down in post-IPO shakeup by Matthew Lynley at TechCrunch. “Tim Smith, currently Blue Apron’s VP of supply chain is being promoted to SVP of consumer products reporting to CEO Matt Salzberg; SVP of operations Pablo Cussatti also will report to Salzberg.” Read more

 

Who Wants to Run that Mom-and-Pop Market? Almost No One by Julie Turkewitz at NY Times. Read more

 

Ex-Amazon manager’s startup Kwontified aims to help fashion retailers navigate e-commerce by Nat Levy at GeekWire. “The company helps sellers by mining data from Amazon’s API and sharing crucial metrics that are hard to find, such as ways to determine which customers will become repeat shoppers.” Read more

 

Robots to perform inventory tasks at Schnucks grocery stores by Lisa Brown at St. Louis Post Dispatch. “Simbe has placed Tally robots in mass merchants, dollar stores and groceries across the country, including some Target stores in San Francisco last year.” Read more

 

Amazon prepares to enter Southeast Asia via Singapore launch by Jon Russell at TechCrunch. “The arrival could happen as soon as this week, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.” Read more

 

Bass Pro, EEOC reach agreement on discrimination claims; company will pay $10.5 million by Wes Johnson at Springfield News-Leader. “The initial EEOC complaint, filed in 2011, accused the company of failing to hire qualified black and Hispanic job applicants…In court filings, Bass Pro denied all the allegations…The court also noted that any payments Bass Pro made as part of the settlement “should not  be construed as an admission of liability.” Read more

 

JAPAN’S KIT KAT KRAZE – Demand for Exotic Kit Kats Is So High Nestle’s Building a New Plant by Naomi Schanen at Bloomberg. “While the wafer-and-chocolate snacks have been available in more than 300 flavors here for more than four decades, recent offerings from custard pudding to ginger have made (Japan) the go-to destination for picking up odd variations.” Read more

 

Augmented-reality shopping on your phone? Patent hints at Amazon’s ambitions by Alan Boyle at GeekWire. “Imagine that you’re shopping online for a classy watch or bracelet, and you want to get a sense for how it’ll look around your wrist. Just point your smartphone camera at your hand, and an augmented-reality app will show you the item superimposed on the camera video.” Read more

 

**A message from Fabe – Made in Italy, hand-crafted pillows prevent and relieve neck and back pain. Fabe’s Ergo Praxis pillow supports and aligns the head and neck to prevent cervical pain. Created in cooperation with Ludes University in Switzerland – it gets the body in the right position for a good night’s sleep. Ergo Praxis Specs | How the pillow is made video | Retailers request samples at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net. 

 

New LinkedIn tool tells businesses about who’s visiting their websites by Anthony Ha at TechCrunch. “The Website Demographics tool allows businesses to break down their website visitors across eight categories including job title, industry, company and location.” Read more

 

Amazon Has More Than 50,000 Jobs Available and Expects to Hire Thousands of Employees at the Nation’s Largest Job Fair Press release

 

BJ’s Wholesale Club Announces New Mobile Site Press release

 

You will soon be able to search eBay using a mobile phone snap or social media web link by Luke Graham at CNBC. “The features use computer vision, image recognition and machine learning to find products based on pictures taken on smartphones or shared from a website.” Read more

 

Walgreens Signs Global Manufacturing Deal With Fareva at Forbes. Read more

 

LIFE OF THE PARTY – Founder of U.K. retailer Sports Direct a ‘Power Drinker’ “The courtroom scenes, which read in parts more like a script to the next “Hangover” movie sequel than a day in the life of the chairman of one of the U.K.’s biggest companies, present an executive who parties hard, likes his drink, and knows where to take a break: under the conference-room table.” Read more

 

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Apple ad exec details transparency, pivot to Search Ads, more in interview

Why is Stitch Fix’s second-most powerful executive leaving right before an IPO?

Priebus recalls beginning of Foxconn-to-Wisconsin process

One sick worker is to blame for Chipotle’s $1B value loss

An IGA in Montreal is growing its own vegetables on the roof

Walmart shopper Facebook Lives confrontation with loss prevention officer

Alice Cooper Discovers Andy Warhol Classic in Storage Locker

Roomba maker wants to sell your home’s floor plan

Driver blocking traffic on I-35W orders Jimmy John’s delivery

Read Tipsheet Extra Stories

 

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