Best of Pax Westona: April 2018

• One in three families can't afford diapers. Why are they so expensive (Tampa Bay Times)
• Why aren't mothers worth anything to venture capitalists (The New Yorker)
• In fresh food retailing, quality matters more than price (McKinsey)
• Who's afraid of Amazon? Not this Canadian food retailer (CBC)
• Jeff Bezos's 2018 Letter to Shareholders (Amazon)
• Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear (McKinsey)
• Amazon's other Jeff steps into the spotlight (Bloomberg)
• Inside Jeff Bezos' DC life (Washingtonian)
• The Ocado way: The British future of grocery e-commerce is coming to Canada (Globe and Mail)
• Over 400 startups are trying to become the next Warby Parker. Inside the wild race to overthrow every consumer category (Inc)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sainsbury's and Asda in merger talks (BBC)
• Person 'X' named in bread price-fixing affidavit seeks to keep identity secret (Financial Post)
• Inside Jeff Bezos' DC life (Washingtonian)
• The Ocado way: The British future of grocery e-commerce is coming to Canada (Globe and Mail)
• Over 400 startups are trying to become the next Warby Parker. Inside the wild race to overthrow every consumer category (Inc)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Are G.M.O. foods safe (NYT)
• Loblaw squares off with CRA in $400M tax fight (CBC)
• Welcome to the new convenience store (WSJ)
• Inflation is no match for Amazon, Walmart in the grocery aisle (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (2001): An American misadventure (The Guardian)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Jeff Bezos v the world: Why all companies fear 'death by Amazon' (The Guardian)
• Silicon Valley wants to cash in on fasting (Bloomberg)
• Grocery stores cashing in on digital trends to attract customers (CBC)
• Popeyes discovers everyone wants late-night fried chicken (Bloomberg)
• Restaurant Brands vows to win back customers with $700 million Tim Hortons makeover (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Amazon's typical worker is in a warehouse making $28.446 a year (WSJ)
• Metro says strong economy, employment offsetting promo pressure (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon to start offering in-car deliveries (WSJ)
• What does the Amazon Echo look mean for personal style (Racked)
• Instagram famous: Why grocers should make their food photo-worthy (Food Dive)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Kraft Heinz is partnering with Momofoku to stay relevant (Bloomberg)
• 3G Capital's rigorous diet of cost cutting is weighing down RBI, Kraft Heinz (Globe and Mail)
• Amazon has a top-secret plan to build home robots (Bloomberg)
• Sears CEO offers to buy Kenmore, other units (WSJ)
• Walmart sees Flipkart as key to atone for missteps in China (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Dr Ashante Reese on the loss of grocery stores and the power of choice (Epicurious)
• Is Primark's owner too big - and diverse, to fail (The Guardian)
• Walmart commits to 'zero food waste' in Canadian stores by 2025 (Globe and Mail)
• Warren Buffet heads for board exit at pivotal moment for Kraft Heinz (FT)
• Amazon's other Jeff steps into the spotlight (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Eight shifts that will take your strategy into high gear (McKinsey)
• P&G to buy German Merck's consumer health unit for $4.2 billion (Reuters)
• Can this robot build an IKEA chair faster than you (Science)
• How an asparagus farmer's death spurred robotic innovation (BBC)
• From the archives (2009): The cost conundrum (The New Yorker)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Jeff Bezos's 2018 Letter to Shareholders (Amazon)
• What Walmart gets right about online grocery (Bloomberg)
• Why millennials are leading the way on prepared foods (Food Dive)
• Carrefour and E. Leclerc start arms race for urban pickup locations (Retail Detail)
• Everything you never wanted to know about artificial sweeteners (Popular Science)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Sorry, but Amazon isn't actually annihilating retail jobs (Wired)
• Big Food turns to popular mainstays in search for growth (Food Dive)
• Coffee shops are already running out of America's newest milk craze (Bloomberg)
• Walmart is making its website look a little less like Walmart (WSJ)
• How the kiwi changed New York's food scene (NYT Style Magazine)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• The reason why food tastes better in a bowl than on a plate (Quartz)
• Plant-based 'meat' and 'fish' might be the future. But how do they taste (WSJ)
• How a room's lighting shapes our decisions (Kellogg Insights)
• Buy from Walmart, Ontario Tim Hortons franchisees told, as a shortage hits Guelph warehouse (Financial Post)
• How an asset manager pressured a grocery chain on gun sales - and won (Institutional Investor)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Who's afraid of Amazon? Not this Canadian food retailer (CBC)
• Is this tomato engineered? Inside the battle over gene-edited food (WSJ)
• What beauty players can teach the consumer sector about digital disruption (McKinsey)
• How Instacart is ramping up its grocery strategy to fend off Amazon (Fast Company)
• Kraft Heinz turns to Twitter to stir MayoChup buzz in the U.S. (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Linking talent to value (McKinsey)
• Starboard slams Icahn's Newell nominees, pitches own slate (Bloomberg)
• In fresh food retailing, quality matters more than price (McKinsey)
• Truckers seek new routes into 'last mile' (WSJ)
• From the archives (1996): What is strategy (HBR)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Walmart expands online grocery delivery in deal with Postmates (Bloomberg)
• Why you aren't paying more for bananas, but customers are (WSJ)
• How Australia's restrictive alcohol laws fostered a culture of alcoholism (Gastro Obscura)
• The Hoosier state's most beloved dish, explained (Eater)
• Farmers hit the road to reach shoppers before Amazon does (NYT)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Yes, these chickens are on the blockchain (Bloomberg)
• A definitive ranking of grocery store cucumbers (Bon Appetit)
• Silicon Valley's most and least diverse investors (The Information)
• Jack Ma's Ant Financial to raise $9 billion, become world's largest unicorn (WSJ)
• 2018 consumer and retail M&A report (AT Kearney)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Struggling movie theaters go upscale to survive (WSJ)
• China's SenseTime valued at $4.5 billion after Alibaba-led funding (Reuters)
• Fashion forward: Asos has ambitions for big expansion (The Guardian)
• Canadian Tire expands loyalty program to cover more retail brands (Financial Post)
• Kroger officially has a chain of restaurants (Food & Wine)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Walmart's future workforce: Robots and freelancers (The Atlantic)
• Why aren't mothers worth anything to venture capitalists (The New Yorker)
• Sporting Life is on a growth tear in a crowded retail space (Globe and Mail)
• Is your CEO irreplaceable (Stanford GSB)
• For candy fans, the only thing worse than Necco wafers is no Necco wafers (WSJ)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• Walmart opens first small high-tech supermarket in China (Reuters)
• Smucker to buy Rachael Ray dog food brand in $1.9 billion deal (Bloomberg)
• Tim Hortons slides from 4th to 50th in brand reputation survey (Globe and Mail)
• U.K. retailers post worst sales slump since financial crisis (Bloomberg)
• From the archives (1970): The social responsibility of business is to increase profits (New York Times Magazine)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How organic wine finally caught on (HBR)
• The organizational agenda in consumer packaged goods (McKinsey)
• Sweetgreen's tech-driven menu shakes up the fast casual food war (Bloomberg)
• Rules of engagement: How cities are courting Amazon's new headquarters (WSJ)
• La Colombe hires Moelis in bid for $1 billion valuation (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Noodle on this: Machine learning that can identify ramen by shop (Google)
• WD-40 does $380 million in sales a year. It's secret sauce is surprisingly simple (Inc)
• Retailers race against Amazon to automate stores (NYT)
• Walmart is in takeover talks with pharmacy startup (Bloomberg)
• 'Craft' beer turns out to be a big business (WSJ)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• One in three families can't afford diapers. Why are they so expensive (Tampa Bay Times)
• Crispr'd food, coming a supermarket near you (Wired)
• When retail workers have stable schedules, sales and productivity go up (HBR)
• Saks, Lord &Taylor hit with data breach (WSJ)
• Alibaba takes control of Ele.me, at $9.5 billion value (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Walmart in talks to strengthen ties with health insurer Humana (NYT)
• Dollarama plans Montreal expansion, stock split as profit climbs (Globe and Mail)
• Five years after tragedy, big retailers say Bangladesh factories aren't safe enough (WSJ)
• One of the world's biggest companies found the secret to better meetings: A wooden box (Quartz)
• Tim Hortons wants to give its restaurants a $700M makeover. But franchisees say it's 'ill conceived' (Financial Post)