Stephan's Friday Picks

• Delivering the strategy: The COO agenda (McKinsey)
• Target's slide from cheap chic to dull chore (WSJ)
• Licking this 'lollipop' will allow you to taste virtual flavours (Ars Technica)
• Kohl's CEO gives a mea culpa (WSJ)
• From the archives (2016): How a hedge fund saved Olive Garden by fixing its breadsticks (Vanity Fair)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Taylor Swift's new Era's tour book might be Target's Black Friday megahit (WSJ)
• Beef prices hit record high at the grocery store - and on the ranch too (CBC)
• Amazon's moonshot plan to rival Nvidia in AI chips (Bloomberg)
• Businesses face stiff competition for price-sensitive holidays hoppers (Globe and Mail)
• Walmart, once eager to promote diversity, pulls back amid conservative pressure (NYT)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Amazon invests $4 billion in Anthropic, deepening its A.I. ties (NYT)
• Are value meals worth it for restaurants (WSJ)
• Why luxury cheese is being targeted by black market criminals (BBC)
• These bricks-and-mortar stores are thriving in an online world (WSJ)
• Inside your body, aging unfolds at remarkably different rates (Washington Post)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Generating strategy possibilities (Medium)
• Macy's discovers employee hid millions in delivery expenses (NYT)
• A nostalgic tour of the New York department store (The Strategist)
• The shopping method that isn't going anywhere (The Atlantic)
• The hidden truth linking the broken border to your online shopping cart (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Maple Leaf Foods suing Canada  Bread, parent company, for defamation related to alleged price-fixing scheme (Globe and Mail)
• Instacart CEO says Wall Street undervalues grocery tech bet (Bloomberg)
• McCain's Max Koeune is building the farm of the future (Globe and Mail)
• Asda appoints former boss Leighton to help turn struggling retailer around (Bloomberg)
• Annual beauty advent calendar craze is changing how cosmetics brands court new shoppers (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Trudeau announces two-month partial GST holiday, $250 cheques for many Canadians (Globe and Mail)
• How Froot Loops landed at the centre of U.S. food politics (WSJ)
• Don't get out of the points game, says the Points Guy (Bloomberg)
• Walmart and Target: A tale of two retailers (WSJ)
• From the archives (2010): Tesco's triumphs under Sir Terry (BBC)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Metro plans to open more discount stores next as inflation-hit shoppers hunt for value (Globe and Mail)
• Target's stock plunges 21% on weak sales ahead of holiday season (NYT)
• Alleged potato cartel accused of conspiring to raise prices of frozen fries, tater tots across U.S. (CBC)
• Ozempic could crush the junk food industry. But it is fighting back (NYT)
• Canada's largest bottled water producer to pull out of Ontario (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Robots struggle to match workers on 'really hard' jobs (NYT)
• Walmart raises outlook on strong spending from value-seekers (Bloomberg)
• Blackstone strikes deal for Jersey Mike's subs (WSJ)
• CVS strikes deal with activist Glenview Capital for four board seats (CNBC)
• The case against deli meat (Grub Street)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Racing to the bottom (Medium)
• Delivery Hero aims to raise around $1.5 billion in Talabat IPO (WSJ)
• Jose Andres aims to transform dining. This time, at the airport (NYT)
• What we can learn from chicken economics (Bloomberg)
• For decades, installing E.V. chargers didn't pay off for retailers. Now it does (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• 7-Eleven owner considers going private in Japan's biggest $58 billion buyout (Bloomberg)
• The 25 most influential cookbooks over the last 100 years (NYT)
• Amazon Haul is an omen (The Atlantic)
• Returns are a headache. More retailers are saying 'just keep it' (NYT)
• FedEx's new CEO is charting his own path - in the Smith family's shadow (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Generative AI: The packaging and paper industry's next frontier (McKinsey)
• General Mills to acquire cat food, pet treating business for $1.45 billion (WSJ)
• Ben & Jerry's says parent Unilever silenced it over Gaza stance (Reuters)
• Marc Lore's startup Wonder to buy Grubhub (WSJ)
• From the archives (2018): Chinese grocery's age of empires (Oliver Wyman)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Loblaw to cut prices at Shoppers Drug Mart as customers pull back (Globe and Mail)
• 7-Eleven owner receives buyout offer from founder's son (WSJ)
• Amazon launches online digital storefront to better compete with Shein and Temu (Globe and Mail)
• The case for wine with less alcohol - and fewer calories (WSJ)
• Canada's government intervenes to end port shutdowns (WSJ)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The secret world of Aldi Australia (The Guardian)
• The state of fashion 2025 (McKinsey)
• Alcohol brands tap the art world to woo younger drinkers (NYT)
• Amazon targets delivery operations in bid for bigger grocery business (WSJ)
• Many retailers offer 'returnless refunds'. Just don't ask them to say for which products (AP)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy on rugged landscapes (Medium)
• Galen Weston on facing his critics and changing Canada's economic narrative (The Logic)
• Voice of the global farmer 2024 (McKinsey)
• A food allergy fix hiding in plain sight (The Atlantic)
• Asda has 'slightly lost the plot', says supermarket's chair Stuart Rose (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Walmart's antidote to locked-up products: A key on your phone (Bloomberg)
• Spending rebound may be on the way, but consumer sentiment remains low, Canadian Tire CEO says (Globe and Mail)
• Sainsbury's backs guidance on hopes of Argos sales rebound (WSJ)
• A turning point for private brands: How retailers can seize the opportunity (McKinsey)
• Blackstone to take Retail Opportunity Investments private in $4 billion deal (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The next big arenas of competition (McKinsey)
• In praise of ghee (Globe and Mail)
• NielsenIQ considers an IPO at a valuation close to $10 billion (Bloomberg)
• America has an onion problem (The Atlantic)
• From the archives (1995): The political economy of food: A global crisis (Harriet Friedmann)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• In changing climate, retailers turning to weather strategies (Reuters)
• Power and influencers: CEOs on social media (FT)
• Is your 'conglomerate discount' a performance discount or a communication problem (McKinsey)
• Why you can probably ditch fabric softener (Washington Post)
• Amazon CEO denies full in-office mandate is 'backdoor layoff' (Reuters)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Tim Hortons parent misses analysts' estimates as demand slows (Globe and Mail)
• Dollar Tree, squeezed by weak spending, appoints interim CEO (Bloomberg)
• Kroger finalizes $1.37 billion opioid settlement (WSJ)
• Primark owner AB Foods profit rises ahead of expectations (WSJ)
• Bernard Marcus, a billionaire founder of Home Depot, dies at 95 (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: The origins of business strategy & Playing to win (Medium)
• Couche-Tard targets more fresh food in 7-Eleven pursuit (WSJ)
• Competition Bureau says preferred pharmacy networks may reduce patient choice (Globe and Mail)
• TGI Fridays files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (NYT)
• Whether 7-Eleven is bought or not, convenience store consolidation looms (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Sainsbury's to rival Aldi prices in smallest stores (BBC)
• It took 3 years to convince Costco to buy her snacks - that was the easy part (WSJ)
• Starbucks CEO promises 4-minute coffee in sales turnaround (Bloomberg)
• Toronto luxury retailers are reviving in-store shopping (Globe and Mail)
• The mysterious fees inflating your grocery bill (WSJ)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Loblaw, Empire call for end to real estate exclusivity clauses amid Competition Bureau probe (Globe and Mail)
• Per Bank: To improve grocery competition, end all commercial property controls (Globe and Mail)
• Reckitt shares surge after baby formula lawsuit win (WSJ)
• Amazon keeps profit margins in orbit (WSJ)
• From the archives (2022): The baby formula crisis (NYT)