Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Kraft Heinz made its factories really efficient. Now it has to sell bologna (WSJ)
• Amazon becomes PR genius, for good or ill (Bloomberg)
• Sam's Club makes e-commerce push with Amazon Prime competitor (NYT)
• Danone to sell stake in Japan's Yakult for $1.8 billion (Bloomberg)
• Nestle CEO Schneider seeks deals as sales growth sputters (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• The Wired guide to artificial intelligence (Wired)
• Why less selection, not more, will be the defining retail trend of 2018 (Hubba)
• Soylent looks to shed techie image with 7-Eleven store expansion (Bloomberg)
• 'Lady Doritos'? Pepsi wants a do-over (NYT)
• Tesco faces record $5.6B equal pay claim (BBC)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Alibaba's online growth surges, even as it looks offline (NYT)
• Alibaba leads $300 million funding for India's top online grocer (Bloomberg)
• Big brands lose pricing power in battle for customers (FT)
• IKEA's success can't be attributed to one charismatic leader (HBR)
• Formula scandal sends shudders through France (NYT)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• The competitive effect of Lidl's entry in the US grocery market (Katrijn Gielens)
• The genius of Loblaw's $25 gift card campaign (CBC)
• Can traditional retailers counter the online threat (BCG)
• Grocery giant's boss hands Christmas present to his enemies (Gadfly)
• From the archives (2009): Joe Mimran: Fresh idea helps turn fortunes (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Walmart is accused of punishing workers for sick days (NYT)
• There's no such thing as big data in HR (HBR)
• Walmart's big new problem isn't Amazon (Gadfly)
• Don't give up on corporate culture (MIT SMR)
• Conagra shouldn't reach for Pinnacle (Gadfly)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon wants Cheerios, Oreos, and other brands to bypass Walmart (Bloomberg)
• Amazon and Walmart are in an all-out price war that are terrifying America's biggest brands (Recode)
• Is it too late for Sears to save itself (HBR)
• The death of the daily deal (K@W)
• Johnson and Johnson have a baby powder problem (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Inside Amazon's battle to break into the $800 billion grocery market (Bloomberg)
• In praise of quinoa (The Economist)
• The most reputable companies in the world in 2017 (Reputation Institute)
• Albertson's said to weigh merger with organic grocer Sprouts (Bloomberg)
• Here's what Target could look like pretty soon (Fortune)

Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Marketers to spend on analytics, use remains elusive (CMO Survey)
• A bank called Costco (Canadian Grocer)
• Q&A: Instacart's "grocery nerd" talks about how to make e-commerce work (Food Dive)
• Call to boycott Tesco over 'endangered' white men claim (The Guardian)
• Toronto's Hard Rock is closing and becoming a Shoppers Drug Mart (BlogTO)