Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Is anything really on sale when everything is on sale (Slate)
• How retailers are coping with retaliatory tariffs on imports (Globe and Mail)
• Unilever to speed up sale of food brands, CEO says (WSJ)
• Kennedy rattles food brands with vow to rid food of artificial dyes (NYT)
• The gift card industry is booming - and so is organized crime and related fraud (CBC)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The breaking point for eggs (The Atlantic)
• How to combat surveillance pricing (The Cut)
• When is a deal really a deal? We tracked prices at Old Navy and Canadian Tire to find out (CBC)
• Surge in cocoa prices show why Hershey bets on derivatives (WSJ)
• Orange juice makers are desperate for a comeback (Bloomberg)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Strategy & branding (Medium)
• The most hated way of firing someone is more popular than ever (WSJ)
• With discounts on offer, shoppers begin to bite (NYT)
• Buy now before tariffs hit, retailers are telling shoppers (WSJ)
• As cash fades, small retailers embrace efforts to rein in swipe fees (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Amazon introduces Q, an AI chatbot for companies (NYT)
• Shares of retailers surge despite mixed holiday results (WSJ)
• The great American eye-exam scam (The Atlantic)
• How fungi became an It food (The Guardian)
• Red Lobster's popular endless shrimp deal ate into its profits (NYT)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The battle over rewards points (NYT)
• Business competition has declined over the last 20 years, watchdog report finds (Globe and Mail)
• 'Zero consumers': What they want and why it matters (McKinsey)
• Food is on sale again. You might still have sticker shock (WSJ)
• How consumer companies outcompete (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• California's ban on red food dye puts FDA on the spot (NYT)
• Amazon's Prime Day flashes warning sign for retailers (Bloomberg)
• Metro claiming against George Weston for false price-fixing disclosures (Metro)
• Goodwill tries to figure out online commerce (NYT)
• Warehouses are calling in the gig workers (WSJ)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Smarter retail promotions for a saturated market (BCG)
• Will I just keep spending more and more money forever (Vox)
• Tim Hortons drops new retro-inspired merch collection (Globe and Mail)
• Canada's energy drink crackdown needs more than recalls to dissuade kids, say parents and teachers (CBC)
• The incredible American consumer (FT)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: Confident companies do less (Medium)
• The tiny, squishy toys driving parents to the brink (WSJ)
• Colombia's mustard lovers grow desperate amid saucy shortage of Dijon (NYT)
• What the price of Nescafe at Woolworths tells us about supermarket promotion tactics (The Guardian) 
• Why billionaires are circling debt-laden French grocer Casino (Bloomberg)

Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Amazon's October attempt at Prime Day falls flat, analysts say (WSJ)
• An activist investor has a garbage plan for Coca-Cola (Semafor)
• Instacart cuts its valuation for a third time to $13 billion (Bloomberg)
• A salt-loving nation tries to shake the habit (WSJ)
• Retailers, brands, and tech platforms bet big on live-streamed shopping in the U.S. (WSJ)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Retailers pull back on clogged supply chains (Globe and Mail)
• Swedish supermarket ICA to go private at $12.5 billion valuation (Bloomberg)
• Panera Bread set to return to public market (WSJ)
• How Big Data turned graph theory into new dimensions (Wired)
• DoorDash to acquire food delivery company Wolt for $8 billion (Tech Crunch)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Great Jones cookware and the illusion of the millennial aesthetic (The New Yorker)
• H&M pays price of upsetting Beijing as China sales drop (WSJ)
• Pricing and promotions: The analytics opportunity (McKinsey)
• Apollo considers counterbid for Morrisons (WSJ)
• Hundreds of businesses, including Sweden's largest grocer, hit by cyberattack (NYT)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• The pied piper of SPACs (The New Yorker)
• Booze-to-go is here to stay (WSJ)
• How precision revenue growth management transforms CPG promotions (McKinsey)
• Etsy is buying the fashion resale retailer Depop for $1.6 billion (NYT)
• From the archives (2021): Connected health: What's getting us excited at Wittington Ventures (Medium) 

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Roger Martin: What is digital strategy, anyway (Medium)
• Why DoorDash and Uber Eats delivery is costing you more (WSJ)
• Pharmacies are entering the mental health market (NYT)
• Empire completes purchase of Longo's and Grocery Gateway (Empire)
• Amazon Prime Day postponed in Canada amid warehouse outbreaks (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• An oral history of the world's biggest coupon (NYT)
• How a real-life monopoly made Monopoly the world's biggest board game (The Hustle)
• How Pez evolved from an anti-smoking to a beloved collector's item (Smithsonian Mag)
• Demystifying consumer choice (BCG)
• The year of the dog: In 2020 furry friends were just what we needed to make it through the pandemic (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Strategy as a practice (Medium)
• Amazon primes for another happy holiday and prosperous New Year (Bain)
• Your next favourite restaurant might not be a restaurant (Bloomberg)
• Coupon-clipping fades into history as Covid-19 accelerates digital shift (WSJ)
• Loblaw tests driverless technology in delivery network (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• The future of McDonald's in in the drive-thru lane (Wired)
• On Alibaba's Singles' Day in China, couriers clamor for more (NYT)
• Walmart adding 'pop-up' centers for online holiday sales (WSJ)
• Grocery shoppers trade up as Covid cases rise (CNBC)
• The big lessons from history (Collaborative Fund)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• How Allbirds became Silicon Valley's favourite sneaker (WSJ)
• Adidas bet on the rebirth of Reebok. Has it paid off? (Bloomberg)
• UK sales of scented candles soar as Covid restrictions tighten (The Guardian)
• Chipotle to open its first digital-only restaurant as online orders soar (CNBC)
• Alibaba sees $56-billion of sales as Singles Day shopping event gets into full swing (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Monday Picks

• The inside story of the fall of Overstock's mad king (Forbes)
• Amazon has ceded control of its site (WSJ)
• The collective memory of American shoppers (NYT)
• Why everyday is 'National Something Day' (The Atlantic)
• Eataly's Andrea Guerra on the company's Canadian expansion, it's split from Batali and what you should call it (Financial Post)

Stephan's Friday Picks

• LaCroix won the bubble battle, but it's losing the sparkling water war (Bloomberg)
• The Cheesecake Factory is the restaurant America wants, deserves (LA Times)
• Retail divide widens as shoppers seek value and convenience (WSJ)
• Welcome to the promoconomy (NYT)
• From the archives (2014): Our Canadian CEO of the year you've probably never heard of (Globe and Mail)

Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• The business of the body (The Economist)
• Amazon Prime Day brings sales, and risks for retailers (NYT)
• IKEA to close its only US factory (WSJ)
• AI drug hunters could give Big Pharma a run for its money (Bloomberg)
• Why companies like Ocado produce gobbledegook (FT)