Best of Pax Westona: October 2020

• Are you ready for the new era of customer data (Bain)
• Why Americans have turned to DIY nesting (The Atlantic)
• The U.S. Army rolls out a new weapon: strategic napping (NYT)
• The path forward for U.S. retail (McKinsey)
• Behind China's 'pork miracle': How technology is transforming rural hog farming (The Guardian)
• The surprising upside of expensive products that don't sell (HBR)
• Roger Martin: How to think about market share (Medium)
• Influencers next frontier: Their own shopping channels (The Verge)
• Can The Gap become cool again (WSJ)
• Aritzia's Jennifer Wong built a fashion empire by leading with style - and plenty of substance (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Sunrise Records owner scoops up former DavidsTea leases, plans to launch competing tea stores (Globe and Mail)
• The three building blocks of successful customer experience transformations (McKinsey)
• Aritzia's Jennifer Wong built a fashion empire by leading with style - and plenty of substance (Globe and Mail)
• J.C. Penney enters asset purchase agreement with Brookfield, Simon (Reuters)
• From the archives (2006): Starbucks economics: The mystery of the 'short' cappuccino (Slate)

 Stephan's Thursday Picks

• Canadian company Spin Master buys Rubik's brand for $50 million (Globe and Mail)
• Modern CPG product development calls for a new kind of product manager (McKinsey)
• How does one of the world's biggest pork firms go bust in a boom (The Guardian)
• Amazon launches shopping website in Sweden (Reuters)
• Michael Medline open to regulation of grocery industry (Globe and Mail)

 Stephan's Wednesday Picks

• Expect more marketing texts and emails in 2021 than ever before (CNBC)
• Dunkin Donuts is in talks to sell itself and go private (NYT)
• Can The Gap become cool again (WSJ)
• The second food stockpiling wave is here (Bloomberg)
• How the Coronavirus changed consumer behaviours and company valuations (Morningstar)

 Stephan's Tuesday Picks

• Sustainability in packaging: Inside the mind of the US consumer (McKinsey)
• Online associate is the job of the future (Bloomberg)
• How to trace a path to resilient, sustainable supply chains (Bain)
• Commodities king ADM pivots to pet food, veggie burgers, and probiotics (Bloomberg)
• Strategy is what you do, not what you say (Medium)

 Stephan's Monday Picks

• Influencers next frontier: Their own shopping channels (The Verge)
• America doesn't need so many Gap stores. Gap agrees (Bloomberg)
• Le Chateau files for creditor protection (Globe and Mail)
• Loblaw follows Walmart in imposing new fees on suppliers (Financial Post)
• How paid loyalty programs can help bring customers back to your brand (McKinsey)

 Stephan's Friday Picks

• Covid puts a spotlight on the food industry's role in obesity (Bloomberg)
• To survive, customers are taking takeout to the next level (WSJ)
• The story of America's first culinary celebrity (American Scholar)
• What's ahead for US restaurants (McKinsey)
• From the archives (2015): The war on Big Food (Fortune)