Hi there! Below is a recap of news in fashion, retail, and technology over the last week. All sources can be found in the hyper-linked text after each headline:

Holiday:

• Behind the holiday trend of self-gifting. Link
• Best Buy offers free two-day shipping to lure holiday shoppers. Link
• Retailers grapple with shifting holiday patterns. Link
• Meet the secret army of meteorologists who keep your holiday deliveries on time. Link
• Amazon drives more holiday web retail traffic than biggest TV ad spender. Link

Retailer + Brand News:

• Amazon introduces “Make an Offer” option. Link
• Gucci, Coach tie for top spot in L2 digital study. Link
• Amazon launches Surprise!, a Facebook-powered app for sending personalized e-cards. Link
• The buzziest beauty brands of 2014. Link
• ASOS sales soar in the UK, not so much everywhere else. Link
• In the next few weeks, U.S. retailers can add the Shop Now button to their pages. Link
• Online retailer Frank & Oak opens Canadian flagship. Link
• Digital kiosks fuse in-store and online shopping. Link
• Gucci CEO and Creative Director step down. Link
• H&M taps Olivia Wilde as conscious ambassador. Link
• Nordstrom partnering with eBay for smart fitting rooms. Link
• Marriott debuts hotel brand for millennials in New Orleans. Link
• How Tommy Hilfiger had its biggest year ever. Link
• Bloomingdale’s social shopping experiment, Zoomingdales. Link

Social Media + Marketing:

• Instagram hits 300 Million users. Link
• JC Penny has store shoppers surprise complete strangers with gifts. Link
• The new co-op isn’t retail ad budgets, it’s audience data. Link
• LinkedIn rolls out a simplified homepage with analytics and news feed front and center. Link
• Polyvore reveals the most searched fashion brands. Link
• The worst corporate tweets of 2014. Link
• Lowe’s explores native tools on Vine and Instagram. Link
• YouTube’s most popular ads of 2014. Link
• The most discussed topics on Facebook in 2014. Link
• Snapchat poaches start tech banker from Credit Suisse. Link
• Facebook search can now find specific posts. Link
• The most viral tweets of 2014. Link
• Brands can now turn positive reviews into native ads and only pay when people share them. Link
• How Hendrick’s gin has found creative ways to fluently speak to hard-to-reach hipsters. Link
• Facebook dumps Bing, will introduce its own search tool. Link
• Apple store online now accepts PayPal in US and UK. Link
• Google Plus lets you define your own gender. Link
• Under Armour is Ad Age’s marketer of the year. Link

Start-ups:

• Tinder competitor Hinge raises $12M to bring its friends-of-friends dating app abroad. Link
• Chef’d uses crowdfunding to roll out recipe-and-ingredient delivery service for gourmet meals. Link
• Facebook’s Oculus buys two startups for virtual reality gestures, 3D. Link
• Change.org raises $25 M from big names to go global and mobile. Link
• Guy-oriented web content startup Woven Digital raises $18M in funding. Link

International:

[APAC]

• India’s SnapDeal acquires Wishpicker to deliver better product recommendations. Link
• Southeast Asia gets own online shopping festival. Link
• Apple to open research site in Japan. Link
• China’s Baidu set to partner with Uber and reportedly invest up to $600M. Link
• Is Asia setting the trend on selfies? Link

[EU]

• Google News shut down in Spain. Link
• Amazon UK glitch sells thousands of products for a penny. Link

Mobile, Tablet, + Wearables:

• Android Wear adds customizable faces to its smartwatches. Link
• eBay draws inspiration from Pinterest for iPad commerce app. Link
• Iowa is building the nation’s first smartphone driver’s license. Link
• Shazam launches new version of mobile app. Link
• Chicago and New York officials look to build Uber-like apps for taxis. Link
• Invasion of wearable in the workforce. Link
• Snap Fashion extends its visual search engine app into men’s clothing. Link
• App detects when your friends are nearby and immediately silences your phone. Link
• Hulu offers free streaming on Android over the holidays. Link
• Whatsapp may be working on a web version of its popular messaging app. Link
• Venmo lets users sign in using bank account log in. Link

Other:

• 2015 technology trends to watch. Link
• McDonald’s seeks help wooing millennials. Link
• TV disruption on display as Netflix and Amazon go head-to-head at Golden Globes. Link
• Analysts claim teens still prefer print books. Link