Brand/Retailer:

• Google unveils “buy” button and host of new shopping features. Link
• Amazon Prime Day promotion boosts sales as consumers squawk. Link
• eBay sells enterprise unit for $925M ahead of PayPal split. Link
• At Zappos, pushing shoes and a vision. Link
• Apple is working on a new ecommerce system based on your credit card balance. Link
• Hulu considers offering a priceier, ad-free tier. Link
• Kate Spade adds slew of new lines for fitness, home and kids. Link
• C.Wonder’s brand assets get acquired by Isaac Mizrahi’s parent company. Link
• Amazon had mixed success with Prime Day – strong sales, but consumer backlash could linger. Link
• Americans are spending less on clothing. Link
• Retail sales in US unexpectedly fall on broad-based drop. Link
• What will cheaper J.Crew line mean for the brand’s image? Link
• Expedia’s Playlister will help you discover new music at the festival you’re headed to. Link

Marketing/Social:

• Eva Chen now Instagram’s Head of Fashion Partnerships. Link
• Facebook takes big step forward on commerce, building shops into pages. Link
• Three things marketers should note from Google’s second quarter earnings call. Link
• Snapchat redesign puts spotlight on ‘Discover’ news portal. Link
• Williams-Sonoma experiments with shoppable YouTube videos. Link
• YouTube is now bigger than individual cable networks. Link
• American Eagle launches BTS try-on sweeps with a $10K cash grand prize. Link
• Tom’s of Maine turns to ‘micro-influencers’ to tackle Instagram. Link

Startups:

• Beme is a social app that aims to replace illusions with reality. Link
• Music video app Flipagram secures $70M. Link
• Made.com raises $60M to accelerate European expansion. Link

International:

• Uniqlo shutters JD.com flagship. Link
• Alibaba strikes partnership with consumer goods giant Unilever. Link
• Mexico, where shoppers still flock to Blockbuster and Woolworth. Link
• Burberry’s plan to turn it around in Hong Kong: go local. Link
• Mobile dominates future of China’s beauty ecommerce market. Link
• Walmart Canada launches online grocery pickup service. Link

Mobile/Emerging Tech:

• Birchbox’s monthly deliveries will give virtual reality a fascinating test run. Link
• UK startups embrace Apple Pay as mobile payments grow. Link
• Facebook’s Oculus to pay about $60M for gesture-control firm Pebbles. Link
• Google’s ‘Mobilegeddon’ was a big deal after all. Link
• Yahoo quietly launches a new “video texting” mobile messaging app on iTunes. Link
• Nordstrom makes it easy to shop via text. Link
• App engagement surpasses desktop in US. Link
• LVMH to introduce Apple Watch rival. Link