I’m back! Took off last week while in San Fran for work.  Enjoy your weekly briefing of industry news. Sources can be found in the hyperlinked text after the headline.

Brand/Retailer:

• Macy’s to close 100 stores. Link
• Check out Apple’s new store a One World Trade Center. Link
• How Walmart is surviving the war against Amazon and beating Target. Link
• Coach’s transformation has taken hold with customers. Link
• How Estee Lauder is getting millennials to buy its skincare. Link
• Gap plans to focus on faster fashion and activewear as sales keep sliding. Link
• Apple’s retail boss wants Apple stores to resemble ‘town squares.’ Link
• Where we spend is upending traditional retail. Link
• Westfield’s new World Trade Center mall puts in-store tech center stage. Link
• How Nike is changing the world. Link
• Gap shoppers don’t want to ‘dress normal.’ Link
• Victoria’s Secret is getting cheaper. Link
• Walmart announces focus on millennials in the apparel category. Link
• Nordstrom expands Space concept to four new locations. Link
• Nieman Marcus cuts 80 home office jobs. Link
• US ecommerce posts its largest gain in nearly two years. Link

Marketing/Social:

• Vfiles launches  crowd-sourced youth magazine. Link
• Rent the Runway using Snapchat for customer service. Link
• Instagram launches business tools to help users buy and sell. Link
• Alibaba’s ecommerce app has a social network Facebook would love. Link
• There’s real money in messaging, Snapchat and WeChat show. Link
• Facebook is building its own Steam-style desktop gaming platform with Unity. Link
• Pinterest jumps into video ads fray. Link
• Turner and Scripps investing $45M in Refinery29. Link
• Amazon reportedly planning a $5 per month music service for Echo owners. Link
• For its first global campaign, Uniqlo ponders why we get dressed every day. Link
• Jack Wills’ strategy to pay you for the catalog-perfect summer. Link

Start Up and Emerging Tech:

• This sneakerhead made a stock exchange for shoes. Link
• Hamlet is a new, free text messaging service allowing users to shop for home décor from the comfort of their phone. Link
• Topshop will soon integrate electronic circuits into garments. Link
• How a Wall Street background can help you create fashion. Link
• The MIT lab that’s quietly pioneering fashion for everyone. Link
• Kate Spade jumps into the connected wearables category. Link
• This 16-year-old is making million selling rare sneakers. Link

International:

• Amazon’s new UK distribution center to create 500 jobs in 2017. Link
• China’s luxury lifestyles fall prey to the far east slowdown. Link
• Alibaba’s getting more revenue outside of ecommerce. Link
• Walmart’s Mexico unit is selling its apparel chain for $853M. Link
• Ikea to launch ecommerce in Shanghai. Link
• Growth in online purchases by rural Chinese outpaces that of urbanites. Link
• China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash. Link
• Alibaba reports growth, even as China’s economy stumbles. Link
• Myntra buys majority stake in fashion brand. Link
• Xiaomi’s once admired strategy for winning China’s smartphone market has backfired. Link
• For Indian ecommerce, the choice is between discount and bleed or profit and die. Link
• Zalando plans foreign hubs to get frocks out faster. Link