Happy December! Hope your holiday season is off to a great start.  Here is a recap of news from the last week.  Headlines can be found in the hyperlinked text after the headline.

My favorite, worth a watch: Blast from the past: Watch Jeff Bezos describe Amazon’s business in 1999. Geek Wire

[Special Section!] Holiday Shopping

• Shoppers hit the mall but more often tapped their phones. The New York Times
• Cyber Monday becomes largest online shopping day in US history. CNBC
• Shoppers say they hate Christmas in October but stats show they don’t. The Wall Street Journal
• Amazon devoured 55% of Black Friday online orders. RetailDive
• Echo Dot and Amazon Fire TV Stick outsold everything else on Amazon over Thanksgiving Weekend. Fortune
• Black Friday weekend highlights from brick-and-mortar and online stores. Forbes

Brands and Retailers

• Amazon may have patented the next big thing in online shopping. Quartz
• Everlane’s first-ever brick-and-mortar store takes radical transparency literally. Fast Company
• Home Depot shares hit all-time high as housing momentum swells, company advances mobile initiatives. CNBC
• Ikea goes to down with new focus on city stores. Reuters
• Nike will close its flagship NYC store in Spring, new one coming in 2019. Fortune
• Alphabet will fold Nest back into Google to take on Amazon. Seeking Alpha
• There’s a good chance your favorite clothes are made by a company you’ve never heard of. Bloomberg
• How the mall business can reinvent itself for the digital age. McKinsey
• Fruit of the Loom tries on subscription underwear. Bloomberg
• Are Calvin Klein’s Amazon pop-ups dissing department stores? RetailDive
• Established beauty companies are now turning to Kim Kardashian for business advice. Fashionista
• StitchFix defies odds, soars over 50% since lackluster debut. TechCrunch
• CVS to buy Aetna for $69B in a deal that may reshape the health industry. The New York Times

Marketing and Social Media

• YouTube’s new Stories-like feature could make it a more social environment. Business Insider
• These are the most-searched handbags, shoes and sneakers of 2017. Fashionista
• Facebook built a version of Messenger specifically for children. Recode
• Anastasia makes Stories shoppable. L2 Inc
• How millennial and generation Z women shop when they want to splurge. AdWeek
• Facebook expands feature letting businesses build Messenger into their websites. The Verge
• How email fell behind in the race to personalize digital shopping. The Wall Street Journal
• Spotify wraps up 2017 by making humorous goals for 2018 using its data and artists. The Drum
• How Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google manipulate our emotions. TED
• Why retailers are rethinking their holiday ad strategies and moving away from storytelling. AdWeek

Startup and Emerging Tech

• Inside Adidas’ robot-powered, on-demand sneaker factory. Wired
• WeWork buys MeetUp, the service for bringing hobbyists together. The New York Times
• eBay now lets you start shopping with a Google Assistant smart speaker and finish on your phone. Venture Beat
• Predicting success in startup consumer brands. TechCrunch

International

• Amazon reportedly mulls retail sales in Israel. Times of Israel
• Wal-Mart already has a thriving online grocery business – in China. Bloomberg
• Why Amazon orders in Mexico need cash and the corner store. Bloomberg