Happy Tuesday. Here is your weekly industry brief – a day late per vacay!  As always, sources are in the hyperlinked text after the headline.

Brands and Retailers

• Why Target’s private label brands are so essential to its comeback. Fortune
• How analytics and digital will drive next-generation retail merchandising.  McKinsey
• How Kendra Scott became a $1B business built on direct retail.  Glossy
• The Row is launching menswear.  Fashionista
• Nature Valley drops ‘100% Natural’ claim.  AdAge
• Gap brand remains a drag on namesake company.  Forbes
• Walmart shoppers won’t have to hang their own TVs anymore.  AdAge
• Walmart takes another jab at Amazon as it begins selling ebooks for the first time.  USA Today
• Videogame developers are making it harder to stop playing.  The Wall Street Journal 
• L.L. Bean donating $3M to National Parks Foundation.  Seattle Times
• Walmart adds Moosejaw to its website.  CNBC
• Nordstrom is using Los Angeles as testing ground for new retail strategies.  Glossy
• Bose takes on HomePod with a $400 Alexa smart speaker.  TechCrunch
• Ipsy’s new subscription delivers full-size beauty products, not samples.  TechCrunch

Marketing and Social Media

• How direct-to-consumer brans are using social to scale.  Marketing Week
• Instagram and Tinder go back to school with features just for college kids.  CNN Money
• People spent 85B hours in WhatsApp in the past three months versus 31B in Facebook.  Forbes
• The NYC Library is now posting books to Instagram.  The Wall Street Journal
• Can P&G literally trademark “LOL”? AdWeek
• Influencer Marketing sector reacts to Instagram’s new ‘about this account’ feature.  AdWeek
• Facebook hires HP’s Antonio Lucio as new CMO.  AdAge
• Amazon on the prowl for movies from Sony, Paramount.  AdAge
• Giphy is launching its own take on stories with curated GIFs throughout the day.  The Verge
• When digital platforms become censors.  The Wall Street Journal
• How Nordstrom tapped into a century’s worth of customer data.  Venture Beat
• Disney’s streaming service doesn’t have a name but it does have a strategy.  The Verge
• Buzzfeed quietly tests a membership program.  Digiday
• YouTube will now tell you how much of your life you spend watching videos.  Mashable

Startup + Emerging Tech + Acquisitions

• AR tops list of future retail shopping experiences. Retail Dive
• Boxed raises $111M to take on Costco in bulk shopping.  TechCrunch
• The most innovative retail concepts are being tested now.  Forbes
• Welcome to checkout-free retail.  Wired
• Fast-fashion brands are launching visual search to gain a competitive edge.  Glossy
• Facebook has committed to using 100% renewable power for global operations by 2020.  TechCrunch
• Toyota invests $500M into Uber.  TechCrunch

International

• Alibaba shows resilience and posts blowout revenue growth of 61% YoY.  Forbes
• Walmart closes 77% stake in India’s Flipkart. Barrons
• The 10 best WeChat marketing campaigns for Chinese Valentine’s Day.  Jing Daily
• Google partners with Indian banks to provide online loans.  Fast Company