Consumer Retail & Tech Exec Shaping the Future of CX | Amazon - AWS | Commercial Leadership, Strategy & BD, and GM | Business Builder | Advisor | Speaker
It’s a battle to give the consumer value. This week we saw Amazon announce Amazon Prime day (July 16-17) via Megan the Stallion, Walmart announce its largest deals day (July 8-11), and news of Target’s Circle Week (July 7-13). 💲This am’s news is speculation on policy & implications per last night’s debate and inflation (0.1% to last month & 2.6% from LY - for context, the Fed mandate is 2%). 📱On the tech side, Amazon hit $2T market cap and I’ve been experimenting with Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Amazon is a key investor in Anthropic). ChatGPT signed a deal w/TIME. AI as it relates to retail is ripe for adoption. Salesforce & Retail AI Counsel’s survey of retailers found 20% have rolled out GenAI, with most exploring. Over 80% have budget - initial areas of focus are customer service, marketing, and store ops. 👟👖🧴Retail had a rough week: Nike, @Walgreens, & Levi Strauss & Co. (sending stocks down DD): ▪️Nike: Reduced guidance (sales will be down LSD for year). Lifestyle segment and China slowed. The question is do they have the right culture & leadership to drive this turnaround. ▪️Walgreens: Cited challenging consumer environment for the sales miss. I’m seeing drug stores struggling from theft, low traffic, higher prices than alternatives - all resulting in unfavorable economics. 25% of their fleet is unprofitable. I could not purchase a simple item at 9pm in NY bc most sku’s were locked behind plastic & no employee assistance! ▪️Levi Strauss & Co.’s: Missed top-line, but category is on fire (thanks to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter & Pharell’s LVMH Cowboy runway). CEO noted “head-to-toe” denim success. ⭐️Winners always emerge in up & down cycles. In retail, value with strong execution is currently the bright spot. The pace of tech innovation is thrilling and players in the AI game are driving the market! #futureofcommerce #futureofbusiness #futureofretail #futureofcustomerexperiences #retail #businessnews #technology #genai #innovation
Ashye Marcus... Appreciate your capturing these trends - BRAVO!
Transforming the Workforce through Digital Innovation @ Amazon Web Services
3wHi Ashye, I look forward to your weekly recaps. Keep them coming.