Amazon.com is holding its Prime Day event on July 12 and 13 with promises of offering its lowest prices ever on select products from its own lines and those of top brands. Do you think there is more pressure on Amazon to have a great Prime Day in 2022 than there has been in years past?

H&M Group has been testing the use of smart mirrors in fitting rooms and on the sales floor at its COS Beverly Hills store and now plans to extend the technology to more stores this year. Will advances in artificial intelligence, new features or reduced costs eventually make smart mirrors more prevalent on selling floors?

Amazon Fashion yesterday introduced its Virtual Try-On for Shoes, which uses augmented reality technology to help customers visualize how they will look in footwear from a variety of angles. Do consumers trust augmented reality try-on technology in making purchasing decisions?

Friday’s announcement that Dave Clark, Amazon.com’s CEO of Worldwide Consumer, would be resigning, effective July 1, set off speculation that the retail group’s recent trips-ups were to blame. Is Dave Clark’s exit a harbinger of major changes for Amazon’s retail businesses?

Amazon is slamming federal legislation that would bar the company from giving preference to its products over items sold by other sellers on its site. Does Amazon unfairly give preference to products it sells versus those sold by third parties on its marketplace?

Shopify is often seen as an alternative for independent sellers frustrated with Fulfillment by Amazon’s changing inventory rules and increasing seller costs. Will acquiring Deliverr potentially make Shopify a more serious competitor to Amazon relative to fulfillment and inventory management?

Amazon is testing a new program that leverages its Flex gig economy driver network to bring deliveries to consumers’ doorsteps from malls.  What do you think is behind Amazon’s test of same-day delivery from malls?

Whole Foods Market stores in Los Angeles are giving customers the option of paying for their groceries using their palms. Do you see biometric payment technology such as Amazon One being widely accepted by retailers and customers alike?

Netflix reported a drop in subscribers for the first time in over a decade on its latest earnings call. This raises questions: is subscription fatigue setting in? Do you think consumers are going to scrutinize their retailer subscriptions as inflation affects their daily lives?

Some big name grocers have been closing store locations against the backdrop of record-breaking inflation. Do you think inflation has played a role in recent store closures?

A leaked initial draft of an opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito that indicates the court will overturn Roe versus Wade has become a business issue overnight.  How should retailer and consumer brand businesses best navigate the controversy surrounding the possible overturning of Roe V. Wade?

Amazon is holding its first Amazon Pet Day in celebration of National Pet Month, focusing on a rare category where the company is facing an equally formidable online player in Chewy.  Does Amazon have a bigger opportunity in the pet category post-pandemic?

Victoria’s Secret has launched a “storefront” offering its beauty products on Amazon.com, marking the first time the brand has sold not only on Amazon but through any third-party retailer. Does selling through Amazon offer more opportunities than risks for Victoria’s Secret?

Amazon has introduced a new program that may give third-party sellers another reason to do business with the platform instead of some of its rivals. What will Buy with Prime mean for Amazon, its third-party sellers and other e-commerce platforms?

Amazon Prime members who have wished that their perks would extend to e-commerce experiences beyond Amazon’s website are now in luck. Amazon has announced the launch of its Buy With Prime functionality. Do you see Amazon’s new Buy With Prime service providing the right kind of benefits to merchants and holding strong appeal to consumers?

Amazon just implemented its biometric palm reader at a Whole Foods location in a new market, making it look more like Amazon sees palm reading in Whole Foods’ future nationwide. Will palm-based identification become a necessary or significantly used part of Just Walk Out technology, or is it a bridge too far for most customers?

Amazon marketplace sellers who use the company’s fulfillment services will see a five percent temporary surcharge for shipments, starting April 28, attributed to rising fuel prices and inflation. Does the temporary fuel and inflation surcharge seem like a fair fee given escalating shipping costs?

It was not so long ago that package delivery drones, specifically ones from Amazon.com, seemed poised to take flight as soon as the right regulatory bodies signed off. At present, however, the concept of package drop-off via drone is looking like it could be a dud.  Do you see Amazon overcoming its obstacles with flying drone package delivery?

Lands’ End is big on partnerships. The casual clothing retailer is going live on-air today with QVC in a promotion featuring its women’s swimwear in sizes two through 32 in petite, regular and tall cuts.  Is Land’s End on the right track in combining its direct sales efforts with those through third parties such as Amazon, Kohl’s and QVC?

A dominant 53 percent of teens identified Amazon.com as their favorite e-commerce site, according to Piper Sandler’s “Spring 2022 Taking Stock With Teens” survey. What’s driving the strong appeal of Amazon among younger consumers?

In early April, workers at an Amazon.com warehouse on Staten Island voted to form the e-commerce giant’s first U.S. union, building on successful organizing efforts at Starbucks and leading to speculation that a new American union movement is underway. Will retailers likely be seeing unionization drives with greater frequency in the years ahead?

Amazon in mid-March canceled plans to open a four-story warehouse in Churchill, PA, a suburb of Pittsburgh, after local residents complained about the potential for excessive pollution and traffic. Will local opposition be a minor or major hurdle towards building the warehousing and infrastructure necessary to support e-commerce’s growth?

In February it was announced that Best Buy chose Amazon Web Services as its preferred Cloud technology partner. This would not be so newsworthy If not for the many retailers either shunning AWS or keeping investments in it to a minimum. Do retail executives have the knowledge and expertise to make cloud partner decisions in the best interests of their companies?

Alexa will now notify Prime customers up to 24 hours in advance of upcoming deals as Amazon.com seeks to pack more value as a shopping tool into its nearly eight-year-old voice assistant. Are early notifications on deals the type of feature that will encourage consumers to use voice assistants more frequently as a shopping device?

Automated grocery stores have been slowly but surely popping up worldwide since the launch of Amazon Go. Now a checkout-free concept is on its way to college campuses, along with some other new tech-enhanced food solutions for students.  Do you expect that the reaction to autonomous grocers on campuses will be different than in general markets?

Mimicking nutritional rating labels aimed at encouraging healthier eating, Target has introduced a new Target Zero icon to make it easier for consumers to identify products designed to reduce waste. What do you think of the potential appeal of Target Zero and similar labels to guide sustainable purchases?

Amazon.com appears committed to operating physical stores, but appears to be optimizing its format strategy. The retail and technology giant is shuttering all of 68 of its Amazon Books, 4-Star and pop-up shops. What do you think of Amazon’s move?

Walmart isn’t waiting on Amazon.com. The retailer has launched a special sales event that is exclusive to Walmart+ subscribers. Will Walmart’s current Walmart+ sales event be successful in attracting large numbers of new members to the service?

A billionaire activist investor shared with investors his belief that the market is not recognizing the respective full value of Amazon’s e-commerce and Amazon Web Services businesses. Do you see a benefit to breaking up Amazon?

Walmart in an internal memo Friday said it has ended mask mandates and its COVID-19 sick leave policy for employees, while phasing out daily health screenings. Is it the appropriate time to end mask mandates for in-store associates and warehouse workers?

There remains a wide-spread belief that Amazon makes little or no money in “retail,” and that its Amazon Web Services division subsidizes the company’s e-commerce growth. That certainly isn’t the case any longer. What areas of Amazon’s business do you think are most lucrative and how is retail tied to its overall strategy?

Amazon.com has launched its Amazon Care telehealth service nationwide and is opening physical clinics to more than 20 cities this year.  What will the expansion of Amazon Care mean for the Amazon brand?

Amazon is looking to erase a competitive disadvantage it has vs. tech companies when it comes to recruiting and retaining corporate and tech employees by more than doubling its maximum base pay. How likely is it that Amazon’s higher base pay policy will significantly help the company recruit and retain skilled corporate and technical staff?

Amazon and Nike are reportedly exploring separate bids for Peloton, the beleaguered leader in internet-connected bikes and treadmills.  Would a Peloton purchase make more sense for Amazon, Nike or neither?

Amazon.com is raising the price for an annual subscription to its Prime program to $139 a year in the U.S., up from the current $119, which took effect in 2018.  Do you expect that Prime members will be okay with the hike in Amazon’s annual subscription rate?

Amazon.com is opening larger versions of its Amazon Go convenience store concept in the suburbs.The retail and technology giant is planning a store for Mill Creek, WA, which is located about 20 miles outside of Seattle where Amazon debuted its first Go store in 2018. Will Amazon Go convenience stores be successful in suburban locations?

Recent reports suggest that Amazon has a serious human resources issue on its hands as large numbers of skilled tech staff are leaving the company. Is the turnover of skilled workers at Amazon described in recent reports in line with or below what is seen in other large companies?

Amazon.com has become the biggest apparel seller in the U.S. without any stores. Now it plans to open its first clothing store this year under the Amazon Style banner. What’s your reaction to the Amazon Style store concept?

When users of Amazon’s Echo Show smart display device want to order a meal kit from Blue Apron, the task is simple enough. And now, if they need instruction preparing the meal, they can ask Alexa for help. Will the recipe guidance and one-off ordering via Alexa benefit Blue Apron’s business?

Albertsons, the third-largest grocer in the U.S., and Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, recently launched their own retail media networks to join the race against Amazon.com and other retail rivals. Can newer entrants find significant success in the retail media space against other retailers who have a head start?

DoorDash will bring back a program requiring all employees, including the CEO, to once a month perform deliveries or other duties not normally part of their jobs. Some staffers are apparently unhappy about it. Do you see more pros or cons in requiring corporate staffers to work selling floors, customer service departments or fulfillment centers?

Much of the public discussion about the wave of violent smash-and-grab shoplifting raids in major cities has centered around keeping shoplifters out of stores. Yet much of the pilfered product is sold online. How big of a role are e-commerce marketplaces playing in incentivizing mass shoplifting?

Acts of selflessness are at the core of the stories in commercials for this holiday season from Amazon.com and Etsy.  Which spot does the best job of connecting with each platform’s core customers while reaching out to new ones?

Amazon has plans to share its logistical power with U.S. grocers by way of a local delivery service similar to that offered by Instacart. Amazon will roll out the program across Europe and America next year, according to a new report.  Will Amazon make significant inroads in the U.S. market should it offer an alternative service to Instacart?

Print catalogs may seem old-fashioned to some, but old-fashioned is just what some customers have been looking for as the tumultuous pandemic era wears on. Do you see marketing value for retailer print catalogs in the current environment?

Amazon wastes precious few opportunities to promote how successful their marketplace sellers have been, but new report claims fees now account for more than a third of each sale. Does the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s report paint an accurate picture of the dynamics between Amazon.com and third-party sellers on the site?

Two-thirds of U.S. consumers say that one of the top five reasons they shop with Amazon.com is because they can find almost anything they need, according to a survey from Digital Commerce 360. Do you think the reasons behind Amazon.com’s appeal have changed in recent years?

Starbucks and Amazon have teamed up to open the first of at least three concept stores between the two Seattle-based retailing giants. Will the new Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go concept be a winner for both companies leading to a wide rollout across the U.S.?

Amazon.com is launching new curbside-recyclable insulated packaging that the company says does away with the need to use bubble bags or plastic liners.  Do you expect Amazon’s new packaging to be popular with its customers?

Williams Sonoma has launched a new paid membership program, Williams Sonoma Reserve, costing $99 annually that includes free shipping and experiential perks. Do you think Williams Sonoma’s annual subscription program will hold enough appeal for enough of its customers?