A round-up of everything you might have missed in relevant fashion, retail and tech industry news over the past week.
TOP STORIES
- Starbucks’ Rewards scheme is part of its much bigger vision for a blockchain-backed digital currency [TheDrum]
- Luxury in the age of digital Darwinism [McKinsey]
- Meet fashion’s first computer-generated influencer [BoF]
- Instagram appeal: How social media is changing product development in beauty [Digiday]
TECHNOLOGY
- Retail spending on AI to reach $7.3B by 2022 [Retail Dive]
- MIT scientists created accessories that change color to match your outfit [QZ]
- The Grammys brought IBM Watson’s artificial intelligence to the red carpet [AdWeek]
- Walmart’s new robots are loved by staff—and ignored by customers [TechnologyReview]
RETAIL & E-COMMERCE
- Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn explains the Walmart acquisition: ‘We have a safe and permanent home’ [Glossy]
- Personalization is a priority for retailers, but can online vendors deliver? [AdWeek]
- H&M moves into the off-price marketplace with Afound [FashionUnited]
- Selfridges launches world’s first in-store boxing gym [FashionNetwork]
- Mashable and eBay team up for launch of shoppable images pilot [TheDrum]
PRODUCT
- Adidas Boost: the sneaker technology that changed a company’s fortunes [GQ]
- GlassesUSA.com to launch 3D printable glasses [FashionUnited]
- Amazon just patented some creepy “Black Mirror”-esque tracking wristbands [FastCompany]
BUSINESS
- After 15 years, eBay plans to cut off PayPal as its main payments processor [Recode]
- Ralph Lauren is discovering how hard it is to fix a brand [Fortune]
- H&M admits ‘mistakes’ in handling shift to online shopping [FT]
- JD.com puts France at the heart of its internationalization strategy [FashionNetwork]
