Alexa’s New Postmark Gig | Gap & Walmart Manage Earnings Beats | William Sonoma's Big AR Investment

It's probably a little bit early to say The Gap and its associated brands are out of the woods just yet — but the latest earnings report strongly indicates that the turn-around effort is beginning to take hold. Old Navy remains the strength in the line-up — and Banana Republic the sick man — but Gap brand stores are looking stronger all of a sudden — and The Gap is predicting real momentum going into holiday 2017. Read More...

Walmart‘s strong Q3 earnings performance drove its stock price up, juiced the Dow to close to 187 points higher and had more than a few analysts eating a little bit of humble pie — admitting that they were a match for Amazon, after all. Same-store sales were well ahead of analyst predictions — so was the average basket size — and eCommerce sales spiked 50 percent. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon says the firm has "momentum" — and we have all of the details. Read More...

Will consumers trust Facebook to verify their identity at real-world points of sale? Can apartment hunters trust its Marketplace more than Craigslist? Does Amazon Protect threaten traditional insurers, and will the eCommerce giant’s merchant marketplace gain traction Down Under? As always, the Frightful Five have been busy this week, with many hot irons in the fire. Here’s what the industry giants have been up to — just in case you missed it. Read More...