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Fitness, Fables, and The Fight For The Wallet, Apps In The Age of AI

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Mar 13, 2026

Fitness, Fables, and The Fight For The Wallet, Apps In The Age of AI

And... Is YouTube the largest media company in the world? Email for your agent raises funding, Rhoda AI exits stealth, and Ernesta raises a Series B

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
How Mirakl's Chief Data and AI Officer Thinks About AI; Costco Near Perfect Quarter

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Mar 11, 2026

How Mirakl's Chief Data and AI Officer Thinks About AI; Costco Near Perfect Quarter

And... Eight Sleep raises funding, Moltbook acquired by Meta (the irony is priceless), Quince's mega funding, and the one number that tells all about Costco's future

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
Watson As CEO of PayPal in 2028, Stripe's Agentic Solution Looks Familiar

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Mar 9, 2026

Watson As CEO of PayPal in 2028, Stripe's Agentic Solution Looks Familiar

And... PayPal has assets it can utilize for its future. Stripe just built an agentic commerce solution, does it compete with Shopify?

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
Target Bottomed. Shopify Is Betting Everything on One Word. Amazon Just Locked In the AI Race.

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Mar 6, 2026

Target Bottomed. Shopify Is Betting Everything on One Word. Amazon Just Locked In the AI Race.

And... Blue Bottle Coffee cafes sold to a PE firm for a loss, Accenture acquires Ookla for billions, and Anthropic acquires Vercept

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Q4 Earnings Call Stories and Who and What is Going On In the Home Improvement Sector?

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Mar 4, 2026

The Q4 Earnings Call Stories and Who and What is Going On In the Home Improvement Sector?

And... Fluent Commerce announces new capital raised, Thoma Bravo to combine WMEX and Auctane, and a $58M Seed funding round

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
Home Depot Earnings Not A Retreat, About That Viral Citrini Post

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Mar 3, 2026

Home Depot Earnings Not A Retreat, About That Viral Citrini Post

And... Avalara acquires Versori, Reddit is testing a new shopping experience, Jampack raises seed funding, and AI leads to more, not less, work.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Stripe 2025 Annual Letter, Magic Tricks, Amazon and The Curious Missing Element From Amazon's OpenAI Investment

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Mar 2, 2026

The Stripe 2025 Annual Letter, Magic Tricks, Amazon and The Curious Missing Element From Amazon's OpenAI Investment

And... Where is the 30% eCommerce growth Stripe reports? Why negotiating with Amazon is impossible, and what to watch for in the Costco earnings call.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Ship Without A Captain, Tariffs Redux, Walmart Owns 72% of Grocery

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Feb 27, 2026

The Ship Without A Captain, Tariffs Redux, Walmart Owns 72% of Grocery

And... Zuckerberg is creating this version of Jobs' famous "reality distortion." Vendors are back sending inventory to Saks Global, and Sam Altman now talks 2030 to investors

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
FedEx's $98B By 2030 Moment and is Salesforce Playing Offense or Defense?

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Feb 26, 2026

FedEx's $98B By 2030 Moment and is Salesforce Playing Offense or Defense?

Bloomreach announces AI-driven ARR, Mirakl shares its 2025 look-back, and Profound raises $$ for AI marketing.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Media First Brand Playbook, Amazon’s Fortune 1 Takeover, and the Inventory Death Spiral

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Feb 25, 2026

The Media First Brand Playbook, Amazon’s Fortune 1 Takeover, and the Inventory Death Spiral

And... why BattlBox employs more creators than marketers, Bob’s Discount Furniture hits the NYSE, and Amazon officially unseats Walmart as the largest U.S. company.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
Walmart’s Trillion-Dollar Flex, the Section 122 Pivot, and the "Goliath Paradox"

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Feb 24, 2026

Walmart’s Trillion-Dollar Flex, the Section 122 Pivot, and the "Goliath Paradox"

And... why 50% of Amazon’s GMV comes from just 1.6% of sellers, Aritzia’s Fred Segal acquisition, and Walmart’s 30-minute delivery obsession.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The $1.2B Depop Rescue, Etsy’s "Agentic" Pivot, and the Retail Earnings Gauntlet

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Feb 23, 2026

The $1.2B Depop Rescue, Etsy’s "Agentic" Pivot, and the Retail Earnings Gauntlet

And... Why eBay is buying a Gen Z insurance policy, the "red herring" in Etsy’s GMS, and what to watch for in Target’s first Fiddelke-led earnings call.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Trillion-Dollar Blue Vest, the Saks Chapter 11, and the End of "T-Shirt" Logistics

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Feb 20, 2026

The Trillion-Dollar Blue Vest, the Saks Chapter 11, and the End of "T-Shirt" Logistics

And... Why Perplexity is ditching ads for trust, FedEx’s pivot to high-value cargo, and the $1.2B Depop-eBay deal

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Intoxicated Graduate, the $9.2B Locker Land Grab, and AI Recommendation Poisoning

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Feb 18, 2026

The Intoxicated Graduate, the $9.2B Locker Land Grab, and AI Recommendation Poisoning

And... why SaaS isn't dying but its UI is, FedEx's massive European pivot, and the new "GSO" frontier for brand discovery

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Tech "Debt" Crisis, the Saks Bankruptcy Reckoning, and Anthropic’s AI Bowl Win

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Feb 17, 2026

The Tech "Debt" Crisis, the Saks Bankruptcy Reckoning, and Anthropic’s AI Bowl Win

And... Who is paying for OpenAI’s $60 CPM experiment?, e.l.f. Cosmetics’ $1 moonshot, and the existential risk facing the "Four Horsemen" in 2026

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The AI "Big Game" Hangover, Target’s Musical Chairs, and the Spotify Pivot

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Feb 13, 2026

The AI "Big Game" Hangover, Target’s Musical Chairs, and the Spotify Pivot

And... why Amazon’s Rufus is a $12B incremental engine, Shopify’s $2B flex, and Home Depot’s new "Pro-First" AI Material Builder.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Goliath Paradox, Marc Lore’s AI "Wizard," and Google’s Search-to-Checkout Gauntlet

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Feb 12, 2026

The Goliath Paradox, Marc Lore’s AI "Wizard," and Google’s Search-to-Checkout Gauntlet

And... why Temu just matched Amazon in cross-border share, the rise of parcel lockers, and Google’s new Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) rollout

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Agency Margin Trap, Stripe’s $140B Private Market, and the AWS Content Toll Road

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Feb 11, 2026

The Agency Margin Trap, Stripe’s $140B Private Market, and the AWS Content Toll Road

And... Why most brands should skip the 2026 replatform, Eddie Bauer’s third bankruptcy filing, and the $70M "AI.com" Super Bowl crash

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Agentic Economy, the Kroger "Super-Format," and the $335M Uber-Getir Deal

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Feb 10, 2026

The Agentic Economy, the Kroger "Super-Format," and the $335M Uber-Getir Deal

And... ARK’s $8T consumption forecast, why the 90-second purchase funnel is "nuking" timelines, and Greg Foran’s return to retail as the new Kroger CEO

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The AI Power Plant, the $200B Gauntlet, and the $650B Big Tech Bet

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Feb 9, 2026

The AI Power Plant, the $200B Gauntlet, and the $650B Big Tech Bet

And... Amazon’s path to becoming America’s largest grocer, why Andy Jassy isn't scared of ChatGPT, and the Goliath Paradox in modern commerce

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The "Fossilized" Payment King, Whatnot’s 791% Surge, and the Pinterest Pivot

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Feb 6, 2026

The "Fossilized" Payment King, Whatnot’s 791% Surge, and the Pinterest Pivot

And... why PayPal is losing its moat to Shopify, the $10 Starbucks reward cap, and Anthropic taking the AI war to the Super Bowl

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Age of Intelligence, the David vs. Goliath Script, and Rick's NRF Keynote

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Feb 4, 2026

The Age of Intelligence, the David vs. Goliath Script, and Rick's NRF Keynote

And... NRF 2026 ground-truth, why "blue-collar" AI wins over buzzwords, and Phia's $35M fundraising

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Feedback Loop, the Starbucks "Shuffle," and the $2.25B Purell Play

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Feb 3, 2026

The Feedback Loop, the Starbucks "Shuffle," and the $2.25B Purell Play

And... Whatnot’s real-time winners, the death of the birthday coffee window, and why Google might invite its rivals into Gemini.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Death of the Brand, Amazon’s Grocery Retreat, and the $211B Milestone

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Feb 2, 2026

The Death of the Brand, Amazon’s Grocery Retreat, and the $211B Milestone

And... The Scayle debate series, UPS’s 2026 inflection point, and why agents might make your ad spend irrelevant.

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
The Wednesday Morning Massacre, American Eagle’s 3PL Exit, and Meta’s $135B Bill

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Jan 30, 2026

The Wednesday Morning Massacre, American Eagle’s 3PL Exit, and Meta’s $135B Bill

And... Zuckerberg’s "Personal Superintelligence" pivot, Sydney Sweeney’s Hollywood moment, and why Vinted is betting on "Closet Anxiety"

Rick Watson
Rick Watson
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WATSON WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Stop reading the headlines and start understanding the frameworks. The essential briefing for executives in Retail, Supply Chain, and AI. Join Rick Watson as he cuts through the noise to help you understand not just what is happening, but why it matters.