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Shopify investing $500 million in new Toronto office (BETAKIT)
By 2022, Shopify said it will occupy 254,000 square feet at The Well office.
DMS Recommends: Things your video marketing strategy must include (DIGITALMAINSTREET)
“One of the most popular and interesting strategies today is video marketing. These videos should be, but not necessarily, focused on your services and products. But they can also place and promote content relevant for your business through the medium of short or long form videos.”
Walmart’s adoption of blockchain will help retailer pinpoint food contamination issues (THESTAR)
Walmart says it now has a better system for pinpointing which batches of leafy green vegetables might be contaminated. After a two-year pilot project, the retailer announced that it would be using blockchain, the type of database technology behind Bitcoin, to keep track of every bag of spinach and head of lettuce.
Lift & Co reveals plans to launch cannabis rewards platform (BETAKIT)
It marks a shift to offering education surrounding the recreational consumption of the plant.
Walmart eyes pickup-only store in Chicago (RETAILDIVE)
Walmart recently submitted plans to open a grocery pickup-only store at a former supermarket site outside Chicago. The standalone facility will be called Walmart Pickup and is expected to be the company’s largest pickup-only site.
Amazon is opening a new brick-and-mortar store in NYC featuring its best sellers (TECHCRUNCH)
Amazong will opan “Amazon 4-Star” store in New York, where all the items it sells are rated 4 stars and above, are a top seller or are new and trending on Amazon. It’s effectively a real-world introduction to Amazon’s best products, in other words.
Instacart hiring 200 tech workers in new Toronto hub (BETAKIT)
Instacart currently has over 80 employees in its existing Toronto office.
Snapchat lets you take a photo of an object to buy it on Amazon (TECHCRUNCH)
Users can use Snapchat’s camera to scan a physical object or barcode, which brings up a card showing that item and similar ones along with their title, price, thumbnail image, average review score and Prime availability. When they tap on one, they’ll be sent to Amazon’s app or site to buy it.
India’s Flipkart to acquire Israeli retail analytics startup Upstream Commerce (CALCALIST)
Upstream offers online retailers a pricing and product analytics service.
Shopify launches Dev Degree program with York University (BETAKIT)
The program embeds students directly into development teams at Shopify through a paid internship opportunity.
