Executive Summary

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” discusses major e-tailers’ recent moves to match each other’s free two-day shipping offers and highlights the fact that “free” shipping is not actually free.
• A planned delay in the delivery of two tax refunds could be taking a bite out of Walmart’s revenue. After reporting another quarter of top-line growth during the holiday period, the world’s largest retailer said sales have gotten off to a slow start in its new fiscal year, which could be due to the delayed refunds.
• Global e-commerce leader Amazon announced that it plans to create more than 15,000 jobs across Europe over the course of 2017 to expand its logistics operations and other functions. This is a record number for Amazon, which is looking to hire specialists for roles ranging from linguists to software developers.
• German grocer Lidl has suspended its plans to trial click-and-collect stores in Germany, merely a week after CEO Sven Seidel announced his resignation. The company was set to test the multichannel Lidl Express banner in Berlin this spring.