July 14th, 2025: NRF Files Suit Against NY State Law, Why Is There No Best Practice for ECommerce Org Structure, Amazon Quietly Cornering Market on Robot Patents, and LuluLemon in Markdown Hell
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It’s July 14, 2025 and this is the Watson Weekly - your essential eCommerce Digest!
Today on our show:
NRF Files Suit Against NY State Law
Why Is There No Best Practice for ECommerce Org Structure
Amazon Quietly Cornering Market on Robot Patents
LuluLemon in Markdown Hell
- and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs.
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To hear new episodes of the show every Monday morning, subscribe now at rmwcommerce.com/watsonweekly and wherever you get your podcasts.
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[PAUSE]
BUT FIRST in our shopping cart full of news….
NRF Files Suit Against NY State Law
"THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA"
Imagine this text not only on every PDP page, search results, homepage, landing page, but also on every advertisement which contains pricing no matter how small the ad is for most retailers you know.
NRF last week filed suit against a NY State law which is set to be live today, July 8th.
Ostensibly, NY has introduced a law which requires that pricing based on protected status like race, gender or disability status. This part of the law, NRF seems to be OK with and is covered by other NY State laws.
It's the disclosure requirements themselves that are broader, and seem to be the focus of the NRF's ire.
Retailers must disclose they are using pricing which is linked to identifying consumer information. This includes very common retail-y things like:
* loyalty programs (obviously linked to a member ID)
* Club membership
* likely any discount triggered to ID (dot) me (I would guess?)
... and ironically on Prime Day, even Prime member discounts.
Ultimately, do I think the disclosure will matter? Probably not.
Why? Consumers hardly read anything. But still, why should retailers be forced to make a scary (all caps? Law is not clear) disclosure or face a $1,000 per violation. While only the NY State Attorney General can file lawsuits, retailers would get cease and desists, cure periods etc.
Also, I do think based on the fact that the NY Attorney General likely has better things to do with their time, if it is actually enforced it would only be against the biggest retailers.
Which reminds me... how would such disclosures affect AI LLMs reading retail datafeeds based in NY State? Asking for a friend. Would those disclosures have to show up in ChatGPT or Perplexity results?
But the most ironic part of this law is that retailers would be forced to identify the location of customers, using their specific data, which would allow them to display the disclosure to warn them against the use of pricing based on their specific data. Or, I guess, just show it to everyone. Which would be like yet another stupid banner we are all going to ignore.
[References:]
Our Second Story
The Peter Principle is Undefeated. Also, Why There is No Org Structure Best Practice
I've always thought there was almost no such thing as an org "best practice". Show me an org that's working, and I'll show you a few dynamic leaders that are stretching and learning. You could have the same org structure with the wrong people just falling apart.
Ultimately, if you are trying to fix major problems quickly, sometimes it becomes time to change organization and people at the same time.
On the "improving things" side of org design:
1 - Are your very best people working on your hardest problems? (This is always one of my top questions when staring at an organizational chart)
2 - Does every important metric have a clear organizational owner that represents a strong individual/team?
3 - What bet is your organizational design making? (Hint: it's usually a bet on a few key individuals' growth)
On the "preventing problems" size of org design:
1 - Have some parts of your org stopped reinventing themselves? What is their incentive to change how things have historically been done?
2 - How long has everyone been in their current seats? Sometimes a key function can change quickly in the span of 5-7 years. If leadership wants to keep things comfortable, you could miss something your competition is taking advantage of.
3 - Have certain team members been promoted past their competency? The Peter Principle is undefeated.
4 - Do you have important team leaders who may not know what good looks like in their area of control?
Especially when a company is struggling, often times the folks who tend to stick around want clarity and certainty. The movers and shakers have departed for a healthier org long ago. The only people left are the people who know where the bodies are buried (and are often doing hero work just to keep the lights on).
Rarely are these the people who are ready to turn a business upside down and start fresh if a new approach is needed.
[References:]
Our Third Story
Amazon Quietly Cornering Market on Robot Patents
If you are wondering how that Kiva acquisition went all those many years ago, it seems like it is going quite well. Amazon has increased its robot patent portfolio 28 times since the acquisition of Kiva Robots in 2012.
I guess you could say that the robot trend was a good bet, right? Amazon now has almost 5,000 robotics patents. And the technology enabled by those patents now powers over 1 million robots. Given the fact that Amazon employs only 1.5 million people total, that is a significant number.
While Andy Jassy assures us that humans do not have anything to worry about, it seems to me that the time will soon come where we will have end to end fulfillment without humans in the loop. Lights out facilities already exist in the world, and are becoming more common.
The AI revolution going on in venture capital at the moment is already promising some outrageous things, like:
* companies built with just one employee supposedly worth billions of dollars
* companies without a product or revenue already raising billions of dollars
* YCombinator startups devoted to the idea that you should steal other people’s ideas and cheat on tests rather than learn and grow in life.
* Similarly funded startups devoted to the idea that employees are irrelevant.
Although I get a lot of value from AI, let me take the opposite approach here. We already have about 10 different large language model engines for different things, and only about one or two of them actually has a distribution strategy. The rest of them - I’m looking at you Perplexity - is just a company in search of an acquisition.
Apple, Google, and others with hardware and user lockin often have the ability to play kingmaker in a universe. Meta for example is desperately trying to stay relevant in such a world.
Since Microsoft itself was founded, each successive generation of software companies usually mints one or two truly important companies at the top of the food chain. Right now OpenAI has a chance to be that company for the next decade if they play their cards right.
But still, humans are needed to perform vital services in our economy and do not even let Amazon’s growing patent portfolio convince you otherwise
[References:]
[PAUSE]
And Our Last Story
LuluLemon in Markdown Hell
Wall St Analyst Jeffries has issued an alert recently about LuluLemon regarding their aggressive recent markdowns. The company is apparently having to rely on markdowns to clear inventories of products.
Add to this, LuluLemon’s nose is open related to tariffs. As if Lulu’s prices weren’t already high
LuluLemon who essentially invented the idea that yoga gear could transition between the workplace, martini with your girlfriends, and the workplace, was once seen as almost indestructible.
It shows two things about the power of inventory.
One is, too much of it will kill any retailer. Markdowns maim margins.
Two is, there is a downside of success - copies or what are called dupes.
Dupes are a concept that was almost invented in the beginning because LuluLemon was too damn expensive. There are so many athleisure brands including retailer house brands who took notes at the feet of LuluLemon and offered very similar product for much cheaper without the expensive Lulu premium.
In some respects, there is no great solution to this as a brand. The only solution to a slow decay is always innovation - in other words, disrupt yourself.
The problem is, it seems the company is already out of new ideas. Companies like Fabletics, Gymshark, Alo, Rhone, Vuori are growing hugely, innovating faster, and don’t show signs of letting up.
And as for LuluLemon, despite the CEO’s assurances that new merchandise is on the way, even if it is, the company is behind the 8 ball because the dupe genie is already out of its proverbial bottle.
Most people I know are just as proud of dupes as they are real merchandise these days because of … wait for it .. price conscious consumers
[References:]
It’s That Time Friends, for our Investor Minute. We have 5 items on the menu today.
First
Unilever Acquires Men's Personal Care Brand Dr. Squatch
Unilever has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Dr. Squatch from private-equity firm Summit Partners for a reported $1.5 billion. Unilever gains a complimentary piece in its portfolio in premium and growth sectors.
Second
BackOps AI Raises $6M to Solve Warehouse Inefficiencies
Supply chain workflow automation platform, BackOps AI, announced that it has raised $8 million in Seed funding, which will be invested in product development and to expand its operations.
Link: https://www.freightwaves.com/news/backops-ai-raises-6m-to-solve-warehouse-inefficiencies
Third
Brij Raises $8M to Power the Future of Offline-to-Online Customer Relationships
Retail intelligence platform, Brij has announced that it has raised $8 million in venture funding that will be invested in product development, go-to-market, and partnerships. Is it just me or have we only now discovered that retail has no analytics?
Fourth
C&S to Acquire SpartanNash in $1.77B deal
C&S Wholesale Grocers has announced its acquisition of SpartanNash. C&S will pay $26.90 for each share of SpartanNash’s common stock, representing a total consideration of $1.77 billion, which includes debt. The combined company will operate nearly 60 complementary distribution centers and serve approximately 10,000 independent retail locations.
Link: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/cs-spartannash-acquisition-deal-merger/751289/
AND FINALLY …
STG To Acquire Movable Ink
Private equity fund STG announced that it has acquired content personalization platform, Movable Ink. No financial terms were disclosed. Vivek Sharma will remain as Chief Executive Officer, alongside the rest of the Movable Ink leadership team.
Link: https://stg.com/news/movable-ink-announces-definitive-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-stg/
[PAUSE]
Did you know that RMW Commerce has another podcast? Check out The Watson Weekend for an unfiltered and lively eCommerce chat each week with me, Rick Watson, my co-host Jess Lesesky, and an array of interesting guests and topics. All focused on eCommerce. You can find the Watson Weekend by searching for it on iTunes, Spotify, or Youtube.
That’s all for this week! Till next time Watsonians.....
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Hi, I’m Rick Watson, CEO and Founder of RMW Commerce Consulting and host of the Watson Weekly podcast - your essential eCommerce Digest.
Our production partner for the series is Podcast on the Fly. This podcast is produced by RMW Commerce.
To hear new episodes of the show every Monday morning, subscribe now at rmwcommerce.com/watsonweekly and wherever you get your podcasts.
