Hey there!

This has to be some sort of record at this point, yes?

I'm back with another round of non-breaking news, memes, quotes, and updates for you in the most inconsistently published newsletter you'll find.

**Not interested in this newsletter? Scroll to the bottom and adjust your preferences.

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💬 Quote of the Week

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We'd probably be naive if we thought the process involved with achieving our goal wouldn't get uncomfortable at some point, right?

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Now let's see what we missed on the back pages of e-commerce news 👇

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What's the Matter?

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📰 Capital Won

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Capital One has officially completed its $35 billion acquisition of Discover, making it the largest credit card issuer in the U.S.

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Why it matters:

Becoming the largest US credit card issuer provides significant market power. Capital One-Discover can now compete more aggressively with Visa & Mastercard.

They now have more leverage in negotiations with potential partners. We could see new award partners and new branded credit cards, which would be of interest to the sellers that collect rewards.

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📰 Just Do It, Again

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Nike is returning to Amazon after over five years and increasing prices on some products to boost sales.

Nike's sales have declined recently due to competition and strategic missteps, but hopes to attract customers with new selling partners, including Amazon.

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Why it matters:

It's the big story consuming a lot of seller bandwidth currently.

The "arbitrage is dead" crowd is claiming victory.

The "everything will be brand direct" crowd is claiming victory.

The PL gurus continue to be smug elitists.

Need yet another prediction of what this means? Nike will go the route of Adidas, which went the route of Under Armour, which went the route of not that big of a deal.

We'll lose the ability to sell the high-profile, current top shelf products. We'll still be able to sell hundreds of thousands of ASINs that are widely available at the places we source from the most anyway (think Kohl's, JCPenney, Nike Outlets).

We talked about it on the live show (replay here). Join us live every Wednesday at 5:30 pm est and Sunday at 3:00 pm est.

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📰 This Week in "Well, Maybe You Shouldn't Cancel My Orders!"

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Target reported a nearly 3% drop in revenue and a decline in comparable sales.

Their stock fell 7% after the company lowered its full-year sales forecast, citing disappointing first-quarter results.

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Why it matters:

CEO Brian Cornell told reporters that Target's sales were negatively impacted by a number of factors: tariffs, consumer sentiment, yada yada...

The one bright side: "healthy digital growth". Cornell also said that raising prices would be a last resort.

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📰 Money Back to the Future

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Amazon is giving unexpected refunds to some customers for products ordered as far back as 2018.

The refunds are the result of an internal review that may be related to a 2023 consumer lawsuit by a group of Amazon shoppers who claimed that Amazon had reversed their refunds.

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Why it matters:

If Amazon can find & dish out cash they've owed for 7 years, maybe there's hope they find that pallet they closed after saying they received 0 units.

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🎧 What's the Latest on the Clear The Shelf with Chris & Chris Podcast?

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We have three four new episodes that just need a thumbnail, so be on the lookout in the near future.

Also, as I mentioned above, we're doing two live Q&A shows every week now.

• Wednesdays at 5:30 pm est
• Sundays at 3:00 pm est

Be sure to stop by with any questions or just hang out and talk shop with us.

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​ Listen to Clear the Shelf with Chris & Chris on your favorite podcast player: ​YouTube​ ​Apple​ ​Spotify​

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💰 Alpha Weekend Lead List

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Look for the next opportunity to sign up in early June.

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📚 The Most Successful People I Know Are Readers

Don't you hate it when someone you don't like writes a really good book?

It pains me to admit that Fooled By Randomness is excellent. And the Kindle version just dropped to a few bucks.

I won't bore you with details of my distaste for Taleb, the person, here. I actually featured him and this book in an issue of this newsletter a couple of years ago. If you're interested, here's the link to that issue.

I'm a sucker for books about better decision making. I immediately bought Richard Thaler's Nudge when I saw it dropped to a couple bucks on Kindle. I enjoyed Misbehaving, but this is the Thaler book my favorite authors talk about more often.

Seriously, look through the review section. It's not just Kahneman, Grant, & Cialdini praising the book, but also NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt. An impressive range of names.

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🤣 Sometimes I Think I'm Funny

*Based on a true story.

Have a great week! Talk to you soon.

Chris