1. Consumers are now viewing cell phones as a luxury item: Today, smartphones can last considerably longer and have infiltrated nearly every waking second of our lives, making it seem reasonable to invest as much in a phone as you might for a high-end suit. – Read More on WSJ

2. Are We in the Golden Age of the ‘Influencer Brand’? A crop of these OG bloggers (made up in large part by millennial women who have spent the greater part of the last decade hawking products on social media) have started to pivot away from pure influencer marketing to start their own fashion, beauty and wellness brands. – Read More on Fashionista 

3. RETRO READ: Influencers Are Launching Businesses of Their Own, But How Will They Fare Compared to Established Fashion Brands? As part of a larger trend, fashion bloggers-turned-Instagram figures have placed their bets on their own lines, hedging their bets as the notion of influencer fatigue continues to loom. – Read More on TFL 

4. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon wants to crack the code on apparel and home goods: “These aren’t just private label brands,” he said of Walmart’s fashion/apparel-centric acquisitions. “They have a soul, a social media following. They give us the DNA to create these digital native brands in-house.” – Read More on CNBC

5. Speaking of Walmart, here’s how Walmart will take on Amazon in 2020: Sales growth for its e-commerce site is up and the number of unique job listings at Walmart’s recruiting websites is down suggesting that the world’s largest retailer has its future pinned on digital as opposed to brick-and-mortar retail. – Read More on Thinknum