Amazon Prime delivery hit a new milestone this year: As of July 30, more than 5 billion items have arrived on the same or next day from when they were ordered, which is up 30% year over year. And the majority of these orders (more than 60%) didn’t come from Amazon’s own stock, but from independent sellers who used its fulfillment services.

The milestone isn’t the first time the e-commerce giant has touted its need for speed. In his annual letter to shareholders earlier this year, CEO Andy Jassy noted that the company continues to break Prime Delivery records. In 2023, he said, the company delivered 7+ billion items on the same day or overnight. He also said “regionalization” was behind the acceleration, as Amazon expanded its same-day facilities and “re-architected” its logistics network to bring warehouses closer to customers.

The result of these efforts was a reduction in cost to serve that allowed the company to expand its assortment and bring down prices.

Working smarter, not harder: With the new announcement, Amazon again emphasized the importance of regionalization and the expansion of its same-day delivery network, but it also called out new tech investments, including “leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms to predict product demand and improve our inventory placement.”

Keep reading here.—AV

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It’s a hot girl summer for Athleta.

Around the time of the last Summer Olympics in 2021, the Gap-owned women’s activewear brand made news when it signed a deal with Simone Biles, who severed ties with Nike in favor of Athleta. For this year’s Paris games, the brand is going big with Biles again with its first-ever national linear TV ad and other marketing activations revolving around its “Power of She” platform designed to support women and girls in athletics.

“We’re not doing this because it’s trendy,” CMO Ilona Aman told Marketing Brew.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—AM

There’s a new trend in luxury fashion: executives exiting their high-level positions. The latest is Andrew Keith, CEO of upscale UK department store Selfridges, who will leave his post this fall to “pursue new ventures.”

No word yet on what these ventures might be or who will replace Keith, but for the time being, André Maeder, CEO of parent company Selfridges Group, will be subbing in.

Keep reading here.—JS