eCommerce Minute

We recycle paper, glass, and plastic.  We recycle metal and cardboard.  But have you ever thought about recycling your sneakers?

Adidas thinks it's time.  

They're launching a new performance shoe made entirely of recyclable materials. Adidas says that, by enabling a manufacturing model where raw materials from one shoe can be used to make another, it intends to take responsibility for the entire life of a product.

If you're starting to feel your 'morning joe' just isn't cutting it ti anymore, we've got a blend for you.

It's called Black Insomnia Coffee. 

Dubbed "the world's strongest coffee," a single cup contains 736 mg of caffeine. 

Amazon is pulling the plug on its Chinese marketplace.  The U.S. e-commerce giant will instead focus on the lucrative businesses of selling overseas goods and cloud services in the world’s most populous nation.

This means Amazon customers in China will no longer able to buy goods from Chinese merchants.

Meal kit convenience comes with a massive downside. A typical meal kit delivery comes with insulation, gel-filled icepacks, and tiny lil containers or bags holding individual ingredients–like a few sprigs of herbs or a few spoonfuls of sauce or condiments –all  this inside a giant cardboard box.

The Liviri containers eliminate single-use packaging and can be reused up to 75 times. 

Hungry, but short on cash? Listen close, we've got some good news.

Nissin Foods, makers of the iconic Cup Noodles, has teamed with food and drink blog Foodbeast to create a vending machine that trades Instagram posts for prizes.

Walmart is going robotic. The largest retailer in the world announced it is adding thousands of robot workers to its stores. 

Some robots will be autonomous floor scrubbers.  Walmart also plans to use robots that can scan inventory on shelves and bots to automatically scan deliveries as they roll off trucks.

The company said it’s a high-tech approach to solving workplace problems.  

Amazon Go has been touted to be the convenience store of the future - no cashiers, no cash - just use your phone to check in, grab your things and go. A frictionless transaction for the customer on the go. 

Well, we might have to put a pin in that last part about being cashless. 

Responding to growing criticism, Amazon has revealed that it plans to allow customers who shop at its Amazon Go stores to pay with cash.

Millions of consumers have embraced the voice revolution, using their devices for news, music, games, and ecommerce. But, With any new-fangled tech, there's always that one person you know who says, "I won't use that, someone might be listening."

Well, this time your conspiracy-minded friend is actually right.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Amazon employs thousands of workers who listen to voice recordings captured by the company's Echo "smart" speaker devices in people's homes.

Fashion designers are always pushing the envelope when it comes to the latest designs.  

Is the next trend in fast fashion, natural and organic materials from plants?

H&M’s latest collection is using materials from Pineapple leaves, Orange Peels, and Algae. 

After acheiving success as an online furniture and home decor website,

Wayfair.com is now looking to the real world for its next investment. The company is opening up its permanent first brick-and-mortar store inside a Massachusetts mall. 

Shoppers will be able to buy an assortment of home decor products, as well as place orders for home deliveries. 

A spokeswoman said the store’s “front of the house” will cover more than 3,700 square feet.