Rufus Is Gone, eBay Said No, Lulu Picked Nike

Three retail moves worth talking about this week.Amazon is retiring the Rufus name. The shopping chatbot has hit roughly 300M users since its 2024 beta, but Amazon is folding the whole thing into Alexa and calling it "Alexa for shopping." We get into why that branding choice is risky given Alexa's history with kids accidentally ordering things and the privacy lawsuits, and what it signals about an "Alexa for healthcare" or "Alexa for law" coming next.The Watson Weekly Weekend edition is sponsored by Avalara - the agentic AI platform automating global tax and compliance for leading eCommerce brands. For more details: https://avalaratax.watsonweekly.comThen GameStop's Ryan Cohen and his $56 billion unsolicited bid for eBay, half cash, half stock. The eBay board's response was a 216-word letter calling the offer "neither credible nor attractive." We dig into whether Cohen ever expected a yes, or whether the whole thing was theater aimed at GameStop's stock price and the $100 billion valuation target tied to his own bonus plan.Finally, Lululemon. Heidi O'Neill, 30 years at Nike, took the CEO job on April 22. Founder Chip Wilson is already on record saying she's not the transformation the company needs. We talk about why Alo Yoga and Vuori are pulling away on the celebrity side, why the men's line feels over-assorted, and what it means when Amazon, Costco, and Target all stock convincing dupes of your core product.