This week on the Watson Weekly, four stories about who controls what you see and what you buy. Papa John&#x27;s wanted to reach you the moment your fridge runs empty, so it bought the data to know when that happens. Instacart supplied it. The company confirms this is the first time it has handed first-party purchase data to a brand outside packaged goods, served on NBCU streaming inventory. The targeting is clever. The results do not exist yet. Amazon moved Prime Day to June for the first time since 2021. The stated reason is a crowded July. The real reason is a holiday Amazon never has to share. Adobe projected $26.3 billion in spending across the window, but CPI rose 4.2% in May and average order values fell 17%, with more shoppers reaching for buy now, pay later. Read that headline slowly. The Watson Weekly is sponsored by Avalara. It works with platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce, helping teams manage compliance faster and scale with confidence. Learn more at avalara.watsonweekly.com. FedEx grew revenue 13%. Strip out the fuel surcharge and adjusted operating income grew 3%, with margins down 70 basis points. The company spun off freight on June 1st at the bottom of its cycle and switched its fiscal calendar. The December report covers a seven-month stub year. Cannes sold agentic commerce for five days on the Riviera. Amazon launched agentic ads on Alexa. Retail media hit a number near $150 billion, according to the people selling it. Capability and intent were everywhere. Proof was not. Plus the Investor Minute: Redo, Orderful, Walmart&#x27;s $1.4 billion move on Vibe, Tiger Finance and Glossier, and Bed Bath &amp; Beyond buying a real estate platform. #watsonweekly #papajohnspizza #instacart #fedex #amazon #cannes

June 29th, 2026: Papa John's and Instacart,  Amazon Prime Day, FedEx Earnings, and Agentic Cannes

The Watson Weekly: eCommerce Strategy & News

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Watson Weekly: eCommerce Strategy &amp; News

## Transcript

The Watson Weekly Podcast is sponsored by Avalara. For eCommerce brands, tax compliance gets more complicated with every new state, channel, product, and market. Avalara agentic tax and compliance helps automate the work behind the scenes so merchants can deliver a smoother customer experience with accurate tax calculation at checkout, clear visibility into tariffs and duties, and fewer surprises for customers when their order arrives. Avalara works with eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce,

and more, helping teams manage compliance faster and scale with more confidence. To learn more about Avalara's eCommerce compliance solutions and explore resources built for growing eCommerce brands, go to avalara.watsonweekly.com for more details. It's June 29th, 2026, and this is the Watson Weekly, your essential eCommerce digest. Today on our show, Instacart just sold your cart to a pizza chain.

Amazon built a holiday. Amazon built a holiday. It never has to share. FedEx grew revenue 13%. The real number is 3. Khan sold agentic commerce. Nobody sold the proof. And finally, the Investor Minute, which contains five items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs.

But first in our shopping cart full of news. Instacart just sold your cart to a pizza chain. Papa John's wants to sell you a pizza at the exact moment your fridge goes empty. So it bought the data to know when that happens. The chain ran a campaign called empty fridge with three partners, NBCUniversal, Instacart, and Carrot, the media agency owned by Dentsu.

It ran from late April through mid-June on Peacock, NBC Sports, and other NBCUniversal streaming. Here's how the plumbing works. Instacart knows who buys the staples. Eggs, milk, meat, produce. You get the idea. From that, it can guess which day of the week a given household runs low. NBCU then serves those households a Papa John's ad on wherever they happen to be streaming. The creative then shifts based on what you buy.

A meat shopper gets a meat pizza. There is a QR code and a line. Light on groceries? But set the pizza aside, the real move came from Instacart. And they confirmed this is the first time it has handed its first-party purchase data to a brand outside the packaged goods world to use on NBCU inventory. Papa John's is a restaurant, not a CPG brand. And that line got crossed here.

I think the rest of the story is really that targeting logic. Papa John's sorts pizza buyers into three groups. People with standing pizza nights, people throwing a party, and the spontaneous orderer who just caves when the fridge is bare. This last group is the target here. And the CMO, Jenna Bromberg, says an ad lands harder when it hits someone who is tired and out of options at the end of the week.

And wow, this hits a little close to home, this story. Carrots carry drink water. Describe the goal as kno...

June 29th, 2026: Papa John's and Instacart, Amazon Prime Day, FedEx Earnings, and Agentic Cannes

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

June 29th, 2026: Papa John's and Instacart, Amazon Prime Day, FedEx Earnings, and Agentic Cannes

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.