July 2019

According to Kohl’s chief executive the retailer’s “single biggest initiative” this year will be accepting and processing unwanted orders from Amazon.

After running a pilot program in 100 Kohl’s stores, the retail store is now accepting Amazon returns at all locations. They will take on packing, labeling, and shipping the returned items for free in hopes of bringing more shoppers into their stores. The national rollout was timed with the back-to-school shopping season. The marriage between Kohl’s and Amazon allows Amazon customers a happy and easy place to return their items, while giving Kohl’s the opportunity to attract potential shoppers into their stores.

Other National chains have experimented with different ways to accommodate new digital shopping habits particularly of younger consumers. Some stores are creating hubs solely for online pickups and returns, while others are looking to accelerate the delivery of items to consumers. To learn more about the Kohl’s and Amazon partnership, visit here.

iTunes Reimagined

iTunes may be as good as dead, leaving us all wondering what will happen to our music?

Apple isn’t taking away the tunes you’ve undoubtedly spent years listening to and crafting playlists with. Instead, they are reimagining iTunes duties into 4 parts including Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and the Finder.

For now, iTunes will continue to exist, but once Apple’s MacOS Catalina upgrade comes this fall, it will no longer be supported. Everything you already own will be automatically reorganized in Apple Music once you upgrade your current MacOS version. The Finder tool will now serve as the operating system’s file manager, keeping track of backups and syncs. Apple will also still continue offering a catalog of over 50 million songs, in addition to music videos and podcasts. You can choose to subscribe to Apple Music or just access your current music collection as is, utilizing the iTunes Store if you want to buy new songs.

To learn more about the slow fade of iTunes, what will go away, what will be reorganized, and what will be newly available for the first time, visit here.

Datto Certifications

Madeline Marte, Danny Moskowitz, and Joe Larrosa have all completed Datto Technical Specialist II training. The training has equipped Madeline, Danny and Joe with the latest Datto technical knowledge, focused on the most relevant technical topics of the moment based on support center and partner feedback. This will allow our team to better serve our customers in understanding how to use Datto products.