Over the last several weeks, I’ve studied the third-party and returns logistics industries with fury. What I found is that there is major disruption happening in stores that can be categorized into three distinct groups: independent, mid-market, and major. Most of the impending opportunity was available to the smaller, independently run shipping warehouses peppered throughout North America. These physical warehouses are sitting on a growth opportunity. With that, so is Shopify.

There is irony in the word “Eadem.” When I first heard the Latin term while on a trip abroad, it was used in reverence in the context of the 16th century British monarchy. Known to refer to equanimity and stability, the word signifies a perpetual sameness or precedence. A little digging revealed that it was the motto of Anne Boleyn, Cambridge’s Trinity College, and the HMS Queen Elizabeth. The word presents a sort of monolith. It’s also now an autantonym, a word which one meaning is the reverse of the other. A new brand named Eadem will rewrite how we view sameness. Launched this week by two women of color, Marie Kouadio Amouzame and Alice Lin Glover, Eadem is backed by a Glossier grant and Sephora’s 2021 program.

The tail is beginning to wag the dog. Strategist and consultant Michael Miraflor recently visited his neighborhood Kohl’s and observed an astounding trend. Nearly 70% of the store’s traffic was there to return Amazon packages, according to his estimates. I wanted to dig deeper here. Research suggested that while the 70% figure may be extreme, it’s not by much. Returns volume has become a business development boon. Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass said during a recent conference call: