Uber Eats, which says rural America is becoming a top priority, has tapped discount retailer Family Dollar to focus on serving shoppers with discounts and deals on everyday essentials.

“When you look at all the retailers that we’ve onboarded recently—like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sprouts, and Costco—they’re very rural centric,” Hashim Amin, head of grocery and retail in North America at Uber, told Retail Brew. “We continue to make massive expansion into that space.”

The restaurant and grocery delivery platform said it has been actively reaching out to retailers and grocers to expand its selection of everyday essentials and affordable items for on-demand delivery. “Family Dollar is in a very unique position because they index very highly in value and they also have incredible trust amongst their consumers,” Amin said.

Uber’s focus on affordability comes amid fears of a looming recession. Uber’s deal is a play to potentially safeguard itself to some degree from macroeconomic uncertainty. Economic downturns generally boost discount retailers like Family Dollar as consumers prioritize budget-friendly shopping alternatives. Separately, as Retail Brew previously reported, even Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has said “there’s never been a more important time in recent memory” for keeping prices low, and that the e-commerce giant is “maniacally focused” on this goal.

Keep reading here.—VC

Brands have been on edge in recent years, worried by reports of consumer spending pullback and growing selectivity. But a new study from Zeno Group offers a surprising twist: 87% of American shoppers say they support the brands they love—even when it’s not the easiest option.

Meanwhile, 72% of those surveyed said they’d stay loyal to retailers they love even if it meant paying more for their products.

“People truly form relationships with brands—experiencing the highs, the lows, and the emotional stickiness of a real relationship,” Allison McClamroch, head of brand US at Zeno, told Retail Brew via email. “And even in price-sensitive environments, that loyalty can stretch a long way.”

Keep reading here.—JS

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has quietly dismantled much of its public DEI information over the past several months.

What’s happening? With roughly 138,000 employees worldwide, J&J made a $100 million diversity pledge in 2020, but like many corporations that were previously committed to DEI, it appears to have backtracked. In April, J&J deleted its DEI landing page, and scrubbed several other indicators of the company’s diversity and health equality efforts.

The page, which stated, “Johnson & Johnson is an innovation-based company, and diversity is at the root of innovation,” now redirects visitors to a watered-down Inclusion landing site.

J&J also appears to have rebranded its employee resource groups (ERGs) to “employee business resource groups” earlier this year, removing language about wellness, hiring diverse talent, and employee leadership opportunities.

Keep reading here on HR Brew.—KP