Costco raises its membership fee by $5 (or $10 for executive members): That’s the first increase in seven years and its timing is ideal given consumers’ growing focus on value.

This issue has been the center of a global regulatory debate, but consumers should be careful what they wish for

Snap opens up its walled garden in a first for social media: The company partnered with VideoAmp and could accelerate an industrywide pivot away from closed ecosystems.

Is the auto industry losing faith in TV? Ad expenditures are still high on sports broadcasts, but a tough market is causing spending to contract.

The regulatory environment influences Google's corporate strategies: Canceling the HubSpot acquisition shows the significant impact of heightened scrutiny on tech giants.

PepsiCo and Conagra temper outlooks as they struggle with consumers’ shrinkflation concerns: Sales volumes for both companies fell as private labels capture record dollar and unit share.

FDA revises guidance to help drug- and device-makers address social media misinformation: But we’re not sure the regulator has the appetite to take on more authority related to healthcare and pharma social media ads.

FTC to sue PBMs over drug pricing tactics: Could pharmacy benefit managers’ power over negotiating drug prices start to diminish?

Fast Retailing’s store expansion strategy boosts its international profile: The Uniqlo parent’s push into the US and Europe is growing brand awareness and profits.

Updated policies tackle misleading listings to retain buyer confidence as Etsy seeks to protect its handmade brand from an influx of low-quality AI items.

Giving other wallets access to the tech could foster greater competition in mobile payments, but Apple Pay likely won’t lose its lead with consumers

Airlines are flying too much: That led to a glut of airline seats, which hurt Delta’s net income in Q2.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss examples of generative AI (GenAI) in retail, how to convince consumers to engage with it, and what GenAI is not good for. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analyst Yory Wurmser and Beth Ann Kaminkow, CEO of the New York office and global chief commerce officer at VML.

70.5% of US traditional search ad spend will go to Google in 2026, according to our March 2024 forecast.

Though ChatGPT has been publicly available for less than two years, we expect it will have 67.7 million monthly US users by the end of this year. That puts ChatGPT ahead of Reddit (60.8 million) and X (53.8 million) in monthly users. But because the tech is open-ended, the chatbot is only as useful as the people prompting it are. Here are seven creative uses for ChatGPT that have caught our eye.

In 2024, US consumer spending on online marketplaces will reach $468.33 billion, according to our forecast, with a significant portion of ecommerce sales shifting to these platforms.

Online marketplace sales are steadily outpacing overall ecommerce: Our latest research looks at the consumer behaviors and platforms driving the trend.