Restaurants are experimenting with robots, but customers aren’t enthused: Labor crunches and high costs are pushing fast-food chains like Chipotle and Panera Bread to adopt automation front and back of house.
Panera’s new AI uses sensors, algorithms, and analytics to ensure coffee is optimally brewed: Restaurants are leaning into AI and automation, but will long-term effects lead to reduced hospitality and fewer customers?
Online marketplaces compete to draw new merchants to their platforms: Amazon and Walmart offer incentives for new vendors as Etsy sellers go on strike.
Nubank lands $650M to double down in Mexico, Colombia: The Brazil-based neobank could use its home market products to deepen its presence in other LATAM countries.
As hybrid work gains traction, office furniture companies sense an opportunity: Startup Branch scored $10 million in funding to help furnish employees’ home and in-person offices.
Fifteen trademark applications filed last week suggest Mastercard is buying the NFT and metaverse hype.
Elon Musk has a new role—and it’s not what we thought it’d be: Rather than joining Twitter’s board, he’s opting to become the platform’s activist investor par excellence.
Inclusive marketing is becoming important to advertisers: Horizon Media and Nielsen partner to better facilitate media planning for Asian, Black, and Hispanic consumers.
Personalization pays off with customers: Companies like Netflix see it as a priority, as the platform launches Two Thumbs Up to improve recommendations.
TikTok’s hold on the social media industry is impossible to ignore: The video app and other visually oriented platforms thrive with key demographics.
The FDIC wants insured banks to report their crypto actions, while states look to exempt companies in the space from certain regulations.
Greenwood runs up against limits for its vision: The US neobank, which caters to Black and Latino Americans, found it necessary to work with “white-controlled banks” for a partnership and investments.
LendInvest gets to £2B ($2.75B) AUM: In the strong UK alt-lender market, it reported having crossed the platform assets under management (AUM) level just 30 months after hitting £1B ($1.38B).
Inflation rose to 8.5% in March: While rising prices mean US consumers have a lot less buying power, that hasn’t stopped people from shopping online.
The battle for Kohl’s heats up: Hours after the retailer sent shareholders a letter arguing its board is prepared to oversee Kohl’s evolving strategy, another group bid for the retailer.
US spending on linear TV ads will peak this year at $68.35 billion, up from $65.66 billion in 2021. This figure will not surpass $68 billion again for the next four years, with TV ad spend dropping to $64.94 billion in 2026 as its share of total media ad spend decreases as well.
Target aims to gain a larger share of the lower-income market: The retailer plans to begin accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for online orders later this month.
In 2022, US meal-kit subscription services will deliver $7.63 billion in digital sales to make up 22.8% of the country’s subscription ecommerce sales. The meal-kit subscription market has seen slowing growth since mushrooming by 85.0% in 2020, though its 17.0% increase this year is healthy nonetheless.