The news: Cannes Lions 2025 marked a shift in retail media strategy, with platforms like Pinterest and Reddit forging deeper ties with retailers. CVS announced a clean room data partnership with Reddit to allow targeting based on shared first-party data, launching a Sensodyne and Advil campaign this fall. Pinterest partnered with Instacart to enable shopping from pins and connect ad exposure to sales via closed-loop attribution. Our take: Social platforms are becoming full-funnel retail media environments. By fusing community context with purchase signals, these integrations aim to blend discovery and commerce in real time—paving the way for more data-rich, measurable campaigns.
The news: Early Warning Services partnered with Fiserv to expand Paze acceptance through its merchant network. Our take: Paze now needs to convince users to reflexively flip between two wallets for ecommerce and in-person transactions. Converting primary loyalty to either Apple Wallet’s 18.1 million users or Google Wallet’s 12.4 million users will be a tough consumer behavior to build. But as deals with its new expanded merchant network solidify, Paze is still primed for steady growth.
The news: X (formerly Twitter) CEO Linda Yaccarino said the social media platform is exploring offering co-brand credit and debit cards during the Cannes Lions advertising festival, per a report by the Financial Times. Our take: X doesn’t wield the necessary characteristics to draw in a meaningful co-brand credit and debit card user base. The company, the social media platform, and Musk himself have been rocked by scandals, causing advertisers and users to flee in droves. If users already have misgivings about the safety of the platform, they may think twice before hitching their finances to the app.
The news: Gen Z is preparing an ambitious lineup of summer fun—including domestic and international travel, shopping and dining, and vacation upgrades—to a degree that outstrips millennials, Gen X, and baby boomers, per a study by Bread Financial. Our take: Gen Zers invest in work/life balance and are willing to spend to maximize their R&R experiences. Brands should meet this generation with luxury-first options and seamless experiences to maximize their return on investment for the younger cohort willing to spend to make a good time a great one.
Home Depot made a bid for GMS, a building products and tool supplier for both consumers and contractors, per The Wall Street Journal. Our take: Home Depot sees a significant opportunity to consolidate the fragmented construction supply and tool market—and it's moving at a moment when the US housing shortfall could drive sustained demand for new construction and renovation.
Housing hits more walls: Latest data show new signs of market weakening as builders pull back.
The trend: Casual dining chains that lean into value are luring cost-conscious consumers, even as broader economic uncertainty tempers discretionary spending. Our take: Consumers haven’t stopped dining out, but they’ve become more selective. They’re increasingly looking for value experiences that offer more for their money. That shift is pressuring some parts of the industry. Quick-service chains like McDonald’s and fine dining brands like Darden’s Ruth’s Chris and The Capital Grille are feeling the squeeze. But it’s providing an opportunity for casual dining chains that offer affordable indulgences. Their combination of sit-down service and budget-friendly pricing is hitting the mark.
Two-thirds of US retail media buyers expect to spend more on video advertising over the next 12 months, according to March 2025 data from Koddi. Nearly as many (63%) will up their investments in social media.
Consumers aren’t just looking for deals—they’re looking for brands they can trust. Nearly 80% of consumers say they’d be more likely to try a new retailer if it appeared in their bank’s rewards program, according to a new report from EMARKETER and Chase Media Solutions.
In the first half of 2025, tariffs rattled retailers, consumer trust wavered in the face of muted DEI efforts, and fast-fashion platforms like Shein and Temu braced for policy whiplash. Meanwhile, private label products surged in popularity, and the retail world took a closer look at generative AI—not just for buzz, but for tangible impact across the shopper journey. Here are the top stories from H1 2025 and why they matter for the rest of the year.
The news: Walmart-owned Sam’s Club is raising prices on select products in response to cost pressures from the Trump administration’s tariffs, The Wall Street Journal reports. Our take: Sam’s Club is on a roll. The retailer is generating record-high membership levels and plans to accelerate growth by opening about 15 new stores each year while remodeling existing locations. But how Sam’s Club handles tariff-driven price increases could determine whether its momentum continues—or stalls. The retailer faces a delicate balancing act in deciding when to absorb rising costs and when to pass them on. The stakes are high. A misstep could either erode profit margins or drive a decline in membership renewals—both of which are essential to its business model.
The news: Apple’s iOS 26 update will let users store passports as Digital IDs in the Wallet app. Our take: iOS 26’s integration of digital US passports should draw more attention from users. While this update will not replace physical passports for international travel, it signals a major turning point for digital identity authentication on Apple’s platform given the scale of identity security a passport exudes.
The news: Klarna will offer unlimited 5G data, talk, and text for $40/month with coverage on AT&T’s network in the US, per a press release, with plans to expand this deal to the UK and Germany soon. Our take: Klarna’s ambitions to be a BNPL provider, a mobile phone service, a neobank, and most recently—according to CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski—“a digital financial assistant,” per CNBC, signals the company’s voracious appetite to be everything at once.
The news: Brazil’s central bank rolled out a recurring payments feature to the Pix instant payment system, according to a report from Reuters. Our take: Pix’s use likely can keep growing steadily if it can target new volume opportunities.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how retailers are approaching their DEI initiatives under the current administration, the impact of staying quiet this Pride Month, and where the discussion around DEI goes next. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Principal Analyst Sky Canaves, Analyst Paola Flores-Marquez, and Dr. Marcus Collins—author and Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
The situation: White-collar employment at US public companies has dropped 3.5% over the past three years, per Live Data Technologies data cited by The Wall Street Journal. The trend comes as companies face mounting pressure to cut overhead amid economic uncertainty—prompting executives to increasingly turn to automation to boost efficiency. Our take: White-collar job cuts, combined with rising tariffs and broader macroeconomic uncertainty, are creating an increasingly challenging environment for retailers heading into the second half of 2025—and likely beyond.
68% of US LGBTQ+ adults say all or most companies participate in Pride Month to boost business, while just 16% believe it’s driven by genuine support, per a January survey from Pew Research Center.
The news: Amazon announced its Prime Day event will run from July 8 at 12:01 a.m. PDT through July 11, starting eight days earlier than last year and lasting twice as long as previous events. Our take: Amazon recognizes that while consumers have grown more selective about when and where they spend, many will still jump at the chance to save if they find compelling offers. By extending Prime Day’s duration, adding tech-driven shopping tools, and broadening its footprint across countries and third-party sites, Amazon is turning the event into an inescapable, large-scale retail moment. Even in a margin-squeezed environment, the visibility and sales potential of Prime Day may be too significant for sellers to pass up.
The news: Costco plans to open a standalone gas station next spring in Mission Viejo, a city in Orange County, California. The 40-pump station, which will be the membership club’s largest to date, will be about two miles from two existing Costco warehouses—one of which already has a gas station. Our take: Costco is investing in ways to reinforce the value of membership, and fuel is central to that equation. If this off-site station succeeds, it could set the stage for a broader rollout of standalone locations—especially in high-traffic markets. The move could also prompt rivals like Sam’s Club to follow suit as competition in the warehouse club space heats up.
The news: Pinterest is partnering with Instacart to allow advertisers to power their campaigns using the latter’s first-party data—a move that will enhance the value of both companies’ ad platforms while advancing Pinterest’s shoppable ambitions. Our take: Pinterest’s ability to engage the all-important Gen Z cohort, along with its role as a source of inspiration and product discovery, is making it a more strategic asset for brands and retailers. As economic uncertainty drives companies to be more careful with their ad dollars, Pinterest’s ability to reach audiences at every stage of their customer journey—now bolstered by access to Instacart’s first-party data—positions it as an even more valuable partner.