Abercrombie & Fitch reported record revenues in Q2 as soaring demand among Gen Z teens for Hollister offset weakness at its namesake brand. Abercrombie is navigating the current environment as well as any retailer—especially one with considerable tariff exposure—could. While minimizing tariff costs remains a key priority, Abercrombie’s sharp focus on the fundamentals—delivering products that people want—will help guide it through uncertainty.
Lego continues to outperform the toy industry by delivering products that appeal to both children and adults while expanding brand awareness in Asia. While we expect US toy and hobby sales to grow just 2.0% this year, Lego is increasingly in a league of its own. The company’s all-ages appeal, IP partnerships, and brick-and-mortar strategy are working in tandem to drive sales and encourage lasting loyalty.
Kohl’s reported a better-than-expected Q2 profit as it controlled expenses and reintroduced phased-out product assortments, hinting at early signs of traction despite sales declines. The retailer is taking steps to stabilize, but it faces a mammoth challenge to move sales to growth—not just lessen the declines. As shoppers scrutinize every dollar they spend, Kohl’s needs to show it can deliver the right products at the right price—and find ways to stand out in an increasingly crowded field by bolstering loyalty perks, leaning more on personalized offerings to consumers, and communicating clearly what it wants to be known for. That won’t be easy for a retailer whose core shoppers remain heavily reliant on coupons and discounts.
The news: Online retail traffic from generative AI (genAI) sources is exploding, highlighting how AI tools are intercepting and guiding the product search journey. GenAI traffic to US retail sites grew 4,700% YoY in July, per Adobe Digital Insights. 38% of US consumers have used genAI for shopping, and another 52% plan to do so this year. Our take: Brands need to market to both machines and people to avoid being excluded from AI results. Success will involve understanding how models interpret product data and reviews and aligning messaging with the signals AI uses to index and recommend products.
While AI advancements have sparked litigation between publishers and tech giants—The New York Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI for copyright infringement being the most prominent—some publishers are embracing AI partnerships as an essential revenue driver amid shaky search traffic.
Google is enhancing its retail ad offerings with loyalty-driven personalization tools aimed at retention. New features include personalized pricing and shipping perks for loyalty members, a “loyalty mode” in Google Ads’ retention goal to optimize for high-lifetime-value customers, and personalized annotations in Performance Max campaigns. Sephora, an early adopter, reported a 20% lift in click-through rates from loyalty-focused annotations. The launch comes as loyalty ranks high on shoppers’ holiday priorities and as CMOs lean on loyalty programs to bolster first-party data. With Amazon pulling away from Google, the updates position Ads as a retention engine in the retail fight.
The Q2 performances of Amazon, Walmart, and Target illustrate the retailers’ diverging fortunes as shoppers reassess their spending priorities. While uncertainty is funneling more dollars toward Amazon and Walmart, customers are steering clear of Target—due both to a lackluster assortment and frustration over its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) flip-flopping. Walmart and Amazon are pulling ahead as their relentless focus on value—in the form of speed, selection, and convenience—make them the first stop for shoppers buying everything from essentials like groceries to discretionary items like beauty and apparel. That leaves Target’s new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, with the unenviable task of having to turn the retailer around just as tariffs threaten its bottom line and undermine its core discretionary business.
Walmart will offer next-day delivery in select cities for some marketplace orders, the company said. The service will be available to customers in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston, with plans to eventually expand to more areas. t’s no accident that Walmart is making a play for urban customers at the same time that Amazon is going after rural households. Both retailers see opportunities to win over the other’s core customer base by offering a compelling combination of convenience and low prices.
The news: Crypto exchange Gemini launched an XRP edition of the Gemini credit card in collaboration with Ripple, per a press release. Cardholders will receive XRP as a reward for everyday spend. Our take: We forecast the amount of US crypto payment users remains low, at 1.3% of the population. However, the share of people who use crypto at all is more than seven times as large—suggesting Gemini’s new card could attract a larger base than cards designed around using crypto at checkout.
The news: Klarna is now available in-store at over 400 Walmart Canada locations. Canadian Walmart shoppers can scan a QR code at assisted lane checkouts to choose between Pay in Full or Pay in 4. Only purchases over CAD 50 will be eligible for Klarna’s financing. Our take: Klarna’s partnerships with Walmart in the US and Canada are major coups for the BNPL player. Affirm’s dominance stateside is driven by its strategic partnerships and strong Affirm card adoption. Klarna should continue staking out new tie-ups with major retailers and boost Klarna card use to secure a stronger presence in Canada.
The news: Urban Outfitters is partnering with Levi’s for the second iteration of On Rotation, its limited-time concept launched earlier this year with Nike to deliver community-driven, experience-rich retail environments for Gen Z. Our take: On Rotation recasts retail as a series of limited-edition experiential drops, with physical and digital spaces that vanish almost as quickly as they appear. It’s a storytelling-fueled scarcity play that’s designed to train a generation of shoppers who never grew up as mall rats to return again and again in search of novelty. The approach reframes the store—and the website—as a medium for culture, not just commerce, and offers a playbook that department stores and other retailers would be smart to test.
The luxury industry has a counterfeit problem. Counterfeits pose a serious challenge for brands and the growing number of secondhand platforms that specialize in luxury resale. The more convincing these superfakes get, the harder it will be for companies like LVMH to justify their high price points—and harder still for platforms like Vestiaire and The RealReal to keep fake goods off their marketplaces.
Successful retail partnerships create value beyond what either brand could achieve alone. “One plus one makes three is the ideal situation, where both parties bring something to the table that the customer values and as a result, both businesses and brands benefit,” said Brian Berger, founder and CEO of Mack Weldon, on a recent episode of “Behind the Numbers.”
US ad spend with financial media will reach over $600 millions this year, according to EMARKETER forecasts, but still represent a small fraction of the commerce media landscape. "This is a really nascent space. There aren't many players that make up this cohort of financial media networks (FMNs), and they represent a really diverse array of types of financial companies," said our analyst Sarah Marzano during a recent episode of "Behind the Numbers."
A leaked Adweek-reviewed file details how The Trade Desk partners with 49 retailers worldwide to sell ad placements built on shopper data. The document reveals steep markups and inconsistent rules: Albertsons charges up to 45% of media costs, Best Buy limits custom audiences, Costco sets $100K minimums, and Walmart imposes fees capped at $3.50 CPMs plus measurement charges. Other retailers add restrictions around ad categories or approvals. The leak highlights both the value and complexity of retail media as brands chase audience targeting tied directly to transactions. Transparency remains a challenge, with costs and conditions varying widely by partner.
The news: Netflix will open its first Netflix House location at King of Prussia Mall outside Philadelphia on November 12, with a second location at Galleria Dallas beginning business on December 12, per Variety. A third location is set to open next year in Las Vegas. Our take: The large entertainment-and-retail hubs will serve as experiential billboards for Netflix’s IP. By melding marketing with monetization, Netflix House should help the streamer keep its hits relevant and boost awareness of emerging titles, while also converting fandom into foot traffic and sales. If visitors find the spaces engaging, they should draw attention to Netflix IP at a time when streamers face intense competition for viewers, while also generating revenues from fans eager to step inside the worlds they watch on screen. That could create a virtuous loop as deeper engagement often drives greater loyalty to both the titles and to Netflix itself.
Temu parent PDD posted its slowest revenue growth in Q2 since the end of 2021, as it struggles to navigate a weak consumer environment in China and regulatory challenges in the US and other key markets. While PDD’s Q2 results beat expectations, they show how the company’s primary strategy of undercutting competitors with cheaper prices is becoming untenable in the current political and macroeconomic landscape.
Visa’s retreat reflects regulatory chaos and rising data access fees, signaling broader instability for fintechs and the future of “open” banking in America.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss our ‘very specific, but highly unlikely’ predictions for the future of digital in 2026 and beyond. Why browsers will become the new AI battleground, what does it mean if agentic AI doesn’t take over shopping, and can GenAI actually lead to more of the jobs it can easily destroy? Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Senior Director of Briefings, Jeremy Goldman, Principal Analyst, Sara Marzano, and Vice President of Content, Paul Verna. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.