Retail & Ecommerce

China’s retail rebound is off to a sluggish start: Consumers are being cautious with their spending as they navigate economic uncertainty. (This article was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.)

Luxury retailer Cucinelli expects its revenues to rise 15% this year: That’s a three percentage point jump from its previous outlook as it is increasingly optimistic about its ability to expand into new markets.

Kroger looks to reduce its operational costs: The grocer is testing self-driving trucks at several Dallas-area locations.

Despite the word “recession” hanging in the air, US retailers had an okay Q4 in 2022. But some recurring themes persisted: Shoppers pulled back on discretionary spending, opted against home renovations, and generally avoided high prices. Here’s a look at how those trends affected earnings.

Wix’s merchants can benefit from stronger fraud detection capabilities as card-not-present fraud risks increase.

By 2026, US spending on ecommerce channel ads—a large subset of retail media—will be more than triple its 2020 level, per our forecast. Within the ecommerce channel, both search and display advertising are growing rapidly.

Retail sales rose 6.4% in the first two months of 2023: While growth slowed in February, consumers continued to spend.

In-store pickup will emerge as the clear preference for US click-and-collect buyers.

Can robots help retailers overcome a tight labor market? Lowe’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Sam’s Club are among the companies looking to robots to improve the customer experience.

An emerging tension between retailer ads and customer experience (CX) is brewing as consumers grow more attuned to high ad loads online and in stores. Retailers’ core competency of delivering exceptional CX is now being pitted against their own retail media networks’ desire to expand their digital advertising surface area to capture high-margin revenues.

Alcohol ecommerce is growing. See how alcohol purchase trends are shifting, who’s buying, and how to reach new customers.

Startups have had issues with payment processing and access to capital. Many crypto investors also swapped their USDC holdings for Tether. 

H&M is the latest fast fashion retailer to embrace resale: The retailer launched H&M Pre-loved, its first resale platform in the US market, with around 30,000 items.

Asos is working with Criteo to expand its retail media business: The retailer hopes that retail media revenues can help it navigate the challenging economic environment.

On today's episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we talk about what the leading retailers' Q4 performances tell us about the state of retail. Then for "Pop-Up Rankings: Earnings Awards Edition," we rank the two best and the two most concerning retailer performances of late. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman and analyst Zak Stambor.

US click-and-collect sales growth will slow slightly over the course of the next few years, per our forecast, as adoption levels off after an acceleration in 2020. Still, sales will increase by double-digit percentages both this year and next and reach $131.66 billion by 2026.