Retail & Ecommerce

Amazon closes Whole Foods stores as revenue growth slows: After a disappointing first quarter, the retailer is focused on cutting costs and maximizing efficiency.

Agencies spy an opportunity in the metaverse: WPP is partnering with Epic Games on a new initiative for that very reason.

Adidas and Under Armour see margins shrink as freight costs rise: Both retailers are also struggling to avoid the “severe impact” of lockdowns in China.

Inflation hasn’t hurt retail sales, which grew 7.2% in April: That growth stems from people flocking to stores. In-store sales rose 10.0%, while ecommerce sales fell 1.8%.

On today's episode, we discuss whether augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will rival the smartphone as the next big platform, the impact of 3D advertising, how in-store shopping habits have changed, whether there really is an attention economy slowdown, what to do about inflation, an unpopular opinion about video chats, which way people fold their arms, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our senior director of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti, director of forecasting Oscar Orozco, and analyst Dave Frankland.

Insider intelligence spoke with Andrew Condispoti, co-CEO of Goodlife Clothing, about the brand.

Ad agencies expand their ecommerce capabilities as brands ask for help: Publicis Groupe acquires ecommerce vendor Profitero while competitor WPP makes it easier for brands to sell D2C with a new end-to-end platform.

Fiserv will let merchant clients using Carat offer Affirm to their customers as demand for BNPL intensifies.

Two years in, Meta’s latest ecommerce effort fails to resonate: Ecommerce could soften the blow to its ad business, but it’s struggling to catch on.

eBay and Etsy expect their ecommerce sales to slow: They’re far from alone in offering a pessimistic near-term outlook for the ecommerce sector.

In 2021, Amazon’s US average revenue per user (ARPU) for its retail media network was nearly 4 times that of Instacart and close to 9 times that of Walmart.

Word of mouth trumps advertising: Intuit’s TurboTax massive deceptive ad settlement reflects a growing lack of trust consumers have in advertising.

Just Eat enters an exclusive partnership with Domino’s: That type of deal is one of the few ways that food delivery companies can distinguish themselves from the competition.