In today’s episode, we talk about how to be both a product-led organization and a customer-centric one, what fintechs are doing that keeps them closer to customers, and how banks can rethink the customer journey around financial life stages. Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, Analyst Lauren Ashcraft, and Principal Analyst Tiffani Montez.
As advertisers navigate Google’s recent search changes that favor its emerging AI models, retail media strategies could offer them heightened visibility and control.
The news: Walmart’s OnePay and Synchrony will issue a new co-brand Mastercard and a private-label card. Our take: The massive retailer’s connectivity between its customer base, supplier relationships, and financing apparatus positions OnePay to be a disruptor on the scene.
The news: PayPal will serve as Selfbook’s commerce partner for its travel and hotel offerings, per a press release. Customers can book travel arrangements directly within the PayPal app. Our take: Consumers want travel features from their banks, which PayPal has taken up as a fintech payment provider.
The news: Chase will let customers transfer credit limits between cards online without having to make a phone call or send a secured message, per a report by the Frequent Miler. Our take: For credit cards courting millennial and Gen Z cardholders, managing and optimizing financial health simply will be critical to securing their loyalty.
The reality: Tariff-driven grocery price hikes have been relatively modest so far this year. Food and beverage prices rose 2.9% YoY through mid-May, up from 1.7% a year earlier, per Circana. While tariffs haven’t caused a major inflation spike, supply-side shocks—like drought, avian flu, and extreme weather—have pushed up prices on staples such as coffee, eggs, and chocolate. Our take: Tariffs haven’t led to major price hikes yet, but that’s likely to change soon as duties push up costs on goods like seafood, alcohol, and produce. And even before those increases take effect, shoppers are becoming more cautious, more price-sensitive, and quicker to trade down or skip nonessentials altogether.
The news: Dick’s Sporting Goods’ retail media arm, Dick’s Media, is partnering with Roku to bring its shopper data to connected TV, per Adweek. Our take: Dick’s sees retail media as a long-term growth engine, and its partnership with Roku should enhance its ability to compete with larger players by combining rich loyalty data with precise streaming insights. While Dick’s Media already offered brands a robust mix of in-store and digital ad opportunities, the expanded Roku partnership enables more targeted, measurable, and high-impact campaigns—especially as connected TV becomes a core pillar in the modern advertising mix.
Even though most retail dollars are spent in physical stores, experts say retail media dollars have been slow to meet those consumers
The news: Walmart rolled out Sparky, its generative AI (genAI) assistant, to all Walmart app users this week—a preliminary step that puts it closer to achieving its agentic ambitions. Our take: By broadening Sparky’s capabilities, Walmart is trying to position itself not only as a shopping destination, but also as a place where consumers can go when they need everyday life advice or information—such as how to fix a leaky faucet or help with event planning. Whether the retailer succeeds will depend on how well Sparky works, and whether it can convince shoppers to overcome their current skepticism of AI tools.
The US-China trade war drives Shein to diversify its sourcing: Shein and Reliance Retail plan to start international sales of India-made Shein-branded clothes within six to 12 months.
The news: Cannes Lions 2025 kicks off June 16, with media companies and platforms turning the festival into a proving ground for brand innovation. Spotify is merging live acts like Cardi B with audiobook tastings and celebrity panels, while Canva hosts CMO roundtables alongside design influencers. Google, Uber, and Influential are anchoring talks on TV, sports, and creator-driven engagement—with yacht-side podcasts and fundraising activations adding a new layer of purpose. Our take: This year’s Cannes isn’t about opulence—it’s about ownership. Brands that bring substance, not just spectacle, will emerge with more than headlines—they’ll leave with lasting partnerships and fresh strategic playbooks.
Back-to-school sales will decelerate this year: Mounting macroeconomic pressures are prompting retailers to kick off promotions earlier and encouraging consumers to buy now rather than later.
The news: Starbucks is lowering prices in China for some drinks as the country’s relentless price wars force the struggling coffee chain to shift gears. Our take: Starbucks’ pricing actions are necessary to keep it competitive in a challenging market. But it is increasingly struggling to keep up with the likes of Luckin Coffee and Cotti, which are not only considerably cheaper but also better able to meet Chinese consumers’ rapidly shifting tastes. With conditions in the world’s second-largest economy unlikely to improve this year, Starbucks will have to find a way to become nimbler—and more affordable—to keep within striking distance of its rivals.
Amazon Prime is deeply entrenched in the US, with 75% of households as members. Despite this saturation, Amazon sees growth opportunities in international markets and among underpenetrated US demographics: rural, younger, and lower-income consumers. These groups show untapped potential, said Jamil Ghani, Amazon Prime’s worldwide VP. Prime fuels Amazon’s ecosystem—members spend more by using benefits like streaming, pharmacy, Grubhub+, and free shipping. In contrast, nonmembers often spend less over time. By expanding perks and appealing to new segments, Amazon uses Prime to drive loyalty, customer lifetime value, and resilience against macroeconomic shifts.
Retail and commerce media were huge topics at last year’s Cannes Lions festival, and this year, the festival is doubling down on the channel by introducing a new retail media sub-category in the Media Lions and Creative Commerce Lions awards. However, “the tone is definitely shifting” as the industry matures—and faces the threat of tariff-related impacts, according to our analyst, Sarah Marzano.
The trend: Walmart and Amazon are determined to take drone delivery mainstream. Our take: It’s easy to understand the sci-fi appeal of drone delivery—but whether it’s feasible remains a question that retailers are still struggling to answer.
The news: Paze notched a major partnership with Worldpay to expand its merchant network, per a press release. Our take: Groundwork has been set for Paze to take off. We predicted that Paze would make significant gains in 2025, and this partnership will help Paze establish its online presence and customer familiarity for strong back-to-school and holiday shopping spend.
The news: The USDC stablecoin issuer Circle’s IPO exceeded investor expectations—its stock price ended the day up 168%. Our take: Circle’s IPO signals increasing investor optimism in crypto, particularly stablecoins. As stablecoins become a more accepted element of our financial infrastructure, financial providers should prepare for how to incorporate or interact with this element of the payments space.
The news: Fiserv will acquire the remaining 49.9% stake in AIB Merchant Services, one of Ireland’s largest payment solutions providers and Europe’s largest ecommerce acquirers. Our take: Fiserv has to find innovative ways to grow among a competitive POS landscape, rising softPOS adoption, and pervasive economic uncertainty.