Retail & Ecommerce

Best Buy relies on promotions, AI innovation to combat sluggish demand: The retailer’s sales continued to drop in Q1 as consumers shy away from expensive purchases.

Dollar General, Burlington benefit from consumers’ price sensitivities: Both retailers are gaining share as shoppers of all incomes search for value.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of May. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against analysts Sky Canaves and Zak Stambor, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

Key stat: Nearly half (49%) of US adults will begin back-to-school shopping by early July, according to a March 2024 survey by LTK.

US consumers keep spending: Better-than-expected results from Abercrombie, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Cava demonstrate that shoppers are willing to splurge on some nice-to-have items.

Chewy autoship customer sales rose 6.4% in Q1: The company is finding more ways to drive consumers to spend, which helped boost net sales per active customer 9.6%.

Starbucks’ staffing issues lead to worker and customer dissatisfaction: Chronic understaffing is increasing wait times and hurting sales, while giving the union more room to extract concessions.

Retail media networks deliver 183% higher engagement, but with tradeoffs: Viewability and strategic ad placement are key, says new DoubleVerify report.

The initiative will utilize customer data for targeted advertising and innovative ad formats to attract sellers and non-endemic advertisers

Gen Z is Pinterest’s largest and fastest-growing demographic, according to the platform. To cater to its younger consumers, Pinterest is focusing on inclusivity, search, and AI-powered curation. Here are five key stats from a recent Pinterest report on Gen Z and what they mean for brands trying to reach Gen Z consumers across digital channels.

When Chase Media Network launched last month, it revealed the potential for more payments and financial service companies to get in on the commerce media game, leveraging consumer payments data to sell ads. One unexpected out-of-home implementation could be ATMs, said Stuart Mackinnon, COO of NCR Atleos, on our “Behind the Numbers: The Baking & Payments Show” podcast.

The launch should help speed up Canada’s digital payments transformation, which has fallen behind other countries

Walmart is bringing more of its financial services in-house—but Capital One may not sweat the loss, either

US consumers belonged to a total of 17.9 loyalty program memberships in 2023, up from 14.8 in 2019, according to a June 2023 report from Bond.

After boosting the D2C model over the last decade, digitally native vertical brands (DNVBs) face a slowing market, with sales growth declining every year through the end of our forecast period in 2028. That means acquiring customers and revenue can’t solely be done through online channels such as social media, as DNVBs have relied on in the past. Here are three ways DNVBs can continue the momentum of their digital buzz.

Key stat: By 2028, in-store retail media spend will reach over $1 billion but will make up less than 1% of total omnichannel retail media ad spending.

Google could help shake up the Indian ecommerce market: The tech giant will invest $350 million in Walmart-controlled Flipkart and plans to bolster the Indian company’s tech infrastructure.

Golden Goose soars toward IPO: But its timing could prove challenging given the high-profile struggles of labels like Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman, and Gucci.

Amazon boosts warehouse investment in a push for faster delivery speeds: The retailer is back in logistics expansion mode as it strikes back against Walmart and Temu.