Retail & Ecommerce

Retail media is moving from its initial state (search and on-site display ads) up the funnel toward social, open web, and connected TV. As retail media networks move into their next era, they should leverage partnerships to explore new channels, said Evan Hovorka, vice president of product and innovation at Albertsons Media Collective.

Adding non-payments uses could make the wallet more convenient, helping Google pull new users and grab spending

More of your customers are LGBTQ+ than ever before: Recent studies highlight a surge in global identification, particularly among Gen Zers.

This year, US consumers will pay over $35 billion in retail membership fees, according to our forecast. Some 53% of that will go to Amazon, making it by far the biggest player.

Instacart and Gopuff struggle to deliver growth and profits: Inflation is eating into consumers’ spending power and causing them to adjust how they shop for groceries.

Amazon Prime, Walmart+ woo customers with new perks as fee revenue growth slows: We expect paid membership fee revenues to grow just 6.5% this year.

Patagonia sues Nordstrom in latest bid to safeguard brand reputation: The outdoor retailer alleges that the department store is selling counterfeit products at its off-price Rack stores.

The partnership opens up the provider to a massive merchant network, which can help it add users and grow volume.

China’s example would suggest that retail media has enormous headroom for growth in the US. Companies like Amazon have been growing their ad revenues by leaps and bounds, and yet ecommerce channel ad spending will still only represent 14.6% of the US digital ad market this year. In China, the share will be 38.1%.

Dollar General cut its full-year same-store sales and profit forecasts: The move dovetails with Dollar Tree and other discount retailers seeing lower-income consumers pull back on discretionary spending.

Amazon looks to reduce the number of damaged goods it sends: The retail giant is deploying artificial intelligence in several fulfillment centers to streamline its supply chain decision-making. (This article was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.)

Luxury spending in the US is returning to historical norms: Shoppers are increasingly focused on saving money and travel.

Macy’s and Nordstrom brace for softer sales as discretionary spending weakens: Beauty and off-price were bright spots during an otherwise challenging Q1.

On today's episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss exactly how much of the retail membership market Amazon Prime has gobbled up, whether Walmart+ is even competing with Amazon, and how valued benefits have shifted. Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank our top four creative recommendations for what retail memberships could offer members. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analysts Sky Canaves and Blake Droesch.

It will use AI for transaction approval, predictive analytics, and customer experience tools

The universal appeal of mobile messaging apps puts them at the forefront of advertising growth in emerging markets.