Online grocer Thrive Market will no longer sell alcohol on its marketplace in response to shifting consumption habits, the company told CNBC. Instead, it plans to double down on zero-proof drinks with a selection of over 20 brands and 100 products. Going all in on the sober-curious movement is a savvy move for Thrive Market, given its focus on organic and healthier products. Demand for nonalcoholic products like alcohol-free beer is soaring, driven by younger consumers as well as the better-for-you movement.
More than half (53%) of US physicians plan to significantly increase AI use over the next year, per a DHC Group and Sermo study in November. As physicians increasingly rely on AI for support, the information they encounter will be shaped by the quality of the science-based content that AI systems will surface.
Fast-food restaurants are leaning into nostalgia to get customers through the door. McDonald’s The Grinch Meal holiday special is so far outperforming the chain’s Minecraft Meal and the revived Snack Wrap. Burger King’s SpongeBob menu “is swimming off trays,” with some restaurants running low on items less than a week after launch, the company told Nation’s Restaurant News. McDonald’s and Burger King’s use of nostalgia—and popular IP—is enabling them to build emotional connections with consumers and create additional reasons to visit their restaurants.
Luxury handbags and leather goods purchases dropped 12.8 percentage points among US adult luxury buyers since 2022, according to a September report from EMARKETER and Bizrate Insights.
By the end of 2026, generative AI could rival paid ads as a source of website traffic. SensorTower predicts that more than half of top websites will get more traffic from genAI than from paid sources by the end of next year. As AI assistants increasingly answer queries with sourced links, marketers need to optimize for AI-driven discovery, not just search algorithms and paid media. Add FAQs, clean metadata on products, and concise explanations on sites that models can easily read and cite, and frequently update content to maximize the likelihood of surfacing in genAI results.
Use cases for Perplexity’s Comet AI browser and assistant mark how agentic AI’s influence is happening upstream, within cognitive tasks and away from the point of purchase. Personal use makes up about 55% of total agentic queries within Comet, followed by professional (30%) and educational (16%), per a deep dive on the browser from Harvard Research and Perplexity. The biggest entry for brands isn’t only being shoppable inside AI systems, but becoming embedded in users’ daily workflows. Brands that surface in productivity-driven queries could shape preferences and promote awareness before consumers enter a shopping mindset.
OpenAI, now 10 years old, is expected to accrue about $143 billion in negative cumulative free cash flow between 2024 and 2029 before it starts turning a profit, per Deutsche Bank. “No startup in history has operated with losses on anything approaching this scale. We are firmly in uncharted territory,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. This could foreshadow a correction in the AI sector if revenues keep lagging behind escalating spending. The next few years may reward those who find sustainable monetization models, not necessarily those who build the most powerful tools.
77% of worldwide consumers are comfortable with AI resolving a question or issue, according to an August survey from CSG.
Attention metrics (AUs) in the social media video landscape are gradually fragmenting as audiences shift to platforms with interest-driven feeds, per our industry KPI data provided by Adelaide. Consumer attention fragmenting across platforms means that advertisers who are already struggling to reach target audiences on social media are facing an uphill battle. Focusing on interest-driven platforms like Reddit and Pinterest as they gain AUs can help drive stronger results, while maintaining investment in leaders like YouTube will remain essential.
Google is quietly exploring how Gemini could support advertising in 2026, per Adweek, even as the company publicly denies any such plans. Agencies say Google has framed potential Gemini ads as high-intent, conversational opportunities for ecommerce brands—signals emerging alongside rapid user growth. Gemini’s global MAUs have climbed roughly 30% since August, and its US footprint is projected to reach 85.7 million users by 2029. If prompt-level signals become targetable, conversational AI could function as a new, more precise form of intent advertising.
Australia has enacted the world’s first nationwide ban on social-media accounts for anyone under 16, forcing platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat to remove underage users or face major penalties. Policymakers and researchers will study the effects on mental health, offline behavior, and migration to unregulated platforms—insights that could influence US policy, where similar proposals are already gaining traction. For advertisers, the implications are significant: removing millions of teen users would constrict future reach curves, shift youth attention toward gaming-adjacent spaces, raise competition for compliant inventory, and complicate early brand-building. Australia’s experiment may foreshadow US market disruption.
Pinterest is piloting a new shoppable recipe format with Walmart’s help. Select recipes now feature a “Shop Ingredients” button that lets users add ingredients directly to their Walmart carts. The pilot fits squarely with Pinterest’s broader goal to make every pin on its platform shoppable, a strategy designed to fully monetize its influence over product discovery and shopping trends. It also fits with Walmart's aim to establish a presence on as many shopping channels as possible, be it social commerce or ChatGPT.
Google Chrome will now autofill users’ loyalty card numbers, travel details, and vehicle information housed in Google Wallet, per a company blog post. Maximizing its utility as a shopping interface is critical as Google Chrome’s browser dominance risks getting eroded by AI tools and browsers like Perplexity’s Comet. If volumes divert to new sources, like the PayPal-linked Comet, Google shoppers could maintain their loyalty in the browser by convenience the tools offer them during their checkout experiences.
Afterpay partnered with a slate of new merchants to increase flexible financing options for consumers ahead of the holidays, per a press release. New partners include Thursday Boots, Diesel, and SP5DER Worldwide. Block is betting on its ecosystem effect raising the value of all of its products. However, major partnerships are still needed to rocket a BNPL product to high use, like Klarna’s integrations with Walmart.
Consumers expect flexible financing options during their shopping journey, especially for big-ticket items, per a report from Synchrony’s Major Purchase Study. Advertising financing is essential, but making it easy for consumers to access is even more important. Simplifying checkout through one-click buy buttons or QR code scans in-store can streamline users’ experience for high pressure purchases and drive loyalty to those retailers for making the process painless.
Despite multiple pivots and significant investments, Amazon continues to struggle in a sector that represents one of the largest consumer spending categories. "Amazon dominates ecommerce with nearly 40% market share, but grocery remains the category it just can't crack," said our analyst Suzy Davidkhanian on a recent episode of “Behind the Numbers.”
PepsiCo has reached an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management to cut its US SKU count by 20%, streamline its workforce, and reinvest savings into lowering prices on core brands—moves that largely reinforce strategies already underway. The company expects these price reductions to lift volumes while continuing to expand its growing lineup of “better for you” products, including reformulated snacks, sugar-free beverages, and prebiotic offerings. PepsiCo projects 2% to 4% organic revenue growth next year, but regaining momentum will take time as price-sensitive shoppers increasingly turn to lower-cost private-label alternatives.
Approved vaccines for infants to protect against a serious respiratory disease called RSV are getting new scrutiny from federal health agency officials, according to Reuters. Heightened federal scrutiny adds uncertainty for RSV manufacturers at a time when the childhood vaccine environment is already polarized.
Structure Therapeutics’ experimental obesity pill led to an average 12.1% weight loss after 36 weeks on a 120 mg daily dose, which stacks up well against competitors. Newcomers to the weight loss drug market still face key disadvantages, even with strong trial results. For smaller weight loss drug developers that may not have the risk appetite or resources to compete with larger players, the best way to cash in on a market dominated by two giants may be to pursue a partnership or acquisition.