Industry KPI data from Placer.ai reveals a clear divide in retail foot traffic trends. Essentials-focused merchants and dollar stores are maintaining growth while discretionary-heavy sectors like department stores and housing-related chains fall behind. Understanding foot traffic trends is critical for brands and retailers to understand where growth—and risk—will lie in the coming months. Necessities will keep grocers and discounters in demand, while discretionary-focused chains must offer value, cut prices, and explore adjacent business lines—such as off-price formats or supply services—to keep sales coming.
Gap, Reformation, Balenciaga, and Alo Yoga are expanding into new categories to futureproof their businesses amid uncertainty. As spending trends shift, fashion companies are trying to shift with them. Pushing into resilient categories like beauty and jewelry may look promising on paper, but success is not assured. Brands face considerable competition from companies with more experience, and convincing customers that new offerings deliver quality and value can be a challenge.
Target is expanding next-day delivery service to 35 US markets by the end of next month as it prepares for the holidays and looks to better compete with Amazon and Walmart. Markets that will gain next-day delivery include San Diego; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Cleveland. In stepping up its next-day delivery, Target recognizes that the competitive stakes in retail are escalating. Its recent sales softness suggests it may be at risk of falling off shoppers’ radar as speed, selection, and convenience become critical retail differentiators.
Beauty companies are rapidly diversifying beyond traditional sales channels to adapt to changing consumer behaviors and seize opportunities made possible by ecommerce, social platforms, and digital tools. This push is designed to forge closer, more direct connections with shoppers. Selling through multiple channels is no longer a choice in beauty. Consumers now shop across apps, websites, social media and stores, and brands that don’t meet them where they are will lose out. Still, distribution alone won’t set brands apart. Beauty companies that win will offer technology like AR try-ons, use their physical stores as hubs where people can gather for makeup classes and to sample products, and sell through external retailers while also beefing up their own direct channels.
New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is no longer about who sits in the front row—it’s about who shares the clips. N4XT Experiences has tapped Viral Nation as its exclusive social partner across NYFW, LA Fashion Week, and BEAUTYDAYS, enlisting 900 creators to capture and amplify content in real time. Influencer voices now account for nearly a quarter of NYFW’s media impact, showing how creators have become central to fashion’s cultural resonance. Viral Nation will manage NYFW’s entire digital presence, tracking social performance and ensuring fashion weeks function less as insider events and more as global cultural engines.
Amazon is keeping Prime Big Deal Days to two days—October 7 and 8—a shift from July's four-day Prime Day sale. The retailer said the two-day window aligns with its broader holiday strategy. With just 28 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the season will be a sprint. Amazon is pacing itself—and other retailers should, too. That approach lets Amazon and its third-party sellers conserve budget and promotions for Cyber Five, when competition peaks.
Retailers are expanding their footprint on college campuses. PacSun and Bath & Body Works are among the brands looking to boost recognition and build long-term loyalty. With Gen Z's spending power projected to reach $12 trillion by 2030, brands are smart to meet these consumers where they are. By making their products convenient to college students, retailers increase the odds that those shoppers will give them a try—and potentially form lifelong brand connections.
Weak consumer sentiment in Europe is hurting fast fashion sales, with both Primark and Zara owner Inditex reporting slowdowns. The challenging environment in Europe increasingly favors Shein and Temu, whose ability to undercut competitors on price and deliver a steady stream of trendy products positions them to take more fast fashion share. But as in the US, both companies could fall afoul of geopolitical tensions as European governments raise concerns about Chinese overcapacity—and President Trump pushes the EU to implement 100% tariffs on China imports.
Trading card mania is proving to be a profitable tailwind for Target, eBay, and Walmart, as high-profile releases and collector enthusiasm drive spending. The market for toys is increasingly being driven by demand for collectibles like Labubus and trading cards. That demand is strongest among adults, who see these items both as fun indulgences and investment opportunities.
Resale platform Depop launched its biggest US marketing campaign to date as it looks to expand its audience beyond its core Gen Z user base and capitalize on surging demand for secondhand goods. Growing global demand for resale presents challenges and opportunities—both for marketplaces that trade in secondhand goods, like Depop and eBay, as well as for traditional retailers.
American Eagle Outfitters’ bet on star power is helping the company recover from its sales slump. The retailer’s controversial campaign with Sydney Sweeney has been hugely successful, the company said, helping to boost brand awareness and drive shoppers to stores. Its recently announced collaboration with Travis Kelce also delivered an immediate sales bump. American Eagle’s celebrity-led marketing strategy is driving its recovery after a poor start to the year. By turning controversy into buzz, the brand’s campaigns have revived interest in its core products and expanded its appeal to a broader audience.
Nike, H&M, and Louis Vuitton will see their share of the global apparel market fall this year, according to a report by GlobalData. Meanwhile, adidas, Shein, Uniqlo, and Skechers will be the biggest winners as shifting trends and tariffs reshape the apparel industry. This year’s apparel winners share two key traits: agility in responding to consumer trends and the ability to offer products that are either affordable or that shoppers deem to be worth the expense. These factors are emerging as critical competitive advantages, especially amid economic and tariff pressures.
Abercrombie & Fitch reported record revenues in Q2 as soaring demand among Gen Z teens for Hollister offset weakness at its namesake brand. Abercrombie is navigating the current environment as well as any retailer—especially one with considerable tariff exposure—could. While minimizing tariff costs remains a key priority, Abercrombie’s sharp focus on the fundamentals—delivering products that people want—will help guide it through uncertainty.
Kohl’s reported a better-than-expected Q2 profit as it controlled expenses and reintroduced phased-out product assortments, hinting at early signs of traction despite sales declines. The retailer is taking steps to stabilize, but it faces a mammoth challenge to move sales to growth—not just lessen the declines. As shoppers scrutinize every dollar they spend, Kohl’s needs to show it can deliver the right products at the right price—and find ways to stand out in an increasingly crowded field by bolstering loyalty perks, leaning more on personalized offerings to consumers, and communicating clearly what it wants to be known for. That won’t be easy for a retailer whose core shoppers remain heavily reliant on coupons and discounts.
Lego continues to outperform the toy industry by delivering products that appeal to both children and adults while expanding brand awareness in Asia. While we expect US toy and hobby sales to grow just 2.0% this year, Lego is increasingly in a league of its own. The company’s all-ages appeal, IP partnerships, and brick-and-mortar strategy are working in tandem to drive sales and encourage lasting loyalty.
The luxury industry has a counterfeit problem. Counterfeits pose a serious challenge for brands and the growing number of secondhand platforms that specialize in luxury resale. The more convincing these superfakes get, the harder it will be for companies like LVMH to justify their high price points—and harder still for platforms like Vestiaire and The RealReal to keep fake goods off their marketplaces.
The news: Urban Outfitters is partnering with Levi’s for the second iteration of On Rotation, its limited-time concept launched earlier this year with Nike to deliver community-driven, experience-rich retail environments for Gen Z. Our take: On Rotation recasts retail as a series of limited-edition experiential drops, with physical and digital spaces that vanish almost as quickly as they appear. It’s a storytelling-fueled scarcity play that’s designed to train a generation of shoppers who never grew up as mall rats to return again and again in search of novelty. The approach reframes the store—and the website—as a medium for culture, not just commerce, and offers a playbook that department stores and other retailers would be smart to test.
Labubu is well on its way to being a $1 billion business for maker Pop Mart. The retailer’s Monsters IP, which includes Labubu, generated RMB 4.81 billion ($671 million) in the first half of 2025, a staggering 668% increase YoY. While the history of toy fads suggests that the Labubu craze will soon fade, it could be extremely lucrative in the short term—and not just for Pop Mart. Although the retailer is fiercely protective of its IP, plenty of brands and retailers would be happy to benefit from a temporary Labubu bump.
Louis Vuitton’s forthcoming beauty launch will test its pricing power. The brand is betting that premium packaging and high-quality products designed by makeup maven Pat McGrath will convince shoppers to spend $160 on a single lipstick—a risky assumption given the headwinds plaguing the luxury industry. In order for La Beauté Louis Vuitton to succeed, the brand will have to prove to customers that its products are worth the hefty price tag. That’s easier said than done, given waning enthusiasm for premium beauty and the growing popularity of low-cost dupes.