In today’s podcast episode, we discuss what would happen if sports viewership declined, if Meta had to pay $1.4 trillion to California, New Jersey, Colorado, and Kentucky in youth safety lawsuits, and if AI turned every product placement in a TV show into ad inventory. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Analyst Ross Benes, Vice President of Content Suzy Davidkhanian, and Analyst Marisa Jones. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube or Spotify.
High-income shoppers buy private label groceries while booking luxury vacations without hesitation. It looks like a contradiction, but the same psychological decision-making drives both choices, and retailers need to understand it to succeed.
Retail media networks (RMNs) are moving beyond traditional return on ad spend metrics to prove business impact through closed-loop attribution that connects media exposure to actual purchases, both online and in-store.
Retail media ad spend will hit $300 billion by 2030: Advertisers are treating RMNs as a full-funnel channel, not just a tool for driving purchases.
Trust-building ads shape decisions before these shoppers compare rates or fees.
Marketers create more content with AI, but sameness abounds: Strong signal data and model training are needed to differentiate AI creative.
Moonshot unveils Kimi K3: The Chinese open-source AI model is a rival to top US firms, expanding user choice and raising the bar for premium vendors.
Livestream shopping is finally carving out a role in the US, even as adoption trails well behind China. For years, the format was held up as ecommerce's next frontier. Now it's settling in not as a replacement for traditional ecommerce, but as a different kind of shopping experience.
Wayfair and QVC set “Christmas in July” events, but frequent promotions risk shopper fatigue and weaker returns.
Housing partnerships open land-constrained markets while influencing shopping habits early.
Only 11% cite influencers as a purchase driver, making value and product credibility more important.
Easier access to AI and cloud tools makes local expertise—not scale—their strongest competitive advantage.
Plain-language web updates keep banking products visible as consumers ask AI for advice.
Google redesigns Image Search: Personalized galleries and image generation compete with Pinterest and keep users discovering content.
Summer vacations will be more expensive this year as US consumers face price hikes over considerations like airfare and lodging. As a result, many travelers are cutting back and turning to digital channels to find deals. Despite these economic headwinds, US digital travel sales are expected to reach $332.56 billion, up 5.0% YoY, EMARKETER forecasts. If sales are increasing on digital travel channels, it’s not because consumers are looking to buy more things. The rise in travel-related expenses is much higher than modest gains on digital channels, suggesting travelers are cutting back.
Retail media drives discovery: In-store digital ads help shoppers find new products, giving CPG brands fresh ways to earn attention beyond planned buys.
Chipotle turns fan attention into first-party data.
Kalshi leans into culture for discovery and reach: Its culture-led campaigns show emerging brands can earn attention without product education.
Apple Maps ads are coming to the US and Canada: Retail and hospitality brands may benefit as Apple blocks fraud-prone categories.
On today’s podcast, we discuss how consumers decide what’s worth buying, why we spend hours trying to save $10 on groceries but think nothing of spending thousands on a vacation, how uncertainty influences the way people make decisions, and why being a smart shopper is becoming part of our identity. Tune in for a discussion featuring Vice President of Content and host Suzy Davidkhanian, Senior Analyst Grace Broadbent, and Ayelet Fishbach, Professor of Behavioral Science and Marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.