Unilever said its core business grew in Q3 as sales in North America rose for the fifth straight quarter, fueled by demand for new deodorants and beauty products. Unilever’s focus as it restructures reflects a wider industry trend: Companies are expanding their beauty, well-being, and personal care product offerings to meet demand for clean, natural, and sustainable goods and position themselves as lifestyle brands. Earlier this week, Lysol maker Reckitt Benckiser reported rising Q3 sales as consumers bought its self-care and germ-protection products. Unilever will need to keep leaning into premium products and digital engagement to keep up with consumer changes in everyday wellness.
The NBA is experiencing one of its biggest advertising booms in decades following a record $76 billion media rights deal with Disney, NBC, and Amazon. Ad spend on NBA programming jumped 15% last season to $1.52 billion, with NBCUniversal selling out its first-year inventory after returning to coverage for the first time in 23 years. ESPN, ABC, and Prime Video are also thriving—drawing hundreds of advertisers across broadcast and streaming. Amazon is fusing ecommerce and live sports with shoppable ad formats, while NBC and Disney leverage cross-platform studio content. The result: the NBA is redefining what live sports monetization looks like.
Hasbro and Mattel enter the 2025 holiday season on divergent paths after contrasting Q3 results. Hasbro outperformed expectations and raised its outlook, fueled by strong growth in its Wizards of the Coast and digital gaming divisions, while Mattel missed estimates and kept guidance steady amid cautious retailer orders and tariff pressures. Despite broader industry growth, slowing consumer demand and higher costs pose headwinds. With Hasbro’s diversified mix offering resilience if toy sales weaken, Mattel’s reliance on traditional toys could make it more vulnerable to price-sensitive shoppers this holiday season.
34% of social media users would be more likely to purchase products based on creator recommendations if those reviews appeared more authentic and included negative reviews, a March 2025 impact.com and EMARKETER survey found.
Forty percent of US adults have used AI as a shopping assistant in the past year, per a study by PayPal—and 77% of past or potential AI shoppers plan to use it while holiday shopping this year. Younger consumers are driving the change. Sixty-one percent of Gen Zers and 57% of millennials have used AI to assist with a purchase in the past year. The holiday season’s cheer has been dimmed. We lowered our forecast for November-December sales growth to 1.3% in light of tariffs and economic uncertainty. For merchants to compete amid that slowing spend, adopting AI is critical. To score the most volume from ecommerce-led sales, merchants need to make sure their partnerships with AI platforms prioritize mobile-first ecommerce: Mobile commerce will propel over 56.5% of holiday ecommerce sales, per retail mcommerce holiday forecast.
Plaid introduced a credit risk score based on real-time cash flow data as it dives further into credit scoring amid an industrywide push to monetize formerly unused or underused data sources. The fintech, a huge player in data aggregation, has diversified its business interests as aggregation has commoditized. Consumer-permissioned financial data shows promise as a new pipeline for consumer credit information. But the introduction of new forms of credit data doesn’t guarantee anything will change for consumers who struggle to access credit.
TikTok is mandating that sellers buy ads using its new tool, GMV Max, in order to participate in Black Friday and other holiday promotions. At the same time, it is making it harder for sellers to drive sales to platforms outside its system. The company is limiting merchants’ ability to advertise videos linking to their websites and other outside sources. TikTok’s attempts to tie sellers to its platform make sense given parent ByteDance’s ambitious US ecommerce goals—but such efforts will only be successful if TikTok can prove its importance as a sales channel.
The US government shutdown has entered its fourth week, becoming the second-longest in modern history and increasingly straining the economy. The travel industry alone has lost nearly $3 billion, while companies like Unilever are delaying major moves due to halted SEC operations. Grocers fear SNAP benefit disruptions that could hit Walmart and Kroger hardest. Oxford Economics estimates GDP growth could fall by up to 2.4 percentage points if the shutdown persists through Q4. With holiday sales already under pressure from weak confidence and high rates, the timing couldn’t be worse for retailers or consumers.
The effects of the Capital One-Discovery merger are still coming into relief, two quarters after the deal exploded the size and scope of Capital One’s business. If issuers continue to reorient their investments strictly to their premium offerings, subprime cardholders will become increasingly stranded for lines of credit from incumbents. This gives an opening for fintechs and buy now, pay later platforms to snag this population, as traditional lenders back away from credit-thin consumers in pursuit of wealthy spenders.
Adidas raised its full-year earnings guidance to about €2 billion ($2.32 billion) after stronger-than-expected global results. Currency-neutral sales rose 12% year-over-year, led by double-digit growth across all major regions, while operating profit surged 58%. Gross margin improved to 51.7% despite currency and tariff pressures. The company is countering headwinds through pricing strategies and supply shifts, gaining ground as Nike continues its turnaround. With demand for its Samba and Gazelle lines boosting apparel and accessories sales, Adidas appears to be solidifying its momentum and strengthening its competitive position in key markets.
OpenAI's new Instant Checkout feature for ChatGPT allows users to purchase products directly through the platform without ever leaving the interface, potentially creating a new retail channel that could reshape online shopping behaviors. However, analysts remain cautious about its immediate impact.
Latin America’s retail ecommerce market is set to surge 12.2% in 2025 to $191.25 billion, outpacing global growth and making it the fastest-growing region worldwide. Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico will drive 84.5% of total sales, with Argentina rebounding strongly, Brazil expanding through fierce platform competition, and Mexico surpassing the US in ecommerce penetration next year. Despite tariff threats and softening consumer sentiment, steady inflation and wage gains sustain momentum. EMARKETER analysts note that future success will depend on retailers’ agility amid shifting political and economic conditions across key Latin American markets.
Search advertising is entering a new era where Amazon and other retail media players are reshaping how discovery and intent are monetized. Brands must revisit their “search mix.” Google may remain indispensable, but allocating more spend to retail media will future-proof campaigns against cookie loss and capitalize on where shopping intent now begins.
Affirm called for a cap on late fees in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry, per the Financial Times. BNPL platforms have an opportunity to gain customer loyalty through advertising—and practicing—transperant lending practices. Alternative lenders that operate with clear terms can get more consumers to select BNPL financing over revolving credit, especially when young consumers choose the payment method out of perceived safety over credit cards.
Walmart is now the first retailer to sell Abbott’s over-the-counter blood sugar monitor in stores. Its rollout of Abbott’s Lingo CGM brings real-time health tracking to mainstream retail, helping to make advanced health tech part of everyday life. For marketers, the rollout highlights a growing opportunity to reach proactive health seekers who want personalized insights about nutrition, exercise, and stress.
Amazon plans to replace over 500,000 human jobs with robots as part of a major automation drive aimed at speeding up deliveries and cutting costs, according to The New York Times. After years of workforce expansion, the company is now focused on streamlining operations, with new robotic warehouses like its Shreveport, Louisiana facility already reducing staffing needs by 25%. Amazon expects to replicate this model nationwide by 2027, maintaining headcount while doubling sales by 2033. The shift toward automation is designed to boost efficiency, cut per-package costs, and reinforce Amazon’s dominance in US ecommerce through faster, cheaper fulfillment.
Now that consumers can make direct purchases within ChatGPT, marketers and retailers must reimagine the customer journey once again.
Walmart has expanded its Scintilla Digital Landscapes platform with new capabilities that give suppliers a clearer, data-rich view of how customers move from discovery to purchase.
Consumers have grown more accepting of sponsored ads—according to a recent survey by Bain and ROI Rocket. Roughly 3 in 5 US consumers (61%) say they don’t mind seeing sponsored ads for relevant brands and products, up 14 percentage points from last year. But just 42% agree that the sponsored ads they see are usually pertinent to them, showing that advertisers—and the retailers they’re buying inventory from—have a lot more work to do to deliver maximum outcomes from their ads, and consequently ROI.
Citi and American Airlines debuted the Citi AAdvantage Globe Mastercard, a mid-tier travel credit card with a $350 annual fee, per a press release. With airlines revising their year-end forecasts optimistically, issuers have a chance to get in on lucrative travel volume. While front-of-cabin sales have benefited from wealth-effect spending, mid-tier travel cards could help boost main cabin sales with slightly pared down reward structures.