The news: TikTok commerce traffic has trended down throughout 2025 amid uncertainty about the app’s future in the US. Our take: Trump’s extension gives TikTok more time to reach a deal but does little to ease the internal disruption from ByteDance’s austerity drive. New tariffs and the elimination of the de minimis exemption could hinder TikTok Shop’s performance.
The trend: Food manufacturers are pledging to remove artificial dyes from their products amid pressure from US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. Kraft Heinz said it would phase out artificial coloring in products sold in the US by 2027. General Mills quickly followed, announcing that it would eliminate artificial dyes across its full US portfolio by 2027, and remove them from all cereals and foods served in K-12 schools by next summer. Both Nestlé and Conagra are joining the party. Nestlé pledged to “fully eliminate [food, drug, and cosmetic dye] colors in its US food and beverage portfolio by mid-2026,” and Conagra will stop using such dyes in its frozen foods by year-end, and in all products by the end of 2027. Our take: For most companies, removing artificial dyes from their product lineups is a fairly easy lift, as many have already done so in Europe. It’s also increasingly a necessary move to prevent private labels from encroaching further on their turf, as more retailers launch “free from” lines and pledge to remove ingredients like aspartame and high-fructose corn syrup from their store brands.
63% of millennials and 61% of Gen Zers feel more connected to health brands since starting GLP-1s, per a January Dentsu report.
The news: As the 2025 economy tightens under the pressure of tariffs, AI disruption, and shifting global trade policy, brands are embracing adaptability. Retail growth forecasts have been slashed, inflation-wary consumers are scaling back, and even luxury sentiment is weakening. Our take: Resilient brands are leaning into agile planning, reallocating media spend to ROI-focused channels like search and digital out-of-home, and anchoring value in trust and quality—not just price. As emotional volatility shapes consumer decisions, marketers who show relevance and reassurance will lead. The brands that win won’t wait for stability—they’ll build strategies that succeed amid constant change.
The news: PayPal partnered with the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences to enable payments for participating student-athletes. Our take: Capitalizing on young, emerging student consumers is a strong opportunity to secure long-time and loyal PayPal and Venmo users.
The situation: Nike’s turnaround will likely take some time. In FYQ4, the company’s sales fell 12% YoY (11% on a constant-currency basis), reflecting what CFO Matthew Friend called the “largest financial impact” from the company’s reset strategy. Still, he expressed confidence that “headwinds will moderate from here,” emphasizing Nike’s focus on execution and controlling what it can. Our take: Turning around a company the size of Nike is like trying to turn around an ocean liner in rough waters. Change takes time, especially amid headwinds like tariffs and shaky demand, and execution missteps keep dragging on performance. Nike is adjusting course—leaning back into wholesale, cleaning up its inventory, and getting more surgical with product drops—but calm seas are still a ways off.
H&M moves to diversify sourcing amid tariff threat: The move will enable it to stay competitive with Zara and minimize tariffs’ impact on its bottom line
On today's podcast episode, we discuss our unofficial list of the most unexpected retailer campaigns this year. This month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial themed list of the top eight retailers based on the most surprising marketing campaigns we've seen in the last six months. In this month's episode, Committee members Analysts Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against Senior Analyst Zak Stambor and Analyst Rachel Wolff, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.
Back-to-school spending is steady in 2025, but shopper behavior is split. Parents are prioritizing tech and clothing—yet these are also the first to be cut when budgets tighten. Consumers are shopping earlier, seeking deals, and using AI to keep costs down. With shopping habits divided by generation and income, retailers must stay flexible, personalize offers, optimize for AI, and create seamless cross-channel experiences.
The scene: When Cooper Flagg—the odds-on favorite to be the NBA Rookie of the Year next season—steps onto the court for the first time, he’ll be wearing New Balance basketball shoes. Our take: New Balance’s push to sign Flagg, along with its other star-powered ambassadors, underscores its clear ambition to break into the top tier of global sportswear brands. While Nike and Adidas still lead by a wide margin, New Balance has its sights set on Puma, which reported $9.5 billion in sales last year—well ahead of New Balance’s $7.8 billion. To close the gap, New Balance needs to turn its growing visibility into demand, which is far from a sure thing. From there, it must maintain that momentum with consistent sales across both its performance and lifestyle lines. If Flagg lives up to the hype and the brand finds ways to ride that momentum, New Balance could take a meaningful step up the sneaker hier
The news: Connected TV (CTV) commands higher attention metrics (AU) than online video (OLV) and display advertising thanks in part to its wide variety of interactive ad formats, per industry KPI data provided by Adelaide. Our take: CTV's growing attention metrics reflects its shift toward becoming a performance marketing channel
The news: Skims, the shapewear brand founded by Kim Kardashian, is on an expansion tear as it nears $1 billion in annual sales, per Business of Fashion. The company plans to open 16 stores in the US this year, bringing its total domestic footprint to 22. Over the next nine months, Skims expects to establish itself in seven new markets—including stores in Mexico, London, and Dubai. Our take: While stores are hugely important to Skims’ growth, the company has several advantages over the rest of the D2C field. Unlike most other D2C companies, Skims doesn’t need to rely on its stores as billboards given its high-profile founder, who is also a fixture of its ad campaigns. Its partnership with Nike will give it access to an even larger audience and smooth its entry into the athleisure category—assuming production delays don’t get in the way. The launch will also considerably increase Skims’ retail presence without needing to invest in premium real estate.
The majority (80.9%) of worldwide retail media ad spend will take place in China and the US this year, according to a March 2025 EMARKETER forecast.
The news: Target is testing a factory-direct shipping model that would enable it to offer lower-cost products to customers, per Bloomberg. The model, which lets suppliers ship products directly to shoppers, closely resembles the strategy used by Temu and Shein to keep prices low. Our take: Unfortunately for Target, now is not the best time to increase its reliance on overseas suppliers. While the Temu-Shein model worked spectacularly well for several years, the conditions that fueled their growth—namely, the de minimis exemption and low tariffs—are no longer in place.
This Pride Month, many retailers are retreating from DEI commitments, facing backlash from consumers and political scrutiny. What began as pledges to support marginalized communities is now giving way to silence—leaving brands caught between public expectation and political pressure.
At Cannes Lions 2025, commerce media partnerships once again reigned supreme. Once the domain of digital shelf tactics and retail data, commerce media is now reshaping how brands show up across social platforms, connected TV (CTV), and in-store displays. This year’s festival offered a glimpse into a more integrated, AI-driven future—one where conversational ads, programmatic pipes, and real-world touchpoints blur the lines between media and purchase.
For the first time in its history, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity awarded medals in retail media—a sign that commerce-driven creativity has fully arrived on the global stage.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss our ‘very specific, but highly unlikely’ predictions for 2025. What would happen to the social media world if OpenAI bought Snap, what if Starbucks launched a Stablecoin, and why some companies might still want to buy linear networks. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Vice Presidents of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Paul Verna, and Principal Analyst Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
DoorDash is strengthening its media network through new ad products and the acquisition of tech company Symbiosys, aiming to help brands reach consumers both on and off its platform.
Retail media’s next phase will see billions of daily shopper signals paired with AI to fine-tune campaigns on the fly. Through consolidated buying, data collaboration, and transparent pricing, advertisers will have the ability to turn insights into measurement results.