Amid rising fintech and neobank competition, traditional financial institutions are investing in their rivals.

Marketers are wary of AI-powered creative, but not productivity: Companies’ new features flesh out AI’s value as a professional tool rather than a creative one.

Ulta Beauty is using in-store vending machines to bring more joy to the shopping experience, and AI enables it to analyze more customer data for personalization. The retailer is also training its store associates to engage younger beauty consumers.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Amazon turned its ecommerce business around, how much its new AI shopping assistant moves the needle, and what's really driving its ad business. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Zak Stambor and vice president of content Paul Verna.

On the podcast we discuss what to expect as banks deploy more AI in 2024. We chat about several use cases for AI, like customer service and chatbots, personalized banking services, fraud detection and prevention, credit scoring and risk assessment, as well as personalized marketing. In “Place Your Bets,” we distribute 10 points to four predictions in order to rank the relative likeliness that each one will come true. We rank the following to see which is most likely to happen in 2024: news stories about overzealous chatbots stops banks from rolling them out, regulators squash attempts to use AI for investment advice, the deployment of AI enables banks to initiate massive layoffs, and small banks and credit unions are able to win more customers because of their deployment of AI for customer service. Listen to the conversation with host Rob Rubin and our analysts Jacob Bourne and Gadjo Sevilla.

Online return rates are finally coming down from recent highs. But as ecommerce's share of retail sales grows, so will returns from online sales.

Meta rings in two decades of Facebook: The company has undergone major transformations, and 2024 will bring more changes as AI and regulation shape its trajectory.

UMG and TikTok clash over music rights, AI: The label is pulling its catalog from TikTok amid a pay dispute and the app's test of AI music features.

AI is both part of the problem and part of the solution through new insurance products tailored to highly specialized needs.

As a retail media network (RMN) builds out its data collaboration platform reducing risk should be top of mind. To safeguard user data, RMNs can implement a data clean room and other privacy enhancing technologies to create a trusted environment and propel growth.

The rollout includes AI-powered product recommendations and a one-click checkout experience. But in the fast-moving industry, these features could soon become commonplace among the major wallets

Taylor Swift is the latest victim of AI deepfakes: Faked explicit images of the star went viral online, prompting regulators to condemn AI.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Walmart plans to use AI to enhance the customer shopping experience, Instacart pushing smart carts into in-store retail media, why consumers are dissatisfied with their in-store shopping experience, how best to reduce clothing returns, the rise—and potential fall—of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Blake Droesch and Carina Perkins.

Amazon Fresh could get a refresh to conquer the grocery market, Finesse uses AI to reduce fashion waste, and Claire’s leans on content to engage Gen Zalphas. Meanwhile, Macy’s downsizes, e.l.f. Beauty aims to go viral, and Walmart makes strides in media. Here are six retailers that are most likely to makeover, reinvent, go viral, and more, as predicted by our analysts in a recent “Reimagining Retail” podcast episode.

With OpenAI’s new GPT Store, an Apple App Store-like interface that opened earlier this month, SEO professionals can share their own custom versions of ChatGPT with premium subscribers. But these collaborative innovations aren’t without their challenges. Generative AI can’t do everything, and it can be hard to vet new tools in the store.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the impact of multimodal chatbots, the copyright case between The New York Times and OpenAI, and how AI could influence the election. "In Other News," we talk about how much Microsoft's new AI keyboard key might affect AI use. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Yory Wurmser.

AI dominance in the tech sphere was on parade at CES 2024, pointing to pressure on product developers to integrate the technology. Also in the spotlight: Inclusivity and sustainability as focal points for an industry maturing to meet societal needs, the latest gadgets, and what the show means for marketers.

In 2025, Google will begin gradually phasing out third-party cookies, with the goal to eradicate them by year’s end. To help our readers prepare, we answered the most common questions we receive on cookie deprecation and identity resolution.

On today’s episode of The Banking & Payments Show podcast, we discuss the most important banking trends that we expect to see in 2024. We examine the big headlines from our Banking Trends to Watch in 2024 report, such as risky banking as a service partnerships, the social media players pushing the boundaries of banking, the disruption caused by AI and new developments with digital wallets. In a new segment called "Place Your Bets," using a total of 10 points, we allocate points to different trends to predict their likelihood of coming true. Listen to the conversation with guest host Marcus Johnson and our analysts Tiffani Montez and David Morris.

On today's podcast episode, our contestants compete in The Great Behind the Numbers Take Off, 2024 video trends edition, where they will try and cook up the most interesting predictions for the coming year. They'll discuss why Amazon will begin its ascension to become the second-most important company in streaming advertising, how more creators and brands will embrace AI to create videos, and what to expect from streaming platform consolidation. Tune in to the discussion with our director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman and analysts Ross Benes and Daniel Konstantinovic.