Amazon keeps widening its lead: Delivery speed, AI tools, and advertising are driving growth while reinforcing customer loyalty.

As access replaces purchases, brands must earn loyalty with flexibility, transparency, and lasting value.

More frequent shopping strengthens retail and advertising.

Memberships remove a key friction: Amazon Prime and Walmart+ make free shipping feel included, raising the bar for rivals that still charge delivery and return fees.

Amazon Prime Day 2026 set record sales, but the headline number hides a value shift: shoppers spent less per household, leaned into everyday essentials, and grew harder to satisfy. Amazon's first members-only same-day grocery Prime Day, and its widening membership lead, reshaped the event. Analysts read the results as a bellwether for the holiday season. This FAQ covers what Prime Day is, how the 2026 event actually performed, what shoppers bought, and how brands and rival retailers should respond.

Amazon Prime membership fell to 54% of US adults in June 2025 before rebounding to 64% by May 2026, keeping it the most widely held retail membership by a wide margin, according to a June report from Bizrate Insights and EMARKETER.

Ecommerce in Canada is entering a new phase. Buyer growth is slowing, but AI-powered shopping and mobile commerce are driving higher spending, reshaping how retailers compete and where future gains will come from.

This FAQ covers how much consumers spend on subscriptions, where fatigue is emerging, and how brands keep recurring revenue durable.

After U.S. Bank and Mastercard picked up the portfolio, Amex can use its new Graphite card to stay ahead.

Digital TV dominates ad tiers, yet linear still delivers sports scale and stronger brand lift.

NFL viewership favors broadcast as traditional TV draws the biggest audiences, but streaming’s ad effectiveness is unmatched.

Amazon’s silent rollout sparks backlash as users question privacy and ad motives.

Amazon’s grip on ecommerce stays firm—for now—as Prime-led growth holds steady, yet AI agents could eventually challenge its ecommerce and retail media supremacy.

Canada’s mediascape continues to change as new formats attract younger and older users alike. The GMI report for Canada is a deep dive into the country’s shifting habits relating to time spent with media, media adoption, and device ownership.

Amazon is ending its Prime Invitee program, which allowed members to share benefits outside of their households. The program will officially end on October 1. Amazon is relying on a tried-and-true tactic to boost memberships. While the retailer has several irons in the fire, including investments in rural delivery and grocery that it expects will increase Prime’s stickiness, it will take time for those initiatives to bear fruit. But an immediate account-sharing crackdown pays off right away.

Amazon closed its second annual Upfronts with “significant growth” across independent agencies and holding companies, per Adweek. An Amazon spokesperson cited excitement surrounding live sports offerings on Prime Video as a key driver of growth. Amazon is positioned for sustained ad growth if it continues relying on its sports properties to draw advertiser interest in Prime Video. With Prime Video only making up a fraction of Amazon’s overall ad revenues, the service is far from hitting its ceiling—and future investment in tentpole sporting events will put Prime Video on par with its bigger competitors.

The news: As the NFL season approaches and digital video becomes a sports destination, fans are looking to new streaming services to stay caught up—and 35% are planning to subscribe to a new service to watch fall and winter sports, per CivicScience data. Our take: Sports will remain a key opportunity for brands to reach engaged and passionate audiences—but as fragmentation worsens, advertisers must prioritize cross-platform strategies that unlock consistent exposure.

More Amazon Prime shoppers purchase groceries from Walmart than from the ecommerce retailer, according to Coresight Research data reported by Grocery Dive. While grocery is a hugely important category for Amazon to conquer, its efforts so far have been hampered by a complex ecosystem. The retailer’s attempts to unify that system could result in a more seamless experience for shoppers, while its fast delivery capabilities could make it a more appealing place to shop for perishables.

Airbnb may launch a loyalty program at some point, chief business officer Dave Stephenson told Bloomberg. The company has all the ingredients “that would make a compelling loyalty program,” he said—especially following the launch of Airbnb’s services and experiences booking platform. While it’s hardly surprising that Airbnb, a company that has thoroughly disrupted the travel industry, would be reluctant to copy its competitors’ approach to loyalty, there is something to be said for simplicity. What worked for Amazon may not translate as well to Airbnb, given the number of competing platforms that offer similar services—and the fact that most of what it offers is highly discretionary.

Ecommerce growth is slowing as the market matures, but gains will come from mobile commerce, Gen Z buyers, and high-performing categories.