Its growth and cost-cutting measures brought the BNPL fintech its second straight profitable quarter. And it’s projecting full-year profitability for FY 2024

As the top two retailers in the US, Walmart and Amazon are battling for holiday success by rolling out the best deals, the fastest delivery, and the best in-store experience. Here’s who we expect will come out on top in each of those areas, plus a post-holiday outlook.

Amazon is on track for its first-ever $100 billion holiday season, boosted by its unbeatable delivery speeds, while click and collect gives Walmart an omnichannel edge, and Temu draws in price-conscious consumers. Plus, TikTok and mobile apps help retailers connect with consumers and stand out among the competition.

With the ascent of Chinese ecommerce disruptors and the ongoing rivalry between Amazon and Walmart, the upcoming holiday season is expected to bring some big shifts. Some of those shifts include the lessening of Cyber Five’s importance and retailers losing focus on profitability, said our analysts Jeremy Goldman and Zak Stambor on a recent episode of the “Behind the Numbers” podcast.

Retail sales growth is expected to be solid over the holidays: However, there’s some cause for concern given that consumers plan to buy from fewer retailers than in years past.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) will play a major role in how consumers shop this holiday season as they seek out budget-friendly ways to pay. To capture a bigger share of holiday sales, BNPL provider Klarna has introduced a new suite of tools to help bridge the digital-physical gap with AI-powered technology and shoppable media.

Over one-third (38%) of US adults have decreased their impulse spending this year, up from 14% in 2022, per a study commissioned by Slickdeals and conducted by OnePoll. As we enter the holiday season, there are still a few ways retailers can encourage impulse purchases, from experimenting with shoppable media and putting seasonal products front and center to anticipating the last-minute needs of customers picking up orders in-store.

Most shoppers plan to reduce holiday spending this year: Cost concerns are driving consumers to start their holiday shopping early and look for deals.

US ecommerce back-to-school and holiday growth trends are usually pretty similar, but this year, growth will diverge. US ecommerce back-to-school and holiday spending growth were within 1 percentage point of each other in both 2020 and 2021, and closer to 4 percentage points apart in 2022, during a holiday season impacted by inflation, supply chain issues, and geopolitical concerns. This year, we forecast a US back-to-school ecommerce growth rate of 1.5%, slower than our forecast 11.3% holiday retail ecommerce growth.

Retail media ads are an important way to boost marketplace spend, but how brands go about advertising requires strategy. When setting up your retail media approach this holiday season, consider which products sell when, what kinds of ads drive conversions, and the importance of discovery in retail media.

Brooklinen is putting an emphasis on authenticity and relatable, real-world experiences in its paid social creative.

“Little treat” culture has taken over TikTok. The hashtag #littletreat has amassed 41.4 million views, and video after video shows users justifying their small purchases because they “deserve a little treat.” But little treats can add up. So Gen Z and millennial consumers are using rewards apps to pay for their little luxuries, according to Wes Schroll, CEO of the rewards app Fetch.

Amazon can stake a claim as one of Canada’s top mass merchants, even without having physical stores. It has reached this milestone after more than three years of accelerated retail ecommerce in the country.

After two years of outsized growth, ecommerce returns dipped by 2.5% year over year per our estimates, and we now expect ecommerce return rates to approach pre-pandemic levels by 2026

In this visual report, we dive into major holiday shopping events in 5 Western European countries, as well as total sales and consumer behavior surrounding these events.

The store-within-a-store’ concept gains momentum: The partnerships work well when there’s clear synergy between the brands involved, such as Target and Apple.

Insider Intelligence spoke with Julie Van Ullen, Managing Director, Rakuten Rewards about the current shift in consumer behavior as a result of inflation and the recent challenges many brands have been facing.

Winter is coming for European retailers (both literally and figuratively): With economic conditions worsening, retail sales in the UK and throughout continental Europe are poised to slow this holiday season.

On today's episode, we discuss whether Americans are becoming more price-sensitive, how Amazon's second Prime Day went, whether augmented reality is about more than having fun, what to expect from Netflix's "immersive" shopping experience, how delivery robots are kind of already here, an explanation of the holiday shopping trends we are paying the most attention to, where the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” came from, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our director of reports editing Rahul Chadha and analysts Blake Droesch and Suzy Davidkhanian.