A hurting US ad market is showing signs of recovery. Our forecast predicts 3.8% growth in overalUS media ad spend this year, for a total of $353.86 billion. Magna upped its US ad spend forecast for 2023 YoY growth from 4.2% to 5.2% in September. And in August, the US ad market achieved two consecutive months of growth for the first time since last June.

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

Private labels are narrowing the gap with national brands: Nearly five in 10 shoppers prefer store brands due to quality and variety.

Walmart is opening a pet services center: The move positions the retailer to grab a share of some of the most lucrative areas of the pet industry: health and other services.

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.

Holiday retail sales will grow by approximately 4.5% in 2023, a slight increase from the previous year’s 3.9% growth, according to our June forecast. While this growth may not seem significant, it would represent the sixth-fastest growth rate in holiday sales in the past 15 years, according to our forecast.

Kroger’s sales sag as grocery prices stabilize: That new state of play could drive the grocer to look to high-margin retail media to drive growth.

Best Buy believes we’ve hit a low point in tech demand: The combination of inflation and shifting spending patterns has made for a tough environment for the consumer electronics retailer.

Inflation forces judicious consumers to get more judicious with streamers: Netflix thrives with strategic moves, while others invest heavily in content.

Our first-ever marketing and retail media survey explores the latest trends unfolding in Latin America, how the regional landscape will evolve, and the broader implications for ad buyers’ and retailers’ go-to-market strategies.

But the metric doesn’t take into account the full picture of consumers’ financial health

Retail sales growth is slowing in Western Europe as the economic crisis takes its toll on consumer confidence, but ecommerce sales are bouncing back after last year’s decline.

US retail and ecommerce sales are getting back to their pre-pandemic growth trajectories, but consumer spending may be stunted amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

Apparel and consumer electronics could get a boost from the back-to-school and holiday seasons. But home improvement may have a ways to go before the category rebounds.

Double-digit inflation and stagnant economic growth have hit Latin America’s retail industry. Retail ecommerce sales growth in the region decelerated to its slowest rate on record last year, but we expect it to reaccelerate in several key markets. Here are our latest forecasts, along with new breakouts for Chile, Colombia, and Peru.

UK retail sales are performing better than expected, with consumers still spending despite high inflation—but ecommerce will lose further share this year as shoppers continue returning to stores and cut nonessential spending.

Growing debt, high interest rates, and recessionary threats could spell trouble despite the positive spending patterns

How shoppers buy groceries online is changing: As consumers grow more cost-conscious, pickup’s share of digital grocery orders rises.

We expect back-to-school sales to rise 2.9%: While that’s a far cry from rates over the past two years, it is markedly higher than in 2019.

Arecession would put more than $200 billion in credit card issuer revenues at risk. Issuers must be fully prepared for weakened consumers hobbled by unemployment, depleted savings, and extra debt payments. And they should prepare for the toll that deteriorating credit card spending and loan risk could take on charge-off rates, merchant fee revenues, and interest income