Saks Global will close nine Saks Off 5th stores next year, a move that will help it cut costs as it navigates increasing headwinds. While Saks is positioning the closures as an opportunity to optimize its off-price footprint and elevate the customer experience, it’s likely that the company’s cash-flow challenges and vendor troubles played a major role in its downsizing. Off-price could have been a real opportunity for Saks to win over price-conscious shoppers. Instead, the retailer has become a cautionary tale about the importance of staying in vendors’ good graces and what can happen when those relationships falter.

Saks Global has halved its full-year profit forecast to about $150 million after reporting a 13% year-over-year sales drop and a $77 million quarterly loss, Bloomberg reports. Less than a year after acquiring Neiman Marcus, the merger’s promise of creating a luxury powerhouse is faltering as Saks struggles with vendor payments, mounting debt, and withheld merchandise ahead of the holidays. The company’s weakened position gives competitors like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s an opening to capture its customer base, underscoring how fragile even top-tier retailers can be in today’s shifting luxury market.

Amid a challenging economic climate, luxury brands seek new ways to prove value to and win over young shoppers. By serving food and drink alongside products, retailers are turning stores into places where consumers can linger, connect, and spend. Coach’s coffee strategy is a prime example.

The opportunity: Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom are gaining ground while some of their luxury rivals stumble. Our take: Execution matters—especially in a luxury market where consumers are increasingly anxious about the economy. These shoppers have little tolerance for poor experiences, operational missteps, or inventory gaps. Retailers that deliver consistency, trust, and seamless service will be best positioned to retain loyalty and capture share.

Record holiday sales helped retailers, but purchasing patterns across income groups diverged starkly. Middle- and lower-income consumers grew more selective, carefully weighing where and when to spend amid economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, higher-income shoppers continued to spend freely.

Retail media’s rapid growth has spurred nonretail verticals to harness their first-party data to fuel their own commerce media networks. Retail media spending still dominates the commerce media landscape, but distinct challenger cohorts are finding their footing.

Department stores face an uphill battle as discounters, online retailers take share: Our Industry KPIs show foot traffic declined during the holiday season, emphasizing the sector’s challenges.

This year's Consumer Entertainment Show (CES) featured a number of innovations targeted at retailers and the rapidly growing category of retail media. From innovations in shoppable TV to the expansion of AI usage, here are some prominent retail products found at CES 2025.

Prominent retailers generated better-than-expected holiday results: While Abercrombie, Lululemon, and Nordstrom raised their Q4 outlooks, Macy’s and Kohl’s continued to face challenges.

Beauty’s run of strong retail sales growth is winding down, but new audiences and sales channels will offer opportunities for savvy brands and retailers to regain momentum.

Back in January, the Retail Daily newsletter editors made some retail predictions for 2024. While we were right about Amazon opening fulfillment centers out of physical stores, we were wrong about more digitally native brands partnering with Amazon. Want the full rundown? Here’s how we did.

Kohl’s is in trouble: The struggling department store hopes a new CEO will rescue it from a series of missteps that weighed heavily on its Q3 performance.

Consumers turn to genAI to help with holiday shopping: Nearly one-fifth of global Cyber Five sales this year will be influenced by AI agents and other tools, Salesforce says.

Nordstrom gives its shopping app a genAI upgrade: The department store retailer hopes enhanced search and personalization capabilities will give it an edge this holiday season.

Amazon launches Temu competitor Haul to maintain price advantage against online retailers: However, growing pains like shoddy AI-generated imagery could limit its traction with customers.

Nordstrom targets teens with curated beauty selection: The department store hopes to capitalize on their growing appetite for premium products and desire for in-store purchases.

While luxury sales are slowing as consumers flock to cheaper retailers for apparel, beauty, and other goods, luxury retailers with off-price brands, like Neiman Marcus Last Call and Nordstrom Rack, are seeing store visits climb.

Retailers faced no shortage of challenges in the first half of the year as elevated interest rates, the lingering effects of inflation, and a loosening labor market weighed on consumer spending. In this report, we’ll contextualize our coverage of retailers’ Q2 revenues across four key verticals: department stores, home, mass merchants, and off-price.

In August, brands got physical, with Olipop entering a new stadium, Nordstrom inking a deal with Rihanna, and Walmart growing with nonendemic retail media opportunities. Others took a more digital approach, making shopping more seamless on social media sites and AI-powered search. Here are the moves that made our analysts name eight brands to our unofficial most interesting list in August.