The nation’s largest fast- food chains race to the bottom: Taco Bell and Sonic joined Starbucks, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s in rolling out low-cost value meals to attract cost-conscious consumers.

TikTok Shop joins Amazon in holding a July sale: The marketplace hopes exclusive discounts on brands like L’Oréal and live-shopping events will boost GMV.

Amazon Prime Day conditioned shoppers to expect bargains in July: That’s driven Google, Target, Walmart, and others to seize on the opportunity to drive consumers to spend.

Consumers spend cautiously as inflation perceptions, higher debt payments hurt confidence: But we expect retail sales growth to be healthy as buying power recovers.

Amazon to launch budget marketplace to compete with Temu, Shein: The retailer is copying their playbook—complete with cheap products and longer delivery times—to stay ahead in the ecommerce race.

Supply chain headaches mount for retailers: Disruptions in the Red Sea are driving up shipping rates and creating backups at key ports.

Target looks to its online marketplace to drive growth: The retailer’s new partnership with Shopify could expand its selection online and in stores, while also boosting its retail media business.

68% of shoppers were deceived into buying counterfeits last year: Copycats’ rapid growth is a mounting problem for global players like Nike and Amazon as well as small merchants.

Brands’ customer experience is declining: Consumers are frustrated over shrinkflation and AI customer service, forcing retailers to do more to demonstrate their value to cautious shoppers.

Best Buy goes all-in on AI computers: The retailer has exclusive rights to over 40% of Microsoft Copilot+ models and has trained thousands of workers on the technology.

Instacart expands offsite retail media capabilities with YouTube partnership: The retailer’s first-party data will power shoppable ads for CPG brands

Walmart’s automated warehouses enable it to do twice the work with half the staff: Those gains are creating more capacity for third-party sellers, and putting the retailer on track to hit ecommerce profitability in two years

US consumers shop frequently with Temu and Shein, despite trust issues: Both Chinese retailers are winning more repeat customers than established players like eBay and Etsy.

US retail sales soar past our prepandemic forecast: 2024 sales will be 18% higher than we thought in February 2020 as consumers’ resilience shows no signs of slowing.

Pride products are plentiful this year: Walmart, JCPenney, Kohl’s, and Abercrombie push past the right-wing backlash to offer Pride-related products.

Retailers turn to virtual experiences to boost engagement, awareness: Walmart, Ikea, and Skechers are among the many trying to increase their appeal to younger shoppers while driving sales.

Zara bets on live shopping following China success: The fast-fashion retailer is expanding its live commerce capabilities to the US, UK, and Europe.

Gap’s turnaround momentum is building: The retailer is winning over shoppers with on-trend styles, while boosting its profile with buzzy celebrity and brand partnerships.

Amazon and Walmart reinforce the value of their membership programs: Amazon now offers free Grubhub+ membership as a permanent Prime perk and Walmart+ announces its member-exclusive sale.

US consumers keep spending: Better-than-expected results from Abercrombie, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Cava demonstrate that shoppers are willing to splurge on some nice-to-have items.