On today’s podcast episode, we discuss some of the moves commerce media players have made this year to stand out from the pack, why advertisers are investing in more or fewer media networks, and the main challenges for advertisers when it comes to working with media networks. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Analyst Arielle Feger, and Principal Analyst Sarah Marzano. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Tariffs may reduce US social media ad spend by $10 billion in 2025, or 10% versus our existing forecast.

30% of chief financial officers worldwide anticipate passing 91% to 100% of tariffs along to their customers, while nearly as many (29%) anticipate passing on less than 10%, according to March 2025 data from Gartner.

The stablecoin giant is exploring plans to launch a US-specific token and POS solution

Mother’s Day campaigns are shifting toward personal storytelling, creator partnerships, and emotionally resonant content to deepen consumer connection. For marketers, it’s a reminder that authenticity and brand values can drive both engagement and sales.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what consumer confidence actually means, which specific economic indicators most significantly impact it, and what all this says about the overall health of retail right now. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Vice President of Content Suzy Davidkhanian, Senior Analyst Zak Stambor, and Research Associate Professor and Director of the Surveys of Consumers at the University of Michigan Joanne Hsu.

Retailers are quickly embracing autonomous AI—sometimes referred to as agentic AI—to enhance operations and customer experiences. Gen Z is leading the shift, using AI for discovery and shopping. But to grow adoption across all generations, retailers must build trust through data security and transparency of AI use.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the main reasons YouTube is the most watched platform on TVs, how “Planet YouTube’s” gravitational pull is disrupting other media types, and what the biggest threat to its dominance is. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Vice President and Principal Analyst Jasmine Enberg, and Principal Analyst Bill Fisher for the conversation. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Walmart plans to open or remodel 45 Fuel and Convenience stations this year, bringing its total to 450 locations.

The impacts of the Trump Administration’s new tariffs are already rippling through global supply chains and consumer markets. "US retailers should be dusting off their inflation playbooks and brace for erratic shifts in spending patterns," warned our analyst Blake Droesch.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how to increase basket size, how to break out of category while staying true to brand identity, and how to respond to TikTok trends without seeming like a brand responding to a TikTok trend. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Vice President and Principal Analyst Suzy Davidkhanian and the CMO of True Religion Brand Jeans Kristen D’Arcy.

Retail media networks (RMNs) are using APIs to give advertisers more control over the management, measurement, and optimization of their campaigns.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what happens when a shelf is empty, how retailers can stay ahead of this, and how signals translate into actionable store-level decisions. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Principal Analyst Sky Canaves, Senior Analyst Blake Droesch, and Chief Revenue Officer at Trax David Gottlieb. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of March. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Senior Director of Content Becky Schilling and Analyst Sara Lebow will defend their list against Principal Analyst Sky Canaves and Analyst Rachel Wolff, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how Walgreens went from “pharmacy behemoth to distressed retailer”, the biggest lesson from its downfall, and where the company goes from here. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, and Senior Analysts Rajiv Leventhal and Zak Stambor, for the conversation. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Last week, Best Buy Ads launched Social+, an offering that allows brands and agencies to leverage Best Buy’s first-party data for social media campaigns. The tool is currently only available for Meta campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, but will expand to other social media networks in the future, per a press release.

Inside Puma’s biggest campaign to date: The “Go Wild” campaign takes a multichannel approach and could help Puma exceed its 2025 expectations.

Essential goods categories will run out of steam, leading to a slowdown in ecommerce growth.

This year’s festival highlighted a maturing creator economy, a reality check for AI, and bigger and bolder brand activations and marketing trends.

Historically, brands used upper-funnel channels like connected TV (CTV) for brand awareness, while relying on lower-funnel tactics such as retail media to drive conversions. But with shoppable CTV ads, brands can do both, leveraging retail media network (RMN) data to target consumers across CTV platforms, connecting the moment of discovery directly to the point of purchase.