Consumers are trading down to value-oriented QSR brands: That trend helped Yum Brands and Subway post strong gains in Q4, while higher-priced restaurants like Chipotle disappointed.

Restaurants scramble to roll out loyalty programs: Hardee’s, IHOP, and Carl’s Jr. are the latest chains to leverage loyalty to offer personalized experiences and deepen relationships with consumers.

Payments Ecosystem: Diminishing analog payment use—as well as the battle for share between entrenched electronic payment methods and emerging challengers—will intensify the battle for customer spending this year.

On today's episode, we discuss the most important trends shaping the future of shopping, whether gifting experiences can catch up with physical goods, the best return policies, the "empty promise" of instant delivery, Taco Bell's subscription service, an unpopular opinion about Netflix prices, who invented Monopoly, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Suzy Davidkhanian, director of forecasting Oscar Orozco, and director of reports editing at Insider Intelligence Rahul Chadha.

Starbucks invests in more frictionless customer experiences: More fast-food brands are building up their drive-thru and on-the-go ordering capabilities, meeting changing consumer behavior in the process.

Wildly speculative auction prices for everything from the first tweet to virtual real estate suggest the blockchain hype is getting out of hand.

For our upcoming report on the future of the CMO, we spoke to Brandt about making the Chipotle brand more visible and relevant to its customers through telling stories about the company's fresh-food values.

You may think nothing of a box of frozen White Castle sliders or a Taco Bell dinner kit in the grocery aisle—fast-food signature dishes that shoppers can re-create at home. Yet Chick-fil-A's announcement on Monday that it will begin testing meal kits is something different altogether.