Everlane’s Sale to Shein Is Another Nail in the Coffin for Millennial DTC Brands
Everlane’s majority owner L Catterton sold the brand to fast‑fashion giant Shein for $100 million, a deal that clears roughly $90 million of debt. The transaction underscores the collapse of the millennial‑focused direct‑to‑consumer (DTC) wave that once dominated online apparel. Similar exits, such as Allbirds’ $39 million asset sale, highlight how sustainability‑centric, higher‑priced DTC models have lost traction with Gen Z shoppers. Investors are now gravitating toward newer, price‑driven DTC concepts that can compete with ultra‑cheap platforms.
Taming the Returns Monster
Retailers face a $850 billion returns burden, representing 15.8% of U.S. sales, as generous policies become baseline expectations. Fraud now makes up roughly 9% of all returns, driving operational costs and distorting demand signals. To protect margins, firms are shifting to...
Instacart Expands Ads Manager Tools to Retailers
Instacart is extending its Ads Manager platform to grocery and retail partners, adding a self‑serve suite that lets retailers create basket‑level promotions, target high‑intent shoppers, and track performance in real time. The move follows a milestone year in which Instacart’s...
Otto Opens to Polish Sellers
German e‑commerce platform Otto announced a pilot program to admit Polish sellers to its marketplace starting next month. The €99.90 (~$109) monthly fee applies regardless of catalogue size, and participants must use a Polish entity, join the OSS tax scheme,...
Why Retailers Are Rushing to Adopt Ambient IoT for Batteryless Electronic Shelf Labels
Retailers are rapidly shifting from battery‑powered electronic shelf labels (ESLs) to ambient IoT‑enabled, battery‑free versions. First‑generation ESLs incurred high labor costs for battery swaps and generated significant e‑waste, undermining profitability and sustainability goals. Energy‑harvesting technology now powers labels from light...
A $400 Swatch Watch Drove Crowds Into a Frenzy — And Forced the Company to Close Stores Worldwide
Swatch partnered with Audemars Piguet to release eight pocket‑watch versions of the $30,000 Royal Oak for $400 each. The limited‑edition Royal Pop sparked chaotic crowds that forced the closure of 19 U.S. stores and several locations worldwide. Police intervened, resulting in at...
Amazon Cut Affiliate Commissions Up to 50% for Some Publishers, Leaving Them Reeling
Amazon has quietly overhauled its Associates program, cutting affiliate commission rates by as much as 50% and removing performance‑based bonuses. The changes, first rolled out in Asia‑Pacific in late 2025, reached U.S. publishers around March 9 without any public announcement....
GUEST COMMENT How Do You Solve Retail Media’s Fragmentation Problem?
Retail media is becoming increasingly fragmented as new Retail Media Networks (RMNs) launch, forcing advertisers to consolidate spend with a few large partners. This consolidation squeezes smaller, niche RMNs that offer differentiated audiences, while major platforms like Amazon retain dominance....
Why Post-Purchase Is the Next Battleground for Asian Fashion E-Commerce
Asian fashion e‑commerce retailers are confronting costly post‑purchase friction, especially returns, which can erode up to 20% of gross merchandise value in APAC. Recustomer, a Japanese SaaS firm, offers an automation platform that cuts manual processing costs by up to...
Marketplace Growth Is Outpacing Ecommerce. Here’s Why Payments Infrastructure Will Shape Who Scales.
Retailers such as Lowe’s, Best Buy, Ulta Beauty and Nordstrom are launching third‑party marketplace platforms, driving US online marketplace sales up 11.5% in 2025—almost double the overall ecommerce growth rate. The shift from a single‑seller storefront to a multi‑seller marketplace forces a...
Parcel Costs Are Moving Faster than Your Audits Can Catch Them
A VP of Operations at a large retailer uncovered $500,000 in over‑forecast shipping costs. Using a logistics‑trained AI parcel tool, the team identified that commercial service levels were being applied to residential shipments within minutes and deployed a TMS fix...
Retail Technology Show 2026: Turning Omnichannel Into Operational Advantage
At the Retail Technology Show in London, retailers heard a stark warning: omnichannel is no longer a strategic goal but an operational capability that must be run efficiently and profitably. Speakers emphasized that the real challenge lies in execution—specifically, orchestrating...
Is Primark About to Launch Ecommerce Due to Pressure From Shein and Temu?
Primark is reportedly exploring online home delivery after a failed bid for Asos' automated fulfilment centre in Lichfield, a site sold to Marks & Spencer for £67.5 million (≈$86.4 million). The retailer, long‑standing on low‑price brick‑and‑mortar sales, has recently added click‑and‑collect and...
New Foodstuffs Loyalty Program Excludes Pak’nSave Purchases
Foodstuffs North Island unveiled Club+, a unified loyalty scheme that will replace the New World Clubcard and operate across New World, Four Square and the broader Foodstuffs network. The program lets shoppers earn and redeem points at any participating brand,...
The New Rules of Retail Include Buying Into Retail Media Networks
The retail sector is undergoing rapid change, with thousands of drugstores closing, luxury department stores consolidating, and off‑price channels expanding. Brands are responding by shifting a growing share of their marketing spend into retail media networks owned by major retailers....
How FlutterHabit Uses Its 46,000-Member Facebook Group for Product Development
FlutterHabit has turned its 46,000‑member private Facebook group into a real‑time focus group, using members to source campaign talent, test product concepts, and revive retired lash styles. The community‑driven “FlutterHabit Family Edit” collection sold out within a week, prompting rapid...
Peekabox Raises $1.5 Million to Tackle Food Waste in the UAE
UAE‑based food‑tech startup Peekabox closed an oversubscribed $1.5 million seed round to accelerate its surplus‑food marketplace across the Emirates. The platform lets restaurants, cafes and grocery chains sell fresh surplus items at 50‑70% discounts through app‑based “surprise boxes.” At launch it...
Why Does Amazon Have No Western Rivals?
Amazon has become the world’s largest company by sales, commanding 40.5% of U.S. online retail and about 30% of the U.K. market. Its dominance stems from a first‑mover advantage, relentless reinvestment of AWS profits into low‑margin retail, and the sticky...
Trust Is the only MOAT in Value Commerce
Snapdeal’s head of customer experience argues that trust, not price or flashy features, is the only sustainable moat in India’s value‑commerce market. He illustrates how cash‑on‑delivery, generous return policies and vernacular support act as trust contracts for customers who have...
Social Media Drives Consumer Discover, per Meta
Meta released a three‑part blog series, based on a 16‑page report, that argues shoppers are moving away from traditional Google searches toward social‑media discovery. The company cites a near‑20% year‑over‑year decline in Google searches per U.S. user and highlights short‑form...
Walmart and Amazon Compete for Rural America with Faster Deliveries
Walmart and Amazon are intensifying a race to deliver faster shipments to rural America, a market worth up to $1 trillion in annual sales. Walmart already reaches 90% of U.S. residents within 10 miles of a store, while Amazon has poured...
Odd Lots: Stripe’s John Collison on Agentic Commerce (Podcast)
Stripe co‑founder John Collison says AI‑driven “agentic commerce” will overhaul e‑commerce. He argues that traditional keyword search and ad‑based discovery are becoming obsolete as autonomous agents shop on behalf of consumers. Brands will need to optimize product data for machine...
How PepsiCo Used Walmart's Data to Rethink U.S. Launch Playbook
PepsiCo launched its new Pepsi prebiotic cola as a limited‑time online drop on Black Friday 2025, selling out in less than 24 hours. Using retail media signals from Walmart Connect, the company analyzed buyer data to refine flavor, messaging, and...
Bugatti Launches Online Shop in Italy
Bugatti, the German‑based fashion label, launched a dedicated e‑commerce site for Italy, its second‑largest export market. The new shop complements an existing network that includes Germany, Austria (since 2015) and the Netherlands (2025), reinforcing the brand’s omni‑channel strategy. Tailored content,...
Bed Bath & Beyond’s First Co-Branded Store with The Container Store Will Open Saturday
Bed Bath & Beyond announced the opening of its first co‑branded store with The Container Store in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday. The 20% off Bed Bath & Beyond coupons will be honored during the opening weekend, and the layout blends organizational products with home goods by...
How Is Fashion Retail Harnessing Performance Marketing?
Fashion retailers are feeling the squeeze as customer acquisition costs climb roughly 15% year‑over‑year. Brands such as Lounge, Castore and Fairfax & Favor are turning to performance‑marketing tactics that blend AI‑driven audience targeting, shoppable social content, and loyalty‑data integration. These...
Discovery Channels: How Consumers Are Using AI to Shop
Consumers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence across multiple discovery channels to inform and complete purchases. The analysis highlights how AI‑driven chatbots, visual search tools, voice assistants, and generative recommendation engines are reshaping the shopping journey. Data shows a surge...
Where H&M Is Targeting Its Technology Investment
H&M’s UK and Ireland managing director, Karen O’Rourke, outlined a multi‑year technology roadmap aimed at accelerating digital sales, streamlining supply‑chain visibility, and embedding data‑driven decision‑making across the brand. The retailer plans to invest heavily in AI‑powered inventory forecasting, a unified...
OnePlus Removed From Best Buy Stores as US Shutdown Looms, Replaced by Nothing
OnePlus devices have been pulled from Best Buy store displays and replaced by Nothing phones, marking the latest sign of the brand’s retreat from the U.S. market. The removal follows the end of OnePlus’s carrier partnerships and a public statement that...
Pokemon Card Packs In Japan Are Being Damaged To Spite Scalpers
Japanese retailers are deliberately cutting the corners off Pokémon TCG booster packs to make them unusable for resale. The damage lowers the packs' secondary‑market premium, nudging collectors to buy directly from stores. This tactic joins other anti‑scalping measures such as...
Why Retailers Must Think Like Tech Companies to Thrive in a Data-Driven Economy
Retailers head into the holiday season buoyed by improving consumer sentiment, but optimism alone won’t secure sales. In the data‑driven economy, success hinges on adopting technology‑company practices—scalable data pipelines, AI‑powered insights, and robust cyber defenses. The Adyen Index shows 38%...
Ahold Delhaize USA Expands Digital Commerce Capabilities
Ahold Delhaize USA announced a partnership with SmartCommerce to roll out the Click2Cart solution across its five U.S. grocery brands—Food Lion, The Giant Company, Giant Food, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop. Click2Cart lets shoppers add products they see in digital ads, social posts or brand‑owned media directly into...
Jumia Is Cutting 200 Jobs as AI Takes over More of Its Business
Jumia announced it will cut at least 200 full‑time jobs as it rolls out AI tools across logistics, customer support, finance and software development, aiming to become leaner and profitable by 2026. The e‑commerce platform reported Q1 2026 revenue of $50.6 million...
Amorepacific Turns Its Seoul Flagship Into AI-Powered Beauty Lab
Amorepacific has relaunched its Seoul flagship, Amore Yongsan, as an AI‑powered beauty laboratory. The new space combines retail, personalized cosmetics, and advanced skin‑analysis services under one roof. Central to the concept are City Lab, an AI‑driven skin and scalp diagnostic...
Sauce Launches AI-Powered Cashback Loyalty Engine to Help Restaurants Increase Reorders by Up to 30%
Sauce, a first‑party ordering and retention platform for restaurants, unveiled Sauce Cashback, an AI‑driven loyalty feature that automatically credits customers on each order. Early beta data shows participating eateries can boost reorders by as much as 30% within weeks. The...
YouTube Is Turning Your TV Into a Shopping Cart, and It's Exactly as Bad as It Sounds
YouTube unveiled a "Buy with Google Pay" button for ads on its smart‑TV app, letting viewers purchase items with two clicks. The feature, announced at the Brandcast 2026 event, joins AI‑driven tools like Reimagine and custom sponsorships that tailor video ads. By...
Ulta Beauty Expands Uber Partnership
Ulta Beauty announced that more than 1,500 of its stores have been added to the Uber Eats marketplace, allowing customers to order beauty products for home delivery through the platform. The rollout expands the retailer’s on‑demand offering beyond its existing...
Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, Prada and Dior Are Most Purchased Items on EBay This Year So Far
eBay’s 2026 Spring‑Summer Watchlist shows legacy luxury houses still dominate the resale arena, with Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, Prada and Dior topping global purchases from January through March. Dior leapfrogs Hermès after Jonathan Anderson’s appointment, while handbag and watch...
91% of Shoppers Say Loyalty Programs Drive Them to Shop as US Consumers Become “Loyalty Lovers”
LoyaltyLion’s May 2026 survey of 2,000 U.S. shoppers shows loyalty programs have become a daily habit rather than a passive enrollment. On average, consumers belong to 3.16 e‑commerce loyalty schemes and actively use 2.77, logging in roughly 11 times a...
Fera Pets Expands Into Petco Stores Nationwide
Fera Pets announced a nationwide rollout of its veterinarian‑founded supplements in Petco stores, placing a curated assortment on end‑cap displays across the chain. The new shelf space features Hip + Joint Support, Multivitamin, Cardiac Support, Pumpkin Plus Fiber, and USDA...
3 Ways Edible Brands Has Grown Its AOV in 2026
Edible Brands lifted its average order value in 2026 by extending last‑mile delivery, adding AI‑driven personalization, and selling through major food‑delivery marketplaces. Partnerships with Nash, Uber Direct and Roadie let the retailer ship perishable gifts up to 70 miles while...
Dillard’s Is so Confident, It Opened a New Store
Dillard’s opened its first Dayton‑area store in The Mall at Fairfield Commons, taking over a former Macy’s anchor. In Q1, the retailer reported a 3% rise in retail sales to $1.5 billion and a 30‑basis‑point lift in gross margin to 45.8%....
Best Buy Debuts Consultation Spaces Within Ikea Stores
Best Buy has launched dedicated consultation spaces inside two Ikea stores—in Frisco, Texas, and Tampa, Florida—where its Blue Shirt specialists help shoppers choose appliances, place orders, and arrange delivery without leaving the Ikea showroom. The move flips the existing shop‑in‑shop model...
Ecommerce Trends: Which Online Retailers Use Subscription Models?
Subscription models are gaining traction among North American e‑commerce leaders. Chewy’s Autoship program accounted for $10.5 billion, or 83.3% of its 2025 net sales, while the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 report shows only 3.2% of retailers used subscriptions in 2026. Retailers...
Amazon's Least Competitive Marketplace Is Now Everywhere
Amazon’s average traffic per active seller jumped 25% in the past year to 3,544 monthly visits, extending a trend that began in 2021. While total web traffic across 23 marketplaces rose 5% to 5.5 billion visits, the number of active sellers...
States Rush to Ban AI-Generated ‘Surveillance Pricing’ That Uses Shoppers’ Personal Data
Retailers are increasingly using AI-driven algorithms to set individualized, real‑time prices—a practice dubbed “surveillance pricing.” Consumer Reports uncovered price gaps of up to 23% for identical groceries on Instacart, potentially adding roughly $1,200 to a four‑person household’s annual bill. State...
How to Convert Your E-Store Visitors Into Customers
The U.S. ecommerce market now sees over 288 million shoppers, making traffic acquisition less of a hurdle than converting that traffic into sales. About 70% of visitors abandon carts, often because of unfamiliar payment options, complex checkouts, or hidden fees. Platforms...
AI Shopping Agents Are Already Ranking Your Store. Do You Know Where You Stand?
AI shopping agents are already evaluating retailers before a human ever sees a website, using delivery data to rank options. nShift’s Johan Hellman outlines a five‑stage maturity curve that shows why most stores are invisible and how they can become...
Amazon Wants to Be a Beauty Powerhouse. Is a Big Beauty Sale the Answer?
Amazon closed its fourth‑annual Summer Beauty Event, offering discounts up to 50% on makeup, skincare and vitamins. The retailer reported $8 billion in U.S. beauty sales for Q1 2026, underscoring its growing foothold in the category. To shift from a discount‑driven...
Unpacked: What Maryland’s Dynamic Pricing Ban Says About the Electronic Shelf Label Debate
Maryland became the first U.S. state to enact a law banning dynamic pricing on tax‑exempt groceries, prohibiting retailers from using personal data to raise prices. The Protection From Predatory Pricing Act, effective Oct. 1, 2026, targets stores of 15,000 sq ft or larger and...