1 Month in, Abercrombie’s Test with Sperry Proves the Potential of A&F Footwear
Abercrombie & Fitch’s month‑old Sperry collaboration is being hailed as a proof point that footwear can fuel its growth agenda. The capsule, launched April 9, features seven apparel pieces and five shoe styles priced $55‑$150, sold primarily online with limited in‑store availability. While exact sales weren’t disclosed, the brand says the launch beat internal benchmarks, lifted conversion rates and spurred cross‑category buying. The success dovetails with Abercrombie’s 2026 ambition to broaden product categories and capitalize on its 59% digital sales mix.
EXCLUSIVE: Canada’s Largest Redevelopment Draws Compelling Luxury Lineup
Oakridge Park, a 5‑million‑square‑foot mixed‑use redevelopment south of downtown Vancouver, opens on May 28 with a 650,000‑sq‑ft luxury retail podium hosting 100 flagship stores such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Prada. The project, led by QuadReal Property Group and Westbank, repurposes a former...
How Roller Rabbit Became TikTok’s Favorite Sleepwear Brand
Roller Rabbit, founded in 2003, has reinvented itself as a direct‑to‑consumer brand by slashing wholesale to roughly 30% of sales and embracing a frequent‑drop model. High‑profile collaborations with LoveShackFancy, Starbucks and Target have sold out within seconds, fueling more than...
Biozet Attack Shows How a ‘Cleverer Clean’ Frees You to Be ‘Not so Clever’ with Your Clothes in New Brand...
Biozet Attack, a KAO Australia laundry brand, has launched a new “Cleverer Clean” campaign developed by Communicado. The multi‑platform effort, featuring a 3‑D brain visual and a hero film about an over‑confident waiter, runs on CTV, BVOD, SVOD, cinema, OOH,...
Scooter Launches Retail Division with Senior Hires
Melbourne‑based agency Scooter has launched Scooter Retail, a dedicated division that provides end‑to‑end retail design and production. The new arm completes the firm’s three‑division model—Marketing, Creative, and Retail—offering brands a single partner for strategy, creative, and point‑of‑sale execution. Daniel Brodecky,...
AI Won’t Transform Your Retail Operations if Your Devices Can’t Keep Up
Australian retailers are rapidly embedding AI into checkout, inventory and customer‑experience workflows, with 89% of store associates reporting productivity gains. However, many frontline devices lack the processing power, memory and sensor capabilities needed for real‑time AI applications. Zebra’s new TC501...
De’Longhi Launches ‘Not Without My De’Longhi’ Retail Campaign
De’Longhi has rolled out the "Not Without My De’Longhi" retail campaign to promote its Icona Capitals collection and the new Dedica Duo compact coffee machine. The campaign, crafted by creative agency JAM, uses travel‑inspired visuals and four signature colourways—Copenhagen Green,...
Inside JB Hi-Fi’s Retail Media Rollout at Mumbrella Remade Conference
Mumbrella’s Remade conference returns on September 10 in Sydney, merging its retail media and retail marketing tracks into three focused streams. The agenda spotlights JB Hi‑Fi’s rollout of a store‑centric retail media network, with Scott Browning and Sarah Ladbury joined by...
Emotive & Perfection Fresh Puts Broccolini Centre Stage In New Campaign
Perfection Fresh has launched an integrated campaign with Emotive to position its proprietary Broccolini as the premium choice in the fresh‑produce aisle. The creative centers the vegetable in romantic weeknight meals, using the ongoing Thomas and Olivia storyline to build...
Business Daily
Hundreds of thousands of Argentines are crossing the Andes each year to shop in Chile, where a favorable exchange rate makes well‑known clothing and electronics brands markedly cheaper. President Javier Milei’s recent economic reforms have tamed inflation, giving many Argentines extra...
590,000 Buyers Paid $59 Million for Trump's Gold Phone — Not 1 Has Shipped and Refunds Look Unlikely
More than half a million consumers each paid a $100 deposit, amounting to roughly $59 million, for Trump Mobile’s flagship T1 smartphone that was marketed as a Made‑in‑USA alternative to Apple and Samsung. Over a year after the June 2025 announcement, no...
These 6 Common Customer Service Practices Actually Do More Harm Than Good
The article argues that many entrenched customer‑service habits actually hurt sales and loyalty, urging firms to eliminate six common practices. It cites retail research showing that greeting shoppers immediately can trigger a “just looking” mindset, and recommends starting interactions with...
The Dos and Don’ts of Cart Etiquette at Walmart, According to a Former Employee
A former Walmart employee outlines five essential cart‑etiquette rules, from keeping carts close to choosing the right size. The piece highlights how abandoned or misplaced carts disrupt aisle flow and add extra labor for staff. It urges shoppers to return...
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Lands As Luxury Fashion Fights To Pull Gen Z Into Its Orbit
Luxury fashion firms are banking on the release of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” to revive a personal‑luxury market that fell 3% to $422 billion in 2025 after shedding 55 million aspirational customers. Gen Z, now 19% of global luxury sales, remains skeptical because...
Ayala Bringing in Another International Retail Brand
Ayala Corp is negotiating to add another unnamed international retailer to its Philippine portfolio, following recent deals with UAE’s Spinneys, Thailand’s CP AXTRA for Makro, and Australia’s Kmart‑backed Anko. Spinneys will roll out 12 premium supermarkets, with two slated to open...
Sales Are Up. Celebrities Are In. Is Gap Officially Back?
Gap Inc., under CEO Richard Dickson, is attempting to revive its cultural cachet by leveraging celebrity partnerships and entertainment tie‑ins after years of store closures and stagnant sales. Dickson, who previously revitalized Mattel brands, is drawing on the retailer’s 57‑year...
Gucci, Dior, Burberry: A Tale of Three Turnarounds
Wall Street is now valuing Tapestry, the parent of Coach, almost on par with Kering, the owner of Gucci, reflecting divergent turnaround progress among luxury houses. Meanwhile, Armani is reportedly preparing to sell a 15% stake to a consortium that...
Google’s UCP Update: Carts, Catalogs, And Loyalty In AI Shopping via @Sejournal, @Slobodanmanic
Google expanded its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) on March 19, adding Cart, Catalog, and Identity Linking capabilities and a streamlined onboarding flow in Merchant Center. The Cart feature lets AI agents bundle multiple items in a single transaction, while Catalog provides...
Target Is Trying to Win Back Busy Families From Walmart, Starting with the Baby Aisle
Target is converting baby aisles in about 200 stores into "baby boutiques," showcasing premium strollers, car seats and high‑end brands like UPPAbaby. The move is part of CEO Michael Fiddelke’s turnaround plan to win back busy families who have drifted...
Alibaba Integrates Qwen AI with Taobao for End-to-End Agentic Shopping
Alibaba is embedding its Qwen generative‑AI app into Taobao and Tmall, giving the chatbot access to more than four billion products and a suite of logistics, customer‑service and checkout skills. The AI can search, compare, run virtual try‑ons, track prices and...
Flipkart Turns up the Heat with ‘Too Hot to Handle, Uncle’ Summer Campaign
Flipkart has rolled out the "Too Hot to Handle, Uncle" summer campaign ahead of its SASA LELE half‑yearly sale starting May 9. Developed by 22feet Tribal Worldwide, the ad leverages the familiar Indian "summer uncle" archetype to showcase cooling appliances and other...
Mumbai’s Koli Women Are Rewriting the Seafood Business One WhatsApp Order at a Time
Mumbai’s Koli women have transformed their informal fish‑stall trade into Daryavardi Producer Company Limited (DPCL), a community‑owned seafood enterprise launched in April 2023. The women‑run firm now boasts over 1,000 shareholders, modern packaging, centralized logistics and digital ordering via WhatsApp and...
How Gift-Ready Handbag Packaging Elevates Luxury Shopping
Luxury handbag retailers are leveraging meticulously designed gift‑ready packaging to turn a simple purchase into a memorable experience. Research from SMU shows wrapped gifts are rated more favorably, while YouTube logged over 25 billion unboxing video views in 2023, underscoring the...
Chinese Bubble Tea Chain with More Stores than McDonald’s Wants to Conquer the World
Chinese bubble‑tea chain Mixue, founded in 1997, now operates about 60,000 stores—more than McDonald’s—primarily in China but expanding globally. Its ultra‑low‑price model, driven by in‑house farms and a self‑sourced supply chain, lets it sell ice‑cream cones for under $0.30 and...
A British Bookseller Rebuilds Barnes & Noble for a New Era
James Daunt, the British bookseller who turned Waterstones into a profitable chain, is now overhauling Barnes & Noble. He slashed 5,000 jobs during the pandemic and recently forced the entire corporate team to reapply, trimming a few dozen positions. The cost‑cutting...
Prada Eyewear Pops up in LA
Prada Eyewear launched a 300‑square‑foot pop‑up boutique at The Grove in Los Angeles, running from May 10 to May 24. The space showcases the Spring/Summer 2026 collection and a limited‑edition oval metal frame that will also appear at Nordstrom for the retailer’s 125th anniversary....
Amazon Is Selling DJI's Self-Guided Neo Mini Drone for Under $140 Right Now
Amazon is offering DJI's Neo Mini drone for $139, a $60 discount from its $199 list price and the lowest Amazon price since its 2024 launch. The compact 135‑gram drone captures 4K video, flies up to 20 minutes, and is...
Nike Says It’s ‘Deeply Committed’ to Snkrs App After Speculation Swirls
Nike reaffirmed its "deeply committed" stance to the SNKRS app after rumors of its demise following a tech‑team overhaul. The company said SNKRS will remain a core element of its digital marketplace, delivering curated drops, storytelling, and seamless shopping, now...
Costco Adds New Exclusive Dessert Tied to Viral Trend
Costco has introduced an exclusive line of Häagen‑Dazs Dubai‑style chocolate ice‑cream bars, sold in 20‑mini‑bar packs for roughly $15.50. The dessert draws on the viral Dubai chocolate trend, featuring pistachio ice cream, milk chocolate, and toasted kataifi crunch. Availability is...
Nike Releases Official Statement Regarding The Future Of SNKRS
Nike announced that its SNKRS engineering team has been merged with the broader Nike App group and relocated to the company’s Philip H. Knight campus in Oregon. The unified team will combine expertise from both sides to streamline handoffs, enhance...
Wendy’s Is Closing Hundreds of Stores: See an Updated List of Locations Where the Chain Is Shuttering the Most
Wendy’s is rapidly shrinking its U.S. footprint, closing roughly 200 restaurants since September 2025. The chain now lists 5,675 locations, down from 5,875 at the start of the fourth quarter when the turnaround plan was announced. The closures target underperforming...
Swiggy Q4: Food Delivery Beats ‘LPG Crisis’ Fears But Instamart Cools Off
Swiggy reported Q4 FY26 food‑delivery revenue of about $278 million, up 23% YoY, with gross order value reaching roughly $1.08 billion despite the LPG supply shock that closed restaurants in key cities. The company kept contribution margin steady, improving to 7.8% and...
IKEA Is Launching a Meatball Lollipop This Summer in Collaboration with Chupa Chups – and We're Curious to Try It
IKEA is teaming with Chupa Chups to release a limited‑edition Meatball Lollipop this June. The novelty candy mimics the flavor profile of IKEA’s iconic Swedish meatballs while being fully vegan. Available only in select IKEA stores, the product is marketed as...
Reggie Fils-Aimé's Amazon Story Says a Lot About Nintendo
Former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils‑Aimé recounted a 2010s incident where Amazon asked Nintendo for deep discounts on Wii and DS consoles. Nintendo refused, citing legality and principle, and stopped selling to Amazon altogether. The anecdote underscores Nintendo’s historic...
Retail Returns Climbed to $850 Billion Last Year — Try These 3 Fixes Before Your Profit Margins Disappear
U.S. retailers processed about $850 billion in product returns in 2025, equal to 15.8% of total sales. E‑commerce returns are even higher, hovering around 24.5% of online orders, which strains fulfillment centers and erodes profit margins. Experts argue that treating returns...
JioHotstar, Swiggy Turn Live Cricket Into an In-App Food Court
JioHotstar and Swiggy have rolled out an in‑app food‑ordering feature that lets cricket fans order meals without leaving the live stream, already used by more than 37 million users across 690 cities. The mobile‑only experience lets viewers browse restaurants, unlock match‑triggered offers,...
Target Launches 2-Tier Creator Program: One For Superfans, One For Pros
Target unveiled a two‑tier creator initiative aimed at boosting social commerce. Club Target rewards everyday creators and superfans with weekly challenges and gift‑card incentives, while Target Ambassadors, built on the LTK platform, courts professional creators with higher commissions and deeper...
Spain's Bizum Heads to the High Street to Take on Visa and Mastercard
Spain’s home‑grown payment app Bizum is extending its account‑to‑account service to brick‑and‑mortar stores via NFC‑enabled Bizum Pay, slated to launch on 18 May. The move bypasses Visa and Mastercard’s networks, routing funds directly between bank accounts and slashing merchant interchange fees. Bizum...
Retail Chains Like Reliance Retail, DMart Go on Store Expansion Spree as Demand Recovers
India’s ten largest listed retailers added a net 2,182 stores in FY26, the highest three‑year total, driven by recovering consumer demand and tax cuts. Expansion focused on smaller towns where shoppers still favor brick‑and‑mortar. Reliance Retail led with 820 net...
The Tradeoff Economy: Why Stressed Shoppers Are Still Spending
The Kearney Consumer Institute’s Q1 2026 Consumer Stress Index shows that despite heightened financial, geopolitical and health stress, U.S. shoppers are not pulling back overall but reallocating spending. Consumers are cutting back on dining out and experience‑based purchases while increasing apparel...
Health and Beauty Brief: The Ordinary Donates to Second Harvest, Loblaw on GLP-1 Growth
The Ordinary launched The Markup Marché pop‑up in Toronto and other global cities, pricing everyday foods with luxury labels to expose beauty industry markups. The brand has donated more than $100,000 CAD (≈$74,000 USD) to food‑bank partners in each city...
Seventh Circuit Resets Illinois Swipe-Fee Fight as July 1 Deadline Looms
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated a February district‑court ruling upholding Illinois’ Interchange Fee Prohibition Act and remanded the case to the Northern District of Illinois. The decision cancels scheduled oral arguments and returns the dispute...
La Bonne Brosse Is Expanding in the U.S.
La Bonne Brosse, the French indie hair‑brush brand, has expanded its U.S. footprint by opening 100 Nordstrom stores, complementing the 30 Bloomingdale’s locations launched in late 2025. The company offers nine brush types priced between $106 and $154, plus a prestige hair‑care...
The Evolution of Entertainment-Driven Retail Spaces in 2026
In 2026 retail centers have shifted from pure transaction hubs to experience‑focused destinations, blending shopping with gaming, live events, and dining. Operators rely on digital ecosystems such as Winbeatz to synchronize online engagement with on‑site activities, extending dwell time and...
How AI Is Changing The Economics Of Amazon As A Retail Channel For Canadian Brands
Amazon.ca attracts 159 million monthly visits and holds roughly 41.5% of Canada’s e‑commerce market, making it a mandatory channel for Canadian brands. Most sellers still rely on manual, reactive processes, which hide costs such as missed keywords, wasted ad spend, and...
Solving the Multilingual Support Challenge in Retail Customer Service
Retailers lose revenue when language barriers cause cart abandonment, as customers abandon sites that cannot provide information in their preferred language. Certified Languages International reports that 72% of shoppers are more likely to purchase when content is presented in their...
5WPR Index Finds Costco Tops AI Citation Rankings, Walmart Trails
5WPR released its 2026 U.S. Grocery Retail AI Visibility Index, ranking grocers by how often they appear in AI‑generated answers. Costco tops the list, followed by Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, while Walmart—holding roughly 21% of grocery market share—falls to fourth...
Weak Consumer Confidence, Rising Inflation Dim Peak Season Hopes
The National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates warn that the U.S. peak shipping season could be muted in 2026 due to weak consumer confidence and rising inflation. The ongoing war with Iran, now in its third month, is identified as...
The Strategy Behind Dime Beauty’s New Fragrance
Dime Beauty introduced its newest fragrance, "Stay Awhile," priced at $62 and rolling out through Ulta Beauty, Amazon, and its own channels. CEO Cyndi Isgrig highlighted the brand’s evolution from a $100 million influencer‑driven DTC model to a retail‑focused strategy, now...
Mastercard Rallies Partners to Support MENA Small Businesses
Mastercard has launched the "Built Small. Moving Strong." program to help small‑ and medium‑size businesses in the Middle East and North Africa navigate war‑driven trade disruptions and rising costs. The initiative brings together banks, governments and ecosystem partners to provide...