Modern Retail Podcast: Why Shoppers Can’t Get Enough of Limited-Edition Scents and Flavors
The Modern Retail Podcast highlighted the accelerating role of limited‑time offers (LTOs) in consumer packaged goods, especially seasonal scents and flavors. Brands like Peeps are rolling out unconventional variants such as Rita’s‑Italian‑Ice‑ and Pop‑Tarts‑marshmallows, while Dude Wipes leveraged fall and winter scents to attract new buyers. The episode revealed that 69% of households purchasing Dude Wipes’ limited‑edition products were first‑time customers, equating to roughly 150,000 new households. These data points underscore LTOs as a potent growth engine for CPG firms.
Starbucks Closes China Business Sale, Eyes 20,000 Stores
Starbucks has finalized a transaction with Boyu Capital, transferring a 60% controlling interest in its China business while retaining a 40% stake and licensing the brand. The partnership aims to accelerate expansion from roughly 8,000 stores to 20,000 across China,...
Amazon Is Selling an Indoor Pizza Oven for 50% Off, and Shoppers Say It's 'So Much Better' Than Ooni
Amazon is offering the Chefman Indoor Pizza Oven at a 50% discount, slashing the price from $400 to $200. The countertop appliance reaches up to 800 °F, cooks a 12‑inch pizza in about five minutes, and features six preset cooking modes....
Mumumelon: The ‘Shameless’ Dupe Challenging Lululemon’s Sustainable Image
A creative climate studio called Serious People launched Mumumelon, a satirical pop‑up that mimics Lululemon’s aesthetic while touting a zero‑carbon supply chain. The stunt, staged in London’s Marylebone district, showcased about 40 wind‑ and solar‑powered garments made by Community Clothing...
Eddie Bauer Adopts Deck Commerce’s Platform for Order Orchestration
Eddie Bauer’s North American DTC operations are integrating Deck Commerce’s order‑orchestration platform to unify sales across Shopify storefronts, Amazon, and marketplace partners while coordinating third‑party logistics. The first milestone—a new Shopify storefront—went live just two months after the contract was...
Citizen Watch CMO on 50 Years of Eco-Drive Tech, Gen Z Style and Narrative-Driven Creative
Citizen Watch commemorates 50 years of its Eco‑Drive light‑powered technology with the "Powered by Any Light" campaign, showcasing everyday light sources as power for its watches. The brand pivots toward narrative‑driven creative aimed at Gen Z and millennials, using pop‑culture visuals...
Everlane Plans to Relocate to L.A. Amid Rent Dispute in San Francisco
Everlane announced it will relocate its headquarters from San Francisco to Los Angeles, consolidating operations by August. The move follows a lawsuit from its landlord over $51,273 in unpaid rent for its Folsom Street office. The company says it will...
Perplexity Asks Federal Court to Lift Amazon Shopping Agent Ban
Perplexity has filed an appeal to a federal circuit court asking it to lift a March injunction that barred its AI shopping agent, Comet, from accessing Amazon’s site. The district court had found Amazon likely to succeed on its claim...
Gopuff to Work with NextNRG on Delivering Groceries Alongside Gas
Gopuff is partnering with NextNRG to launch EzShop, a service that adds grocery and household item delivery to the company’s mobile‑fueling app. The integration, set to roll out in select markets in Q2 2026, will offer more than 5,000 SKUs using...
Etsy Bans Fur From Its Listings
Etsy announced it will prohibit all animal‑fur listings on its marketplace starting August 11, 2024, after a sustained activist campaign. The Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade staged over 50 protests in 17 cities, including a disruption of Etsy’s investor presentation....
Amazon's Big Summer Prime Day Sale Might Be Moving This Year. Here's What to Expect and How to Get Ready
Amazon is reportedly shifting its 2026 Prime Day from its traditional July slot to June, according to Bloomberg. The move could accelerate deal availability but gives shoppers less time to budget and forces rivals to rethink promotional calendars. Historically, Prime...
Skechers and Howie Mandel Tout ‘Retail Theater’ With Immersive Hologram Experience
Skechers has teamed with comedian‑ambassador Howie Mandel and hologram specialist Proto Hologram to debut an immersive, permanent holographic installation at its Manhattan Beach flagship store. Shoppers can interact with a life‑size Mandel avatar, snap selfies and unlock exclusive promotions, turning...
Shopify Adds B2B Features for More Merchants
Shopify is extending its enterprise‑grade B2B suite to merchants on the basic, grow and advanced plans at no extra cost, bringing wholesale‑focused tools such as company profiles, custom catalogs, volume discounts, vaulted credit cards and payment terms to a broader...
Nike and the Converse Question: Operate or Orchestrate the Asset
Nike is weighing whether to keep Converse under its own operating model or sell the brand to Authentic Brands Group, a move that mirrors a larger shift from owning assets to orchestrating networks. Converse has suffered declining sales and a...
Private Label Products Garner 24% of Retail Food, Beverage Dollar Share
Private‑label products captured 24% of the U.S. retail food and beverage dollar share in 2025, generating $330 billion in sales, according to Circana. The share rose 0.4 percentage points year‑over‑year, led by growth in refrigerated, fresh perimeter, frozen foods and shelf‑stable...
Glimpse $35M Funding Boost for AI‑Driven Retail Automation
Glimpse, a Y Combinator‑backed AI startup focused on retail finance automation, closed a $35 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, bringing its total capital to roughly $52 million. The funding backs its machine‑learning platform that streamlines invoice deductions, chargebacks and dispute...
How Home Depot Is Harnessing Weather Data To Drive Local Retail Sales
Home Depot is leveraging hyper‑local, predictive weather intelligence from The Weather Company to align marketing and inventory with shifting consumer demand. The partnership aims to convert weather‑driven buying signals into actionable campaigns, a strategy that previously delivered a six‑fold lift...
Famous Labs Taps AI for Speedy E-Commerce Site Building
Famous Labs has launched Famous.ai, an artificial‑intelligence platform that builds complete e‑commerce stores from plain‑language descriptions. The service automatically generates site architecture, design, product pages and integrates native payments through its FamousPay solution. Retailers can choose a traditional website, a...
From Shoes to Headwear: Crocs’ Disney Collection Takes a Bold Turn
Crocs has broadened its long‑standing Disney partnership by launching a Disney‑themed headband, along with coordinating tote and belt bags, moving the collaboration from footwear to full‑outfit accessories. The headband is lightweight, hair‑safe and features six holes per ear, allowing up...
Bed Bath & Beyond Buys The Container Store
Bed Bath & Beyond announced a $150 million acquisition of The Container Store, adding over 100 retail locations and 2.2 million square feet of space. The deal, expected to close in July, will rebrand stores as The Container Store/Bed Bath & Beyond, merging storage expertise...
Faye McLeod on Luxury World-Building, One Window at a Time | The BoF Podcast
Faye McLeod, former Louis Vuitton visual director, explains how luxury window displays serve as democratic, street‑level brand communication. She credits a childhood accident that forced her into a confined space for shaping her instinct for contained‑space design. McLeod emphasizes that...
Walmart Alumni Open POS Test Lab
Retail technology firm Kitestring Technical Services, founded by former Walmart engineers, has opened a vendor‑neutral point‑of‑sale (POS) demonstration lab in Bentonville, Arkansas. The lab showcases seven software and fourteen hardware vendors, allowing retailers to evaluate solutions side‑by‑side. POS selections are...
More Than A Quarter Of UK Shoppers Cut Grocery Spending Amid Rising Costs: GlobalData
GlobalData reports that 28% of UK shoppers have trimmed grocery spending as inflation and geopolitical tensions drive food prices higher. The first‑quarter survey of 500 consumers shows a generational split, with 38% of Gen X, 31% of Millennials and 28% of...
Fairlife Unveils New Packaging
fairlife is rolling out refreshed packaging for its Core Power protein shakes and 52‑oz ultra‑filtered milk, emphasizing a cleaner shelf look and clearer nutrition messaging. The new designs showcase 50% more protein and 50% less sugar for the milk line...
![[In the Picture] Juttu Gives Its Antwerp Flagship Store a Makeover](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://i0.wp.com/www.retaildetail.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/04/Juttu_Antwerpen_9-Aangepast.jpg)
[In the Picture] Juttu Gives Its Antwerp Flagship Store a Makeover
Belgian lifestyle retailer Juttu has refreshed its flagship store on Antwerp’s Meir, ten years after opening. The renovation adds a new façade, a vibrant mural by local artist Amber Gyselings, and a re‑imagined layout that improves flow and natural light....
Winners Dutch Shopping Awards 2026
The 25th Dutch Shopping Awards crowned Kaartje2go as the DHL Best Online Store of the Year, making it the overall winner of the ceremony. The event also presented jury awards—including Decathlon’s DS Smith Sustainability Award and Zalando’s PostNL Innovation & AI...
GameStop Thought Buying Games Online Was A ‘Passing Phase,’ Says Former Business Developer
Former Stardock business developer Larry Kuperman revealed that GameStop viewed digital game distribution as a temporary trend, leading the retailer to acquire the Impulse platform in 2011 but treat it as a low priority. Impulse was shuttered by April 2014,...
Multi-Brand Thompson Restaurants to Add Franchising to the Mix
Thompson Restaurants, a 33‑year‑old family‑owned operator with nearly 70 locations across 15 brands, announced it will begin franchising its value‑positioned Wiseguy Pizza concept. The eight‑unit chain generates $1,300‑$1,400 revenue per square foot and a flagship D.C. store pulls $4.5 million in...
SHR Lifestyles Plans Major Retail Expansion, Targets US $97 Million Revenue by 2030
SHR Lifestyles, the parent of the SHREE ethnic‑wear brand, announced a plan to more than double its Indian store network to roughly 300 outlets within three years. The company targets Rs 900 crore (about $97 million) in revenue by 2030, up from the...
Top 12 Customer Experience Metrics and KPIs in 2026
The article outlines the top twelve customer experience (CX) metrics that businesses should track in 2026, ranging from classic scores like Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) to newer indicators such as emotional intensity and visitor intent. It...
Macy's Is Selling a $99 Pair of Pillows Specifically Designed for Stomach Sleepers — Now Just $40
Macy’s is offering the Ella Jayne 2‑Pack Stomach Sleeper Pillows for $40, a 60% discount from the regular $99 price. The pillows are engineered with a low‑loft, three‑inch profile, a 220‑thread‑count microfiber shell and poly‑gel fiber fill to keep necks...
PMI Builds Commerce Engine to Glean Customer Insights
Philip Morris International (PMI) has launched an omnichannel commerce engine in South Africa to reach informal‑market retailers that account for up to 75% of counterfeit tobacco sales. The solution uses USSD short‑codes on feature phones, multi‑language support, and low‑cost scooter...
Yu Foods’ Revenue Doubles To ₹75 Cr In FY26: Cofounder Bharat Bhalla
Yu Foods, a D2C instant‑meal brand, saw operating revenue surge 114% to ₹75 crore (≈$9 million) in FY26, up from ₹35 crore the year before. The company’s net loss widened marginally to ₹8 crore (≈$1 million), while EBITDA margin improved to –4%. About 40% of...
Dunkin’ Donuts to Exit India as Jubilant FoodWorks Ends 15-Year Franchise Deal
Jubilant FoodWorks announced it will not renew its franchise agreement with Dunkin' Donuts, planning to wind down all Indian Dunkin' outlets by Dec 31 2026. The decision follows a FY24‑25 performance of roughly $4.4 million revenue against a $2.3 million loss, stark against its...
High Energy Prices Are Driving Shoppers to Discount Stores
Shoppers in the Netherlands and Germany are rapidly shifting to discount supermarkets as energy prices surge following the war in Iran. Foot‑traffic data from Accurat for weeks six to thirteen of 2026 shows a marked increase in visits to low‑price...
Chinese New Year: In 2026, Luxury Brands Put Spectacle Centre Stage
Luxury houses dramatically elevated their Chinese New Year 2026 activations, turning festive symbolism into immersive, culturally resonant experiences. Brands such as Céline, Loewe, Valentino and Miu Miu staged multi‑city installations that blended traditional rituals with contemporary storytelling and technology. The campaigns...
Colruyt Brings Nutrition and Health Together on a Single Site
Colruyt Group launched its first integrated group site in Oostkamp, West Flanders, combining a Colruyt supermarket, Jims fitness club, a Colruyt Group Academy, and a Collect&Go pickup point under one roof. The supermarket opened in February, the gym followed in...
Amazon Discloses 3.5% Fuel & Logistics-Related Surcharge
Amazon announced a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge on its marketplace orders, aimed at offsetting rising diesel and transportation expenses. The fee will be applied automatically at checkout and affects both direct‑to‑consumer sales and third‑party sellers. The move follows a...
Belgian Shopping Center Is Embracing ‘Livestream Commerce’ on TikTok
Waasland Shopping in Saint‑Nicolas, Belgium, has launched a monthly livestream commerce series on TikTok, featuring influencer Jaël Ost and guest creators. The inaugural broadcast on April 2 attracted roughly 12,500 live viewers and generated an equal number of likes, while shoppers...
The Body Shop Marks 50 Years Globally, 20 Years in India; Eyes 20%+ Growth
The Body Shop celebrated its 50th global anniversary and 20th year in India, announcing a goal of more than 20% revenue growth this fiscal year and a plan to double its Indian business within four to five years. The retailer...
The New Power Broker in Consumer Decisions Is AI
Artificial intelligence assistants are moving from occasional utilities to routine, general‑purpose tools that answer consumer questions and make recommendations. This shift replaces search engines as the default interface for everyday decision‑making, allowing AI to synthesize answers rather than list sources....
Why Gen Z Uses BNPL and Installments Differently
Consumers are no longer choosing payment methods out of habit; they select tools that fit a specific financial objective at checkout. A PYMNTS Intelligence study shows that in January 2026, 31% of shoppers used credit‑card installment plans while only 12%...
JW Anderson Opens Permanent Space on Luxury Womenswear Floor in London's Selfridges
JW Anderson has secured a permanent boutique on Selfridges' luxury women’s floor in London, moving beyond recent pop‑up experiments. The space showcases a curated mix of ready‑to‑wear, accessories, and heritage‑inspired pieces, emphasizing UK craftsmanship and Japanese denim. The launch follows...
Homebase Taps Henry Agg to Front Garden Centre Push in The Range Stores
Homebase has appointed garden designer Henry Agg as its first ambassador for the Garden Centres by Homebase, now operating inside more than 200 The Range superstores across the UK. Agg will host a monthly “Plant of the Month” in‑store series beginning...
NYC's Rùadh Opens at Harvey Nichols
Rùadh, the premium denim label founded by former Calvin Klein director Jac Cameron, opened its first UK boutique inside Harvey Nichols in New York City. The brand, launched online in Britain in spring 2025, leverages Cameron’s Scottish heritage and American denim expertise to offer...
Boots Opticians Unveils New Premium Store in London’s West End
Boots Opticians opened a new premium store on Wigmore Street after a seven‑week refurbishment, showcasing more than 40 designer frame collections, including exclusive Cartier and Chopard pieces. The flagship incorporates cutting‑edge clinical technology such as optomap eye scans, dry‑eye relief...
COVID-19 Impact on Shopping: Lasting Trends in Ecommerce & Payments
The pandemic reshaped U.S. shopping, cementing e‑commerce’s share at 16.6% of retail and driving a boom in online grocery sales projected to hit $250 billion by 2025. Contactless payment usage exploded, with roughly two‑thirds of consumers adopting the technology and 74%...
How Samsung Ads And Crumbl Got Their CTV Campaign To Perform Like Social
Samsung Ads partnered with Crumbl for a seven‑week CTV acquisition push in Q4, delivering over 16,000 app installs and five‑figure revenue while achieving a 23% conversion rate that outperformed the brand’s social campaigns. The integration with AppsFlyer gave Crumbl transparent,...
Exclusive: Can Skims’ Marketing Whiz Make Columbia Sportswear Cool?
Columbia Sportswear announced the appointment of Skims’ former chief marketing officer to spearhead a brand revamp aimed at younger, fashion‑forward consumers. The new executive will shift Columbia’s messaging from pure performance gear to a lifestyle‑centric narrative, leveraging influencer collaborations and...
Macy’s Reset: Bloomingdale’s Momentum, Beauty Bets and the New Department Store Model
Macy’s posted $7.6 billion in Q4 revenue and $21.8 billion for FY 2025, beating forecasts. Growth was largely driven by Bloomingdale’s, which has posted consecutive quarters of gains and captured market share as rivals Saks and Neiman Marcus navigate bankruptcy. The retailer is reshaping...