蘑菇AV

Gen Z spends significantly on beauty products online while favoring in-store shopping for apparel. For groceries, this tech-savvy generation relies heavily on search engines and social media to discover new products. Additionally, the trend toward low- and no-alcohol beverages is gaining momentum, as many Gen Zers embrace initiatives like Dry January.

Retail foot traffic is bouncing back, especially in malls, thanks to diverse tenant mixes and engaging experiences that attract shoppers, Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, said during a recent 蘑菇AV webinar. The pandemic鈥檚 lasting influence has also changed how we shop, with more people visiting multiple grocery stores for the best deals and quality, while small-format stores are helping retailers meet local needs.

Costco鈥檚 fiscal Q4 earnings report, with total revenues of $78.94 billion, offers a glimpse into shifting consumer priorities: its shoppers are now favoring essentials, opting for groceries and gasoline, while luxury and other discretionary items have taken a backseat.

Amazon Fresh, despite failing to gain traction with its brick-and-mortar endeavors, is trying to assert itself in the grocery space. Its customer base, though much smaller than competitors like Walmart and Target, is attractive to consumer packaged goods (CPG) advertisers because those shoppers are open to trying new products.

Our analysts have already made their big predictions for the year ahead, but the newsletter team has a few more to add to the list. As Amazon hits the gas on grocery, it may use its Amazon Fresh stores for fulfillment. Plus, we think beauty will get personal, Amazon could give digitally native brands a helping hand, and a healing economy could spell trouble for discount stores.

Retailers like Dollar General, Walmart, and Target are rethinking the self-checkout experience, scaling back on kiosks or removing self-checkout from their locations altogether. But considering 55% of US adults prefer to get through their in-store grocery shopping as fast as possible (according to a November 2023 survey from Kearney) it鈥檚 unlikely self-checkout will be leaving stores anytime soon. Here are five stats on self-checkout, including how and why consumers like to use it, the reason some retailers are pulling back, and what the future holds for the technology.

Amazon Fresh could get a refresh to conquer the grocery market, Finesse uses AI to reduce fashion waste, and Claire鈥檚 leans on content to engage Gen Zalphas. Meanwhile, Macy鈥檚 downsizes, e.l.f. Beauty aims to go viral, and Walmart makes strides in media. Here are six retailers that are most likely to makeover, reinvent, go viral, and more, as predicted by our analysts in a recent 鈥淩eimagining Retail鈥� podcast episode.

Trader Joe鈥檚 small, curated stores and limited footprint sets it apart. Between its branding, product choice, and customer experience, there are a lot of lessons other retailers beyond grocery can learn from the Trader Joe鈥檚 model. Here are four takeaways from Trader Joe鈥檚.

Since the pandemic, online ordering and delivery have become table stakes for the grocery industry. Retailers like Albertsons have begun to develop tools and capabilities that provide added value for customers, focusing on creating a more convenient experience. 鈥淐onsumers think about food 226 times a day, that鈥檚 a lot of cognitive load,鈥� said Jill Pavlovich, senior vice president of digital shopping experiences at Albertsons Cos. 鈥淪o we want to take the experience from a transactional one to a helpful set of tools that can help people manage this.鈥� Albertsons leveraged customer data to identify areas for improvement across its website and mobile app.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of Twitter changing its name to X, whether Walmart is crushing Amazon in the grocery wars, what a billboard in your living room would look like, what Gen Z has done to the purchase funnel, why Airbnb doesn't have a loyalty program, what the most popular museums around the world are, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Blake Droesch and Carina Perkins.

While intermediaries鈥� share of ecommerce sales (grocery or otherwise) will remain relatively flat for the next couple of years, they鈥檙e still a long-term threat to traditional retail. But there鈥檚 an opportunity for retailers to use intermediaries鈥� strategies against them.

In-store sales data is a massive opportunity gap. The biggest gap between how retail media networks (RMNs) perform today versus their most desired attributes was with in-store sales data. With nearly 90% of grocery sales still occurring in physical stores, RMNs that deliver seamless omnichannel sales attribution will be well positioned to capture consumer packaged goods (CPG) advertising budgets.

On today's episode, we discuss how we should feel about Amazon's online sales being flat, how its ad business was able to have such a good quarter, and why the company has yet to find a mass grocery format worth expanding. "In Other News," we talk about how Pinterest has been doing and just how popular self-checkout is. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Blake Droesch.

On today's episode, we discuss whether Amazon can keep expenses down while also keeping customers happy, where the company will place its bets on grocery, and how its advertising arm has performed of late. "In Other News," we talk about why most retailers site searches aren't working and how many streaming viewers will watch ads to save a few bucks. Tune in to the discussion with our director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman and analyst Zak Stambor.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what non-AI technology took the spotlight at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), second-tier TV audiences, what streaming will look like in a few years, what its like to shop with a chatbot, how digital grocery will take things up a notch, how big the sun actually is, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, analyst Bill Fisher, and forecasting analyst Zach Goldner.

Since bringing its retail media capabilities in-house, grocery giant Kroger continues to develop its self-service strategy for advertisers, Cara Pratt, SVP, Kroger Precision Marketing at 84.51掳, recently told 蘑菇AV.

Slowing but persistent inflation continues to strain US consumers鈥� buying power: Real wages fell in February as prices for groceries, recreation, and airfare continued to rise.

Retail media has been buoyed by consumer packaged goods companies and grocery brands looking to get their products in front of shoppers closer to the point of purchase. But now, other categories are looking to join the party: nonendemic advertisers.

Many retailers are predicting that consumer spending patterns in 2024 could be similar to 2023鈥攑ulling back on discretionary categories and sometimes essentials like groceries. So far, discount and dollar stores have benefited from tightened consumer spending, but that success isn鈥檛 guaranteed in the new year. Here鈥檚 how three low-price retailers are planning to appeal to consumers and keep sales up in the months ahead.

On today's special episode, we continue our new monthly show where we discuss the biggest trends of the moment and the newest research, sprinkle in some analysis, and bundle it up into a quiz. Every month, three of our analysts representing their respective coverage area teams compete against each other. (We also encourage you to play along at home.) We鈥檒l keep a running score all year and crown a winning team at the end of the year. Today, we cover Google reinventing search, Amazon's grocery strategy, and what Twitter appointing a new CEO means for growth. Tune in to the discussion with this month's contestants: our analysts Ross Benes, Blake Droesch, and Debra Aho Williamson.

In Q1, its everyday essentials category, including groceries and household goods, grew about twice as fast as other US categories. That momentum is driving Amazon to stock more of those items in its same-day fulfillment centers. Our take: Prime is Amazon鈥檚 most powerful tool for driving customer lifetime value across its ecosystem.

In Germany, Amazon commands 80% of retail media spend, while the UK and France have more competition from grocery retailers, according to Perkins. With over 100 local retail media networks operating in Europe, fragmentation remains a challenge, particularly for cross-border campaigns. New predictions: Bold moves in response to tariffs.

Both companies are leaning into groceries to boost order frequency and loyalty and beefing up their ad businesses to capitalize on retail media interest. At the same time, a deal would likely clear antitrust hurdles easily, given that the two companies don鈥檛 overlap in any markets.

Mondelez sees 鈥渃onsumers switching to more essentials in 驳谤辞肠别谤测,鈥� causing snack demand to suffer. That trend is unlikely to change anytime soon: 鈥淚 really do not expect to see a significant improvement in consumer confidence in the near term in the US,鈥� Van de Put said. Our take: Economic uncertainty is sending shoppers straight into cost-saving mode.

With cost-consciousness on the rise, it鈥檚 no surprise that private label grocery brands grew nearly four times faster than national brand sales, according to the Private Label Manufacturers Association. Retailers that invest in creative, high-quality, and culturally relevant store-brand strategies are well-positioned to win in this environment. Go further: Read our Private Label Brands 2025 report.