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It鈥檚 getting hard to ignore the organized retail theft problem: Home Depot, Walmart, and Target are among the retailers ringing alarm bells about the growing crime issue.

Several retailers look to harness generative AI鈥檚 potential: Instacart, Walmart, and Levi Strauss are among those testing potential use cases for the emerging technology.

This year, furniture and home furnishings will make up a $179.75 billion ecommerce market in the US, according to our forecast, and growth is accelerating. With challenges coming from big names like Amazon and Walmart and resale platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, Ikea has no choice but to innovate to keep up.

Social media and TV are the top channels that consumer packaged goods (CPG) consumers use to find new products, but in-store still plays an important role in product discovery. Meanwhile, Amazon and Walmart are fighting to capture share of CPG product searches, though in-store consumers are more likely to turn to Google for help.

Clinique is the latest prestige beauty brand to make the leap to Amazon: The partnership signals the retailer鈥檚 growing clout. It鈥檚 set to overtake Walmart as the US鈥� top beauty retailer by 2025.

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.

Measuring creator marketing is tough. Affiliate links provide direct attribution, but many sales occur after consumers see creator content. Even MrBeast, the biggest individual creator on YouTube, sells his Feastables bars at retailers like Walmart, not just on social media. So how can advertisers using creator marketing measure the efficacy of creator campaigns?

Value is top of mind for grocery-shopping consumers: Aldi, Dollar General, Grocery Outlet, and Walmart will open more stores to attract cost-conscious shoppers.

Recently, both Walmart and Target have warned that consumers鈥� cautious spending habits may lead to a sluggish holiday season this year. Were they right to be worried? Here鈥檚 how the holiday shopping season is going so far.

Large retailers are in a prime position for the final holiday push: Amazon, Target, and Walmart are poised to leverage their infrastructures to capture an outsize share of spend and retail media dollars.

The 15 biggest US ecommerce players aren鈥檛 a surprise (here鈥檚 looking at you, Amazon, Walmart, and Apple). User-friendly mobile apps, quick delivery, innovation, and converting sales are what turn retailers into ecommerce powerhouses. Here are the companies our analysts believe best exemplify those features within the 15 largest ecommerce players.

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.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Walmart plans to use AI to enhance the customer shopping experience, Instacart pushing smart carts into in-store retail media, why consumers are dissatisfied with their in-store shopping experience, how best to reduce clothing returns, the rise鈥攁nd potential fall鈥攐f the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Blake Droesch and Carina Perkins.

Why it matters: Retailers like CVS, Target, and Walmart are locking up products to prevent theft鈥攁t the expense of the customer experience. Shoppers wait an average of 7.7 minutes for items to be unlocked, according to data from RDSolutions reported by Retail Brew. Mass retailers have the highest wait time (8.6 minutes) and drug stores have the lowest (6.9 minutes).

Consumer spending patterns shifted in 2023: Retailers like Walmart, TJ Maxx, and E.l.f Beauty benefited from consumers growing cost consciousness.

While every retailer can鈥檛 match the scale of Walmart or Amazon, there鈥檚 still plenty of opportunities for them to succeed. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 take the big guys鈥� playbook and just copy and paste it to your business,鈥� said McGahee, advising smaller networks to lean into their unique assets鈥攍ike in-store availability鈥攁nd focus on outperforming competitors with stronger incrementality and merchandising results.

Our take: While Albertsons is wise to lean into price and convenience, it still has a ways to go to win share from competitors like Walmart and Kroger. This article is part of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 client-only subscription Briefings鈥攄aily newsletters authored by industry analysts who are experts in marketing, advertising, media, and tech trends.

So they're just deciding to go online to Amazon or go to Walmart, or go someplace where you can get stuff for cheaper.". Anti-theft measures have further eroded the convenience factor that was Walgreens' key value proposition. Nearly 4 in 5 (78%) of consumers say it鈥檚 annoying when products are locked up or secured in cases, per a recent Zebra survey.

Over two-thirds (68.1%) of global digital shoppers bought from a marketplace like Amazon, Walmart, or Mercado Libre in the past year, according to our 鈥淕lobal Shopper Survey 2025鈥� report. "Marketplaces are doing really well because they offer convenience, competitive pricing, and a vast selection of products," said our analyst Carina Perkins.

Retailers turn to virtual experiences to boost engagement, awareness: Walmart, Ikea, and Skechers are among the many trying to increase their appeal to younger shoppers while driving sales.

Synchrony just renewed its long-standing partnership with Sam鈥檚 Club, which could lead to the issuer reigniting its card relationship with Walmart. And it鈥檚 reportedly in talks to take over the Apple Card from Goldman Sachs. This would bring in an influx of new volume for Synchrony鈥攁lthough the card program鈥檚 delinquency and default issues could hurt Synchrony鈥檚 metrics.

The Trump administration issued an executive order rolling back DEI programs across government agencies, and major corporations including Target, Walmart, and McDonald鈥檚 have followed suit, per PR Week. In some cases, companies have ended structured DEI goals, stopped reporting diversity progress, or repositioned initiatives under different terminology.

That鈥檚 not as easy as it sounds, because Walmart, Costco, and Amazon are some of the largest mass merchants in Canada. Many retailers have included 鈥淏uy Canadian鈥� signage in product aisles, flagging domestic goods. Loblaw has included symbols denoting products with prices affected by tariffs.

According to November 2024 research from Pentaleap and Colloseum Strategy, Amazon and Walmart (the two largest RMNs by ad spending in the US) have a significantly higher penetration of small brands relative to other retailers in the study, at 58% and 46%.

Walmart and Carvana will mark somewhat stronger sales growth for all three years, and only Walmart has sufficient scale to gain notable ecommerce market share: It will grow by 1 percentage point to reach 9.2% in 2026. In 2025, Walmart will become the only US retailer that鈥檚 not Amazon to surpass $100 billion in annual online sales.