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The bigger picture: Holiday shopping could worsen this trend. More than one-fourth (27%) of US consumers plan to take on debt to get through the holiday season, per a Bankrate survey. This may lead to a buildup of credit card balances that can be hard to pay down given record-high credit card interest rates.

The latest AI-focused update comes to iPhones in time for the holiday shopping season, Apple鈥檚 most profitable time of year. Banking on AI: Apple Intelligence is limited to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models and recent iPads and Macs, so this is a big update for a small subset of users. Are the AI features enough to push holiday adoption numbers? Let鈥檚 break them down.

The bigger picture: A strong holiday season is crucial for payment providers鈥� overall growth given its share of the retail pie. Holiday retail sales are expected to make up 18.3% of full-year retail sales this year, per our forecasts. Growth across Block鈥檚 products should therefore help boost its revenues and profit for the year. Block鈥檚 gross profit increased 19% YoY in Q3 2024.

Macy鈥檚 will close about 15 locations after the holiday season after already shuttering 50 stores this year. Its turnaround strategy includes shuttering 150 stores and focusing more heavily on luxury and beauty.

The current holiday season is a crucial period for creating those relationships. Amazon drew significant attention from marketers over the Cyber Five weekend for its shoppable marketing features, but Walmart鈥檚 recently completed Vizio acquisition sets the stage for a battle between the two retailers鈥� CTV businesses.

One in five (20%) even use the events to get a head start on holiday shopping, per Google.

That cost-conscious behavior is likely to carry over into upcoming back-to-school and holiday sales, as well as the next Prime Day, which is expected to take place sometime in Q4.

Go further: Check out our US Holiday Shopping 2024 report.

And then back to that conversation of value, we've seen the holiday season stretch out, pulled even further by Prime's early access sale in October. Has the back to school season also stretched out in the same way and has Prime Day had an effect on this? Suzy Davidkhanian:.

In January, the Retail Daily newsletter editors made four retail predictions for 2023. Some we got right (like the proliferation of Amazon Prime Day-type events) while some we missed the mark on a bit (it was not the year of AR).

With the anticipated growth of Prime Day sales, retail media spending will balloon as Amazon retailers invest in marketplace ads to capture more attention during the event.

Amazon and Walmart follow a similar playbook: The retailers use exclusive access to events like Prime Day and Walmart+ Early Access to showcase the value of their membership programs.

The store is no longer the only place where consumers can discover and shop for consumer packaged goods (CPG) products. Younger generations are finding products via search and social media, while Amazon Prime Day offers shoppers the opportunity to stock up on essentials for less.

As Cyber Monday rages on, let鈥檚 take a look at what鈥檚 already happened over the course of the Cyber Five weekend and what it means for both retail media networks and advertisers alike.

Scatter market activity will likely increase in Q4 due to last-minute ad buys occurring during the holiday season, she added. Politics will also create 鈥渟ome tightness鈥� with streaming inventory later in the year, Walstad said. The upfronts will outlive linear TV.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the travel rebound and how tech is helping it out, how Black Friday football (with a side of online shopping) performed this year, will X (formerly Twitter) go bankrupt next year, a new way to stream NBA games post-cable, what to expect from ChatGPT next year, why your passport is the color it is, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood, forecasting analyst Zach Goldner, and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

Our take: Shoppers鈥� desire to hunt for bargains should put off-price retailers in a strong position to win share this holiday season. 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.

On the first podcast episode of the new year, we discuss what buy now, pay later's (BNPL鈥檚) prospects will look like in 2024. 鈥� In our 鈥淪tory by Numbers鈥� segment, we focus on the outlook for BNPL by looking at growth by generation. 鈥� In 鈥淗eadlines,鈥� we examine data from Adobe Analytics that states BNPL purchases were up 43% on Cyber Monday compared with the previous year, and how the rise of BNPL use over the holidays has increased consumers' debt burden. 鈥� In 鈥淔or Argument鈥檚 Sake,鈥� we debate whether BNPL promotes good or bad behavior. Listen to the podcast with host Rob Rubin and our analysts Grace Broadbent and David Morris.

Get the correct answers to our Big Question quiz in the eMarketer Retail Daily newsletter from Insider Intelligence.

Deckers relies on scarcity to drive Ugg, Hoka growth: That tactic paid off with record sales and profits during the holiday quarter.

Department stores are also expected to get a boost from in-person shopping this holiday season鈥攁lthough they face tough competition from big-box stores, off-price retailers, and ecommerce marketplaces as consumers prioritize value.

What it means for the holiday season: Amazon鈥檚 investments in speed bode well for its performance this holiday season, as the shorter period between Thanksgiving and Christmas puts pressure on consumers to get their festive shopping done faster. Nearly 3 in 10 shoppers (29%) expect holiday gifts to be delivered in two to three days, per a survey by Radial鈥攁 53% increase YoY.

Victoria鈥檚 Secret鈥檚 rebooted fashion show resonated with Gen Z: That, alongside the company鈥檚 efforts to expand and refresh its assortment, resulted in a solid holiday performance.

A lot happens in a week, so every Friday we're going to analyze all the new data and provide you with some of the key takeaways. Welcome to the Friday 5. This week, Temu and Shein get a scare, consumers use buy now, pay later (BNPL) apps to discover new products, and Super Bowl viewers don鈥檛 really care about ads for AI products or services.