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Amazon, Costco Wholesale, and other retailers now face an uphill battle to win recurring revenues in the era of subscription fatigue.

Players like United Wholesale Mortgage, Rocket Mortgage, Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, and CrossCountry Mortgage comprised 15 of the top 25 US mortgage lenders by originations in 2024, per The Motley Fool.

On Running is firing on all cylinders: The performance footwear company grew D2C and wholesale revenues鈥攁s well as market share鈥攊n Q2.

Digitally native brands look for a new D2C playbook: Brands are embracing wholesale, physical retail, acquisitions, and even selling on Amazon to regain momentum and achieve profitability.

叠闯鈥檚 Wholesale Club is the latest retailer to launch a media network: At the same time, Instacart is adding more promotional capabilities to help drive sales among cost-conscious shoppers.

Behind the numbers: CEO Bj酶rn Gulden credited the brand鈥檚 performance to strong growth across all regions and divisions, as both customers and wholesale partners expressed more interest in adidas鈥� lifestyle and performance products. Unlike rival Nike, which has leaned heavily on discounts to clear inventory, adidas鈥� popularity among the fashion crowd has enabled it to maximize full-price sales.

These sites often copy content wholesale from the publishers they impersonate or use AI to produce similar material. Additionally, the report found that many MFA sites use bots to drive up pageviews in order to appear legitimate and increase the cost of ad space. 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing the velocity of fraud schemes double or triple year on year,鈥� DoubleVerify CMO Dan Slivjanoski told Wired.

Nike is once again selling wholesale to DSW and Macy鈥檚: Renewing those relationships will help it reach the sizable segment of consumers who aren鈥檛 willing to seek out its products.

Nike鈥檚 close connections to sports and sneaker culture keep it on the top of Gen Z鈥檚 list of favorite brands while its cutting-edge sneaker technology makes the brand a must-have for runners. But Nike must use a mix of D2C and wholesale commerce if it wants to defend its title from the competition.

Tapestry brings its D2C and wholesale teams together to create a consistent brand experience across channels, while Hollister enables teens to fill their carts and send to a parent for purchase. Instacart and eBay find ways to offer customers more value.

Established brands are beating digital natives at their own D2C game. As marketplace and wholesale opportunities obfuscate what it means to sell D2C, brands need to keep up with both their retail and marketing playbooks鈥攐r risk falling behind.

On today's podcast episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss what established brands have to gain by going D2C, the ways digitally native brands sell in brick-and-mortar stores, and how brands are maintaining a digitally native 鈥渋dentity鈥� for marketing purposes while also going wholesale. Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank the the digital natives that are primed for success and the ones that need to up their game. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and president of SageBerry Consulting and author of "Remarkable Retail" Steve Dennis.

Embracing mobile gives consumers access to a branded experience both online and in-store, while in-store technologies bring the digital world into the physical. To cater to shoppers no matter where or how they shop, brands should also make sure they鈥檙e balancing in-store and online rewards as well as D2C and wholesale commerce.

We asked our analysts which companies they have their eyes on this year and why they鈥檙e positioned for potential success (or disaster). The Kroger Co., for example, is leveraging its digital offerings to scale its business, while Nike may pivot back to wholesale to stay competitive.

Membership-based retailers might have an edge in retail media. While most retail media networks tout first-party data and closeness to purchase as benefits of this burgeoning channel, membership stores like Sam鈥檚 Club, 叠闯鈥檚 Wholesale Club, and more have rich troves of historical data on its members.

On today's podcast episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss how Costco is getting on and the vision for the wholesale retailer in a crowded marketplace. Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank the two things Costco can take to the next level and two things it could do to get the naysayers to come back. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analyst Zak Stambor.

It's one product vertical in a store, and wholesale. And LEGO does both. They're in Target, and Walmart, and they're in the Lego store. How are they not eating into their own margins in either place? Sky Canaves (09:25):. I think the selection is much different.

Adidas will rely on wholesale to help dig it out of its Yeezy hole: But weak demand from retail partners could delay its comeback.

But the telehealth space is oversaturated, and some retailers鈥攕uch as GNC Health or Costco Wholesale鈥攃ould soon exit the market if they can鈥檛 deliver a differentiated patient experience that鈥檚 worth the cash-pay price. The clash between Big Pharma and some D2C weight loss drug sellers will worsen.

From a wholesale perspective, they're buying, I mean, we're showing our wholesale partners Holiday 2025 right now, so it's a little bit more of mainline. We typically do the most Chase volume with our D2C business units. I think what's interesting is when you look at D2C, we're really, really proud that our digital business in total is going to make up almost 50% of the total this year.

Retail media鈥檚 rapid growth has spurred nonretail verticals to harness their first-party data to fuel their own commerce media networks. Retail media spending still dominates the commerce media landscape, but distinct challenger cohorts are finding their footing.

Nike鈥檚 overreliance on profitable franchises like Air Jordans and Air Force Ones, its lack of innovation in the performance sneaker space, and its decision to pull back from wholesale opened the door for upstart brands like Hoka and On Running鈥攁nd gave rival adidas an opportunity to recapture consumers鈥� attention with its hugely popular Terrace styles.