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Two weeks have passed since Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, but its success is unclear. Amazon’s first-ever Big Spring Sale took place from March 20-25, offering discounts on seasonal items like spring fashion, fitness products, and cleaning and yard work essentials.

Ahead of his keynote session at this year’s CommerceNext event on June 11-13, Lockton shared how Tractor Supply leverages its physical and digital channels to connect with the retailer’s varied audience and how its retail media enables advertisers to target a hard-to-reach rural audience via digital channels.

TikTok Shop joins Amazon in holding a July sale: The marketplace hopes exclusive discounts on brands like L’Oréal and live-shopping events will boost GMV.

The Latin American economy is on the upswing, with digital innovation in the driver’s seat. Our trends report explores how retail media, commerce, and generative AI will be redefined in 2024 and what businesses need to know to get ahead.

Brand marketers have to be strategic as a challenging 2023 has taken its toll on marketing budgets. CMOs worldwide expect to spend 9.1% of company revenues on marketing compared with 9.5% in 2022, according to May data from Gartner. And considering revenues are also lower for many companies, that pie is getting even smaller.

From 2014 to 2021, spending on non-video programmatic digital display ads in the US had compound annual growth of 27.3%. In 2022, that screeched to a halt, and spending actually declined 2.7%. In 2023, it will effectively be flat at $58.49 billion.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss what to expect in 2024, whether Google's new AI search tool will destroy traffic, a new self-checkout machine, loyalty in the age of the "zero consumer," if everyone will soon be creating digital clones of themselves, roads that can wirelessly charge electric vehicles, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian, analyst Blake Droesch, and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

The world of retail media is always changing. Here’s what has caught our eye over the past few months.

On today's episode, we discuss whether the summer travel boom will last, how the economic climate is influencing how people think about vacations, and the changes in how people choose where they go on vacation. "In Other News," we discuss whether folks want gamified shopping experiences and how brands should—and shouldn't—text you. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Zach Goldner and director of forecasting Oscar Orozco.

Prime Video gets its first major advertising partner: IPG Mediabrands will get first-look access to new ad formats when Prime Video debuts ads in 2024.

Is AI already replacing ad agency jobs? A new report suggests 33,000 jobs will be replaced by 2030, but there are signs that it’s already happening.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how the Apple monopoly trial could change the smartphone market, whether Aldi can take on Walmart, if gambling ads will get banned, the impact of Amazon's "Big Spring Sale," how seriously we should be taking drone delivery, where the happiest people in the world live, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Blake Droesch and vice presidents of content Suzy Davidkhanian and Paul Verna.

Behind the hype around composable commerce, there are pros and cons that retailers should consider before shaking up their business operations.

Amazon Ads remains the torchbearer for the fast-growing retail media industry. Despite nearly every major retailer launching their own retail media network (RMN) in recent years—with several beginning to scale—Amazon’s No. 1 position will be secure well into the future.

Nearly half of US adults who have made a purchase via shoppable commerce have done so on social media, according to our February 2024 survey conducted by Bizrate Insights. But budding partnerships between brands and streamers may shift more commerce toward connected TV (CTV) platforms, especially around live events. For example, Paramount piloted a shoppable experience during the CMT Music Awards, NBCUniversal launched a new shoppable ad format ahead of this Summer’s Olympics, and Amazon added shoppable ads to its Amazon Prime platform.

Advertising employment peaks: AI advances may promise potential disruption.

Gift cards, which historically peaked during the holiday season, are growing year-round as a gift option. And the demand gap between physical and digital gift cards is slim: 73% of US adults wanted physical gift cards while 63% wanted digital ones in a March 2022 survey by Blackhawk Network.

Nearly 4 in 5 people in the US own a smartphone, per our March 2023 forecast. US adults check their phones an average of 114 times each day, and usually do so within the first 10 minutes of waking, per a Reviews.org study.

Mall foot traffic is returning to pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2023, visits to indoor shopping malls were down 5.8% from 2019 levels, an improvement from the 15.3% decrease in 2021, per Placer.ai’s The Comeback of the Mall in 2024 report.

Turnaround plans aren’t easy: While Abercrombie turned its fortunes around by delivering styles that resonate with Gen Zers and millennials, Foot Locker’s growth strategy remains a work in progress.

Amazon muscles in on Google and Meta’s ad throne: Retail media and Prime Video propelled the company to a blockbuster 2023—and 2024 looks even brighter.

Inflation forces judicious consumers to get more judicious with streamers: Netflix thrives with strategic moves, while others invest heavily in content.

Klarna will generate $33.38 billion in US buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment value by 2027, pulling ahead of Affirm in a period of massive growth for BNPL providers, per our forecast.

Microsoft is the latest to resort to layoffs: The company is reducing its headcount by 5% as it pivots to plug AI into its key products, subscriptions, and cloud services. But AI still has a lot of hurdles to jump.