蘑菇AV

Ecommerce players should prepare for volatility to continue, especially in categories where cost and timing are critical to conversion and customer satisfaction. Retailers that can pivot quickly, diversify fulfillment hubs, or highlight locally made products will be better positioned to absorb shocks.

This mall windfall presents an opportunity, not just for smaller stores in top-tier malls, but also an opportunity for smaller local or less premium shopping centers to find specific niches.Retailers should also feel incentivized to find creative ways to use malls. Walmart, for example, bought a mall in February. 3. Wellness isn鈥檛 going away.

Solving this hurdle can help digital wallets better meet customer demand.

BNPL鈥檚 digital user experience and app-based shopping options are a natural fit for digital natives鈥� lifestyles. The number of Gen Z users will increase 15.5% this year, outstripping growth among millennials (1.8%), Gen Xers (5.6%), and baby boomers (6.4%), per our forecast. In 2028, Gen Zers will use BNPL services more than any other generation.

Some Kohl鈥檚 stores no longer accept Amazon returns: The move, which the retailer says is a temporary test, suggests the partnership may have fallen short of expectations.

Fast, AI-driven support appeals to many, but empathy and access to live agents are vital to maintaining customer relationships.

Consumer payment method choice will expand in 2025 as real-time 鈥減ay by bank,鈥� iPhone NFC access, and digital credentials take center stage. And financial media networks will turn more payment providers into marketers.

Google and Amazon enhance visual search capabilities to speed up the path to purchase: As more shoppers rely on the tool, both companies see an opportunity to make the shopping experience faster, simpler, and more relevant.

US retail media ad spending will increase 88.5% from 2024 to 2028, reaching $97.9 billion, according to a November 2024 蘑菇AV forecast.

And while Amazon鈥檚 projected $47.52 billion in US ad revenues will be much smaller than the $530.88 billion it will see in US ecommerce revenues this year, the ad business is growing faster. 鈥淩etailers who have more mature, developed retail media networks are recognizing that they might be reaching a level of saturation among their endemic brands,鈥� said Marzano.

Bridging the retail media measurement gap: Night Market鈥檚 AI-powered platform draws interest as brands seek clearer metrics.

Google鈥檚 Performance Max was the first to launch in November 2021, followed by Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns in 2022 and Microsoft鈥檚 Performance Max in 2023. Their success spurred a gaggle of new products to launch this year, including Amazon鈥檚 and Pinterest鈥檚 own versions, both called Performance+.

And Marcus, by the way, for any clients who have read what Rachel and Zak have been writing for our retail and e-commerce briefing, they would see there's some interesting thing on a lot of different earnings calls where people are calling out the uncertainty given potential trade wars and tariffs and whatnot. So I think in some ways, I mean, do I think that Amazon believes in what they're saying?

Shoppers expect frictionless experiences now that Amazon- and Shop Pay-style one-click checkouts have become the norm. But 35% of retailers say poor user experience at checkout is a top reason shoppers abandon their carts.

The fallout: The combination of rising prices, weakening sentiment, and stock market volatility is making consumers more price-sensitive鈥攁nd driving shifts in shopping behavior. Shoppers are increasingly trading down to private-label or lower-priced brands, cutting discretionary purchases, delaying big-ticket items, and consolidating trips to stretch their budgets.

Connected TV (CTV) is already a wild west of providers, platforms, and inventory. Add retail media networks (RMNs) into the mix, and measuring success becomes even more complicated.

In our exclusive survey, CPG and general merchandise ad buyers shared their opinions of retail media network attributes across metrics including traffic, targeting, and ad cost.

In today鈥檚 episode, we talk about whether regulators will allow, and consumers will adopt, AI over human financial advisors. Will AI close or widen the wealth gap? What happens if an AI financial advisory loses your money? Join the discussion with host and Head of Business Development Rob Rubin, and Analysts Lauren Ashcraft and Jacob Bourne.

LG and startup TheTake, announced an upcoming "click to search" feature for LG's smart TVs, which they say will allow users to select items on screen with the LG remote and shop products with LG's webOS Pay functionality. TheTake also partnered with Samsung for new shoppable TV features announced at CES, including allowing viewers to shop for trending products in shows streamed through Samsung TVs.

But companies like Kering and Richemont, alongside brands like Burberry, will find it much harder to make their case to shoppers. Editor's note: This content is part of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports.