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Offering a seamless returns process can help merchants win repeat shoppers.

Although the Cyber Five will hit record ecommerce sales in the US this year at $41.43 billion, the retail event鈥檚 share of total retail ecommerce holiday season sales will continue to shrink, per our July 2024 forecast.

Consumer spending during the 2024 holiday season remained resilient, as US shoppers opened their wallets for deals on smaller-ticket categories in stores and online.鈥� This deck will:. Review US retail and ecommerce sales trends from the 2024 holidays by channel, product category, and retailer.鈥� Share the forecast for the US 2025 holiday season.鈥�

Marketers should consider how their in-store messaging improves the consumer鈥檚 shopping experience鈥攊nstead of just convincing them to add more to their carts鈥攖o maintain customer loyalty.

Shoppers spent strategically: Shoppers also appeared to pull spending forward in other categories likely to be hit hard by tariffs. Furniture sales jumped 7.7% YoY. The category is poised for price increases since more than half of all furniture in the US is imported, with Vietnam and China being the largest exporters.

Whether brands are aligning their product with comfort food, launching fragrances, or prioritizing scent in their retail spaces, marketers are embracing multisensory experiences as another way to stand out in the digital noise.

Epic Games forced Apple to unwind App Store rules, setting a precedent that weakens Apple鈥檚 payment monopoly and threatens its fastest-growing services revenue stream.

However, issuers need to take note of the evolving expectations of younger consumers who crave convenience: 27% of Gen Zers elect for speed over financial safety in online shopping.

Marks & Spencer doesn鈥檛 expect its ecommerce business to be fully back online until July鈥攐ver two months after hackers gained access to its systems in a hugely damaging cyberattack that is set to wipe out 拢300 million ($383.3 million) in profits.

TikTok Shop is ramping up adoption of livestream shopping. Livestream shopping will see an uptick in consumer adoption. Growth will come from a small user base, even though social networks, video platforms, and retailers have spent half a decade pushing consumers toward livestream shopping. Despite these efforts, livestream shopping hasn鈥檛 become big business in the US like it has in China.

The tie-up will bring Klarna to more than 100,000 merchant locations, making it easy for shoppers to access Klarna in stores. It will roll out to all Clover devices in early 2026. The two plan to bring the tie-up to ecommerce payments and other geographic markets later.

The news: PayPal will power AI shopping across Perplexity Pro鈥檚 platform starting this summer, allowing consumers to make purchases, book travel, and more without leaving Perplexity鈥檚 interface. Shoppers can ask Perplexity to find products for them and then use PayPal or Venmo to check out.

PRO+ subscribers have access to Industry KPIs, our collection of more than 400 benchmarks in marketing and retail and ecommerce across a range of industries and countries. Click here for more information.

As the US population diversifies, retailers like Kroger and Save A Lot are opening new stores catering to Hispanic and Asian consumers for a more personalized and engaging shopping experience.

It鈥檚 a divergent retail environment: While Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods and Abercrombie & Fitch expect shoppers to spend freely this holiday season, Best Buy鈥檚 sales were softer than expected.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of April. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Analysts Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against Vice President of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Senior Analyst Blake Droesch, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

But tariff pressures, and ensuing price hikes, could make it hard to win back shoppers as they grow more pessimistic about their finances.

Increased theft in drugstores is causing pharmacies to lock up more items, further frustrating shoppers. Walgreens plans to close 1,200 stores over three years, which is about 14% of its physical footprint. CVS will close 270 this year, per The Street, and is on track to close about 10% of its total locations.

Our take: Limited-time discounts will likely unlock spending from cost-conscious shoppers鈥攇iving retailers a much-needed boost in an uneasy economic climate.

The insight: Both Alibaba and JD.com are expanding their ecommerce capabilities as they look to capture more spending from cautious Chinese consumers and defend their businesses from growing competition. Alibaba introduced an 鈥渋nstant commerce鈥� feature to Taobao in late April that will deliver 蝉丑辞辫辫别谤蝉鈥� orders in under an hour.

Many of the top spenders on social are China-based ecommerce sellers. Platforms like Temu and Shein, which have spent heavily on social ads to reach US shoppers, drastically cut ad spending in the US ahead of the closure of the 鈥渄e minimis鈥� tax exemption on May 2. Some of their US spending has been redirected to other markets, though that鈥檚 unlikely to fully offset ad spending losses in the US.

Uncertainty creeps into US spending: Luxury companies can no longer rely on US consumers to pick up the slack as Chinese shoppers curb their spending. While LVMH noted that the American consumer cohort has stayed fairly resilient, particularly in the fashion and leather goods segment, shoppers are spending less locally.