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The news: Seven & i Holdings is making a bold expansion push to modernize 7-Eleven and better align with evolving consumer expectations. Our take: Convenience stores face an array of challenges, from slowing growth to rising competition across brick-and-mortar and ecommerce. That鈥檚 why Seven & i鈥檚 push toward larger-format stores, fresh food offerings, and strategic expansion is a bold attempt to reposition 7-Eleven in North America. That won鈥檛 be easy. But if the brand can deliver on food quality and reimagine the in-store experience, it has a real shot at winning over a new generation of consumers.

Prada, Kering, and LVMH all cited a slowdown in tourism spending as a significant headwind in the first half of the year鈥攑articularly in Europe and Japan, where unfavorable exchange rates are diminishing US and Chinese consumers鈥� desire to purchase designer products. Geopolitical and economic uncertainty are dimming luxury鈥檚 allure to all but the wealthiest shoppers.

Asia-Pacific remained a global hotspot in 2023, with six of the top 10 fastest-growing retail ecommerce markets worldwide. In particular, China's online shopping market showed signs of resiliency, with growth rates in the double digits.

The news: Amazon announced its Prime Day event will run from July 8 at 12:01 a.m. PDT through July 11, starting eight days earlier than last year and lasting twice as long as previous events. Our take: Amazon recognizes that while consumers have grown more selective about when and where they spend, many will still jump at the chance to save if they find compelling offers. By extending Prime Day鈥檚 duration, adding tech-driven shopping tools, and broadening its footprint across countries and third-party sites, Amazon is turning the event into an inescapable, large-scale retail moment. Even in a margin-squeezed environment, the visibility and sales potential of Prime Day may be too significant for sellers to pass up.

Amazon will capture more than half (51.1%) of all retail ecommerce sales in Germany this year, according to our forecast. Canada will have the second-highest share of Amazon ecommerce sales among the countries we track, at 41.5%, followed by the US, UK, Japan, and Mexico.

Chinese ecommerce platforms seek new paths for growth: Temu expands into South Korea amid challenges in Western markets.

WeChat鈥檚 Weixin (China): An all-in-one platform for social networking, payments, ecommerce, and more, with over 1.3 billion users in China. VKontakte (VK) (Russia): Russia鈥檚 leading social network, similar to Facebook, with over 60 million daily users. Nextdoor (USA): A neighborhood-focused platform for local community engagement and business promotion in the US.

Acquiring Worldpay will also help Global Payments expand to new markets like Japan and France. The combined entity will also save money by eliminating redundant vendors, software, and organizational structures. Global Payments is forecasting approximately $600M in annualized run-rate expense synergies.

The survey was conducted in July 2024 across nearly 6,000 respondents from the US, Canada, India, Brazil, Mexico, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, and Japan. Coupons over email: Other studies largely support the GetApp findings.