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Walmart rolls out same-day delivery for Rx, general items: The new service threatens struggling retail pharmacy chains, but we think Walmart鈥檚 main motivation is to capture customers for its membership program.

Walmart rolls out series of initiatives to attract customers to its stores and boost ecommerce business: The retailer is opening a cashierless Sam鈥檚 Club store, adding pet care centers, and automating more distribution centers.

Walmart is unlikely to put Vizio data behind closed doors: A renewed measurement deal with Comscore could assuage concerns about signal loss.

How we got here: Walmart held a nearly two-decade-long relationship with Synchrony Financial before suing the issuer and moving the program to Capital One. This relationship also soured, concluding in another lawsuit and a brief end to any Walmart co-brand cards at all. Capital One has since converted many of those cardholders to its own Quicksilver card.

Walmart. Wayfair.

US visitors spent an average dwell time of 37.3 minutes in H1 2024, outpacing both Walmart (31.8 minutes) and Target (28.7 minutes), per data from Placer.ai. Costco was the only one to increase dwell time between H1 2021 and H1 2024.

September was style month, with Walmart hitting New York Fashion Week, Levi鈥檚 launching an app for stylist recommendations, Old Navy going vintage, and more. See who else made our September unofficial most interesting retailers List.

Consumers plan to return to malls this holiday season, shop more in-person: Mall visits are expected to rise 18%, which is good news for department stores鈥攁lthough Amazon, Walmart, and Target remain top destinations.

Last week, Walmart warned shoppers could see price hikes by month鈥檚 end, as elevated tariffs threaten its 鈥渆veryday low prices鈥� model. In response, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Walmart should 鈥渆at the tariffs鈥濃�攁 rare admission that tariffs squeeze margins and lead to price increases.

Our forecast has Amazon as the second-largest player in the digital grocery space, behind only Walmart鈥攚hich also has the edge in the overall market.

Walmart. Wayfair.

At Walmart, Summerween Velvet Plush Throws flew off shelves, with some designs selling out within days鈥攁 clear sign that consumers will rush to buy when items feel rare, fun, or fleeting. A broader trend: Consumers crave the new and the novel鈥攁nd CPG brands are leaning into that impulse.

To take on retail media giants like Amazon and Walmart Connect, smaller networks need to constantly show what sets them apart and step up their media game.

Retailers turn to genAI to help with product listings: Puma, Walmart, and Amazon are among the companies that see the tech as an opportunity to deliver a more personalized, relevant experience to shoppers while improving productivity.

Walmart reversed its DEI policies in November 2024, while Target announced it would scale back its DEI programs in January. These reversals sparked significant consumer backlash, including a 24-hour economic blackout on February 28, a 40-day Target boycott in March, and a weeklong Walmart boycott in April.

Amazon and Walmart show ads to virtually every shopper on virtually every search result page. Collectively, the two powerhouses claim over 80% of retail media ad spending; Amazon comprises three-quarters, and Walmart comes in at a distant second.

Our take: Target鈥檚 latest membership update is unlikely to trouble Amazon or Walmart, but the prospect of saving money on same-day delivery from other retailers could convince previously skeptical shoppers to shell out $99 a year for the service.

Though not expected alongside Coach or Tory Burch, Walmart and Old Navy appeared at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) to draw attention to their latest fashion endeavors.