蘑菇AV

A major dockworkers strike seems increasingly likely: The disruption will begin October 1, just as several retailers begin launching holiday promotions.

The news: China is outpacing the US in retail media鈥檚 global rise, with nearly half of its digital ad spending now flowing through retail platforms. While Amazon still leads globally, its growth is slowing鈥攅xpected to rise just 18.6% in 2025. Meanwhile, players like Uber Eats, Meijer, and Albertsons are growing ad revenues at triple-digit rates. Our take: Retail media is becoming more fragmented and competitive. Success now requires portfolio diversification, especially as new channels鈥攍ike last-mile delivery and in-store signage鈥攇ain momentum. What began as an Amazon-centric, US-led trend is now a worldwide shift reshaping how consumers discover, consider, and buy.

Lactalis will acquire the US business and Sodiaal will buy the Canadian unit. The deal, which includes two manufacturing facilities in the US and one in Canada, is expected to close next year. Why is this happening? While General Mills鈥� North American yogurt business contributed about $1.5 billion to its fiscal 2024 net sales, that unit is neither high growth nor high margin.

Moving across the US-Canada border can be the first step toward international expansion for retailers. Canadian brands like lululemon athletica and Aritzia are thriving in the US. Meanwhile, US-based companies Lowe鈥檚, Nordstrom, and Bed Bath & Beyond recently announced they were leaving Canada. And let鈥檚 not forget Target鈥檚 famous Canadian failure. Here鈥檚 a look at how brands on both sides of the border have fared, and the lessons you can learn from them.

Building a new retail ecosystem: Roblox sees a major opportunity in getting its large active user base to spend on real-world items. 鈥淐ommerce happens everywhere,鈥� Shopify wrote in a blog post. 鈥淥ne of the most relevant places for digitally-savvy Gen Z consumers in the world right now is Roblox, where millions of creators pursue entrepreneurship through immersive content creation.

In-store retail media initiatives are gaining momentum: Loblaw, Macy鈥檚, and Schnucks Markets are the latest retailers to invest in the channel.

And in Canada, Loblaw, the largest grocer in the country, has a retail media network that targets its PC optimum loyalty base of like 16 million people and they have a company called Advance, which is their retail media network, that allows advertisers to target that group. So I think that is one big opportunity that many retailers especially are looking at. Carina Perkins (18:39):.

The news: Domino鈥檚 Pizza aims to drive additional revenues by listing its menus on Uber Eats and Postmates apps across 28 markets, including the US, UK, and Canada, per The Wall Street Journal. The pizza company鈥檚 CEO Russell Weiner told the Journal that he hopes the broader exposure will help it generate $1 billion in incremental revenues.

This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Retail & Ecommerce Briefing鈥攁 daily recap of top stories reshaping the retail industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily. Are you a client? Click here to subscribe. Want to learn more about how you can benefit from our expert analysis? Click here.

Canada鈥檚 click-and-collect buyer growth tops our rankings among the countries we forecast. It鈥檚 a key option for consumers in Canada who prefer speedier order fulfillment and want to avoid home-delivery costs.

GenAI is on the agenda for most retailers in 2024: Walmart, Target, Canadian Tire, and others are turning to the tech to boost customer and employee satisfaction.

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.

Mercado Libre is beating Amazon at its own game in Latin America: The former is expected to represent more than half of all retail media ad spending in the region, while the latter continues to lose share to local players in Brazil and Mexico.