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Other major corporations, including McDonald鈥檚, Walmart, and Target have followed suit. The latter has faced significant backlash over this decision鈥攑articularly because the company was previously fiercely committed to DEI efforts.

Walmart noted that households earning $100,000 or more drove the bulk of its market share gains in its two most recent quarters. Retailers including Dollar Tree and Ollie鈥檚 Bargain Outlet said in their most recent earnings reports that they are attracting a rising number of value-seeking shoppers from upper- and middle-income brackets.

But the channel鈥檚 growth鈥攁s well as its dominant share of retail media spending鈥攃an largely be attributed to Amazon and Walmart, the runaway leaders in terms of on-site scale. That advantage will keep Amazon and Walmart the first- and second-largest players in the retail media ecosystem for the foreseeable future.

Retailers like Walmart, Lowe鈥檚, and Target have shifted away from DEI since Trump鈥檚 election, and as Pride Month approaches, consumers will likely see this trend continue.

While the number of climate-related proposals was steady last year compared with 2023, shareholder support fell slightly鈥攚hich may have given companies like Walmart and Coca-Cola the confidence to water down their sustainability pledges without fear of backlash.

With $400 million in media under management and clients like Biossance, Puma, and Gerber Childrenswear, the agency is deepening its commitment to platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger. Crush stands out for its performance-aligned model, charging based on growth instead of traditional agency fees鈥攁 strategy tailored to ecommerce-native clients.

Previously, Walmart built digital twins of its stores and fulfillment networks to model traffic flows, inventory levels, and disruption scenarios, per TheCodeWork. It achieved a 20% reduction in out-of-stock incidents and a 10% increase in in-store sales after optimizing layouts and inventory placement.

Real-world example: Waterpik, Walmart Connect, and Roku. Using Walmart Connect audience data, Waterpik launched shoppable streaming ads on Roku which prompted users to click 鈥淥K鈥� on their remote to learn more about the product and add it to their cart.

Walmart is preparing for slower sales and profit growth, though CFO John David Rainey acknowledged the company didn鈥檛 factor tariffs directly into its guidance, saying, 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to get out over our skis.鈥�. Best Buy is bracing for potential price hikes due to tariffs on China and Mexico, with CFO Matt Bilunas calling consumer reaction the 鈥済iant wild card.鈥�

Walmart faces the biggest exposure, accounting for 25.8% of SNAP recipients鈥� grocery spending and 21.3% of their non-grocery spend, per Numerator. Kroger and Albertsons are also vulnerable, with 9.1% and 6.5% shares of SNAP grocery dollars, respectively.

Walmart stands to gain from shoppers returning to brick-and-mortar stores for budget-friendly clothes, home goods, and gadgets. Its online marketplace now features many of the same low-cost products Temu offers鈥攂ut with quicker returns and more reliable service. Target could benefit in the fashion and home d茅cor space.

The challenge: Even before the Trump administration rolled out its sweeping 鈥淟iberation Day鈥� tariff policies, retail executives from Abercrombie & Fitch to lululemon athletica to Walmart had been ringing the alarm that consumer spending was weakening. With tariffs likely to push costs higher, spark inflation, and further dampen demand, the outlook has grown far more precarious.

The news: TJX is extremely confident in its ability to attract shoppers and grow share this year, even as industry leaders like Walmart and Amazon warn of an uncertain retail environment. The rationale: Unlike the vast majority of retailers, TJX sees tariffs and declining consumer confidence as potential avenues to hone its value proposition.

The non-Amazon portion of the market will be divided up mainly among Walmart Connect, Loblaw Advance, Best Buy, and Canadian Tire Triangle. Source. Mars United Commerce.

鈥淚f you take Amazon, Walmart away from a lot of these smaller, independent Chinese sellers, they basically lose their ability to access US consumers.鈥�. While tariffs would create significant headwinds, retail media鈥檚 potential as a performance channel positions it to withstand economic uncertainty.

Other planned actions include an Amazon boycott from March 7-14, a Nestl茅 boycott from March 21-28, a Walmart boycott from April 7-14, and another one-day blackout on April 18.

蘑菇AV 75% of Joann shoppers say they鈥檒l now shop at Michaels or Hobby Lobby鈥攆ar ahead of online retailers (44%), mass merchants like Target or Walmart (39%), local craft stores (24%), and discount chains (23%), according to a recent Numerator survey. Our take: Michaels is looking to fill two major voids left by Party City鈥檚 850 stores and Joann鈥檚 700 locations.

Ecommerce may be hit particularly hard after President Donald Trump ramped up tariffs on China to 245% and announced plans to tighten regulations on de minimis imports from China and Hong Kong鈥攎oves that will likely dampen sales from Chinese-based sellers on online marketplaces operated by retailers like Amazon and Walmart, as well as reduce growth for platforms like Shein and Temu.

Amazon is not as competitive in digital grocery, but Walmart commands nearly 30% of sales. More than a quarter of digital grocery sales dollars come from third-party delivery companies鈥� apps and websites. Challenge 2: Retailers must meet customer expectations around price, selection, and convenience. Retailers need to manage operational costs without raising prices for customers.

Costco shoppers are spending more on groceries than food away from home, CFO Gary Millerchip said鈥攁 trend that explains why Walmart and other grocers are doubling down on prepared foods and foodservice partnerships.

Retail media鈥檚 positive hype is real. We expect it will disrupt the digital advertising landscape worldwide. In Canada, a handful of players鈥攍ed by Amazon, Walmart, and Loblaw鈥攈ave turned it into the fastest-growing ad segment in the country, and at scale.

And its growth in this new market can help it sustain its volume growth despite losing the Walmart tie-up. Our take: Affirm has a long way to go to catch up to Klarna in the UK, not to mention other competitors like Block-owned Clearpay and Zilch, which have already established loyal user bases in the country. But this Adyen partnership is a step in the right direction for its growth.

Walmart bets on AR: The retailer experiments with several use cases for the technology that it hopes can make shopping online as immersive, interactive, and social as in-person experience.