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The news: Best Buy is testing a store-within-a-store concept with Ikea, aimed at helping customers more seamlessly integrate its appliances into Ikea-designed kitchens and laundry rooms. This marks the first time the Swedish retailer has offered services and products within another US retailer. Our take: Pairing two well-known, purpose-driven brands around a shared customer use case鈥攈ome design and functionality鈥攊s a smart play. The in-person branded experience should provide value to shoppers and offer a win-win path to renewed relevance and growth for both companies.

The trend: Retail layoffs have surged 249% in the first seven months of the year, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas鈥攁nd more cuts are likely to come as tariffs squeeze margins. Our take: Layoffs at large prominent retailers like Nike, Kroger, and Best Buy are a clear signal of what鈥檚 ahead. Staff cuts at these industry leaders suggest the sector is bracing for weaker consumer demand and persistent margin pressure. If the strongest players are retreating, weaker chains are likely to follow. These moves may prove the canary in the coal mine for a broader retail reset.

A leaked Adweek-reviewed file details how The Trade Desk partners with 49 retailers worldwide to sell ad placements built on shopper data. The document reveals steep markups and inconsistent rules: Albertsons charges up to 45% of media costs, Best Buy limits custom audiences, Costco sets $100K minimums, and Walmart imposes fees capped at $3.50 CPMs plus measurement charges. Other retailers add restrictions around ad categories or approvals. The leak highlights both the value and complexity of retail media as brands chase audience targeting tied directly to transactions. Transparency remains a challenge, with costs and conditions varying widely by partner.

The situation: Best Buy鈥檚 comparable sales rose 1.6% in Q2, its fastest pace in three years, driven by gains in gaming, computing, and mobile phones. A major boost came from the high-profile launch of Nintendo Switch 2, which pushed June sales up nearly 10%鈥攖he retailer鈥檚 best month since March 2021, per Bloomberg Second Measure, which tracks US debit and credit transactions. Our take: Best Buy is experimenting to reignite growth. Earlier this month it rolled out a third-party marketplace to broaden its assortment and began testing a store-within-a-store partnership with Ikea, positioning its appliances inside Ikea kitchens and laundry rooms. While neither move is likely to be a game-changer, in today鈥檚 tough environment, even small wins matter. Still, to spark lasting growth, Best Buy may need to augment these moves with bolder bets in services and subscriptions.

The trend: A perfect macroeconomic storm is causing younger consumers to cut back on spending. Our take: These pressures aren鈥檛 going away anytime soon. The Trump administration鈥檚 tariffs are leading retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Macy鈥檚 to raise prices鈥攑utting even more strain on young shoppers already feeling stretched. At the same time, job anxieties are growing. The white collar workforce is shrinking, and more companies are citing AI as a reason for layoffs. Put it all together, and it鈥檚 likely that younger consumers will remain cautious with their spending for some time, especially on nonessentials. Retailers that want to win over this group will need to focus on offering value such as high-quality, private label products.

Best Buy鈥檚 health business suffers a major setback: It may be tough for Best Buy to justify its investments in home healthcare without more Trump admin support to reimburse for hospital-at-home initiatives.

Best Buy will stick to its tariff playbook despite court rulings: The retailer is doing its best to ignore the noise and focus on how best to serve its customers.

Memorial Day sales are live at Amazon, Best Buy, Home Depot, and more: As consumers cut discretionary spending, retailers aim to boost sales through holiday-driven promotions.

Foot traffic to Target declined for the tenth straight week, according to Placer.ai. Visits to Target fell 7.9% the week of March 31, per the latest data. Walmart鈥檚 foot traffic has also fallen for 10 consecutive weeks, while visits to Best Buy are down from a slight rise in mid-March.

Core inflation rose 0.1% MoM in March, the lowest rate in four years: But that relief is likely to be short-lived as Amazon, AutoZone, Best Buy, and others warn of price hikes ahead.

Advertisers have higher expectations for retail media networks: That鈥檚 fueling a wave of updates from Best Buy, Instacart, and DoorDash.

Last week, Best Buy Ads launched Social+, an offering that allows brands and agencies to leverage Best Buy鈥檚 first-party data for social media campaigns. The tool is currently only available for Meta campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, but will expand to other social media networks in the future, per a press release.

David鈥檚 Bridal is the latest retailer to rely on a third-party marketplace to shore up sales: Like Walmart and Best Buy, it adopts an 鈥渁sset-light鈥� model to expand inventory鈥攁nd ad sales鈥攚hile minimizing expenses.

Best Buy faces stiff headwinds: The consumer electronics giant warned of higher prices due to President Trump鈥檚 new tariffs, which will likely crimp demand.

Best Buy takes another stab at an online marketplace: The consumer electronics giant, which operated a marketplace from 2011 to 2016, aims to align the marketplace鈥檚 SKUs with its product mix.

Christmas Day is less than a week away, but some consumers are still chipping away at their lists. That鈥檚 why Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Dollar General are announcing last-minute holiday deals for consumers seeking the perfect gift.

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.

While the retailer isn鈥檛 ruling out tariff-related price hikes, it鈥攍ike Best Buy and Target鈥攕ees them as a last resort, and one that shouldn鈥檛 diminish its price gap relative to competitors.

Home Depot is sharpening its pitch to non-endemic advertisers with a new partnership with Yahoo DSP. Non-endemic advertising could be a lucrative opportunity for RMNs鈥攂ut it comes with its own set of challenges. Retailers have to clearly articulate what advantages they offer compared with the rest of the (very crowded) field, while measuring the impact of non-incremental ads is more difficult given the absence of closed-loop attribution. Companies should also follow Home Depot鈥檚 lead in being strategic about the types of non-endemic advertisers they allow onto their platform. While the temptation might be to cast as wide a net as possible, limiting ad buys to brands in complementary categories will maximize effectiveness and minimize the confusion for shoppers.

Amazon, Best Buy, and Google will launch sales on November 21: The shorter-than-usual period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is driving retailers and brands to start their holiday pushes early.

Best Buy is easing the connection of social ads to purchase outcomes: In March, in partnership with retail media tech firm Symbiosys, Best Buy announced a new tool called Social+ that lets brands layer the retailer鈥檚 first-party data on top of Meta shopping campaigns. The tool enables the integration of transaction data so advertisers can better understand ad efficacy.