Retail insights at the intersection of now and next. Unfiltered. Unbiased
Research on human-computer interaction has consistently found that people respond positively to interfaces that feel conversational and warm, while younger shoppers are especially comfortable chatting with bots. As a result, human-like AI agents with a name and personality tend to generate higher customer engagement, satisfaction and trust. What happens when they go rogue?
Foresight is a critical tool right now. Our assumption is that a future, serious economic shock sits firmly within the zone of plausibility. Should an employment collapse materialize, the organizations that will thrive in the 2030s are those that lean into the new economic reality, rather than those waiting for a return to a normal that will never materialize.
As a “geriatric” millennial now pushing 40, my generation has been pathologized by analysts since we got our first cellphones in our early teens. Millennials have survived more economic turmoil while coming of age than any demographic since the Silent Generation. But we are the biggest spenders in many retail categories, including luxury.
The grocery industry has spent three years watching Kroger struggle through a failed merger, a leadership crisis, a botched automation strategy, and the slow erosion of its competitive position relative to Walmart. What grocery is watching now is something different: a company that has made a clear-eyed bet that the best way to compete with Walmart is to hire the person who knows Walmart best.
By starting out being worth $4 billion. Allbirds, the DTC footwear brand that hit the market 11 years ago with a huge splash as part of the first wave of direct-to-consumer startups started sinking quickly ever since; it’s no laughing matter.
Join Shelley and Bill Neff, Head of Marketing at Yeti, as they pull back the curtain on why one of the most admired consumer brands in America has built its empire by doing the opposite of what the Attention Economy demands.
Wealthy children could have an unparalleled immersive retail experience with historical relevance and a matching doll to take home and show off to the neighbors. American Girl dolls were never accessible to children from middle or lower economic classes. By creating immersive children’s toys that now sell for a whopping $100 and $275 during a period of global upheaval, Mattel is being accused of what some would say such prohibitive pricing on children’s toys always was tone deaf.
We have spent the last decade obsessed with the “how” of commerce. We chased the frictionless transaction, lightning-fast delivery, and the algorithmic precision of the digital shelf. But as we move into 2026, the retail industry is hitting a wall of diminishing returns. The more relevant question is the “why” of commerce.
Consumers are not moving in lockstep according to where they sit in the K. High-income consumers can be more financially fragile than they appear, while lower-income households may be relatively stable, depending on their lifestyle choices and where they live. Whether the economy continues on its current K-shaped trajectory or the diverging arms of the K begin to converge, future success belongs to brands that stop chasing the shape of the K and start understanding the consumers living within it.
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