Retail insights at the intersection of now and next. Unfiltered. Unbiased
The Kraft Heinz downsizing gives retailers permission to finally act on that reality. Having to walk past 40,000+ items to select the 20 or so items consumers have on their shopping list is just ridiculous and helps fuel the growth of online grocery shopping.
Crisis management has become a requisite strategy in today’s fractious marketplace. The socio-political landscape has become a minefield for retailers where one misstep can trigger unprecedented consumer backlash and boycotts.
For U.S. brands, soft power is a valuable asset to be leveraged more effectively than competitors. U.S. brands may not be able to recreate centuries of heritage, but they can compete with cultural resonance and American-made authenticity.
Partnerships between brands and sports figures are becoming more popular, but now female athletes are starting to show a stronger ROI.
What I’m seeing in the snack aisle right now is absolutely fascinating and really weird. Two of America’s biggest snack rivals just did something that would have been unthinkable.
Regulation doesn’t erase the core question: Are drones actually the future of last-mile delivery, or are they another shiny object distracting retailers from more urgent problems? Challenges will remain; drones are still limited by payload weight, weather sensitivity, and the economics of operating at scale. Yet the shift to standardization provides retailers with the regulatory clarity needed to plan, test, and prepare for drones as a potential solution in the last-mile delivery mix.
How do you make yourself matter to your local community? If you’re a hardware retailer, what you have to offer is more than nice; it’s a necessity. Ace Hardware gets it. They are innovative players in the retail media landscape with RedVest Media, designed to drive embedded community relationships that translate into measurable ROI advantages.
Cornell and Target kept putting their feet in their mouths at every step. When they announced they were pulling back from DEI initiatives, they were crucified by the customers who supported those views, and they never really got the buy-in from those who didn’t. Efforts to soften that stance infuriated people on both sides of the issue, setting up a no-win situation for the company.
There is no age limit for doll collecting. In fact, it tends to grow with age. Among doll collectors, kids’ rooms abandoned during the empty-nesting years are repurposed as doll nurseries. And the growing kidulting trend, where adults aged 18 and above revert to or continue on with their play toys, will bring younger doll collectors into the fold.
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