What on Earth Happened to Retail in 2025?
The biggest surprise is that the economy is still chugging along as strong as it is. You’d think that the consumer would be shutting down with higher and higher prices. You’d think this Christmas would have seen a lot fewer goods. And it didn’t happen. Americans are still shopping until they drop.
The Latest Retail Industry Insights and Analysis
Here’s What Happens When Your Customers Design Your Clothes
Join Shelley and Eric Girouard who discuss how he built his BRUNT Workwear brand with the people who actually wear
India’s Retail Frontier
India’s consumer ecosystem is entering a defining decade, fuelled by a young, digitally fluent population, an expanding middle class and
Why Your Grocery Store Wants You to Be Lonely
Walk into any modern supermarket and you’ll see the opportunism loneliness offers. In-store cafés with community seating. Cooking classes. Wine
Listen Up
Retail Unwrapped
Our weekly podcast with Shelley E. Kohan, & guests. Available on your favorite podcast platforms.
Experience
A Look at Retail Through a New Lens
The main floor of Bloomingdale’s New York locations offers a dazzling experience for shoppers intoxicated by jewelry, cosmetics, and checkerboard
Shein Gets Bookish with New Alibris Collab
The Shein-Alibris partnership points to a greater retail trend: product assortments as a branding move. As consumers navigate economic uncertainty,
Creeping Out Customers Is the New Normal
Generation Z seeks out unpolished emotional experiences from brands, but the same subversive societal critiques that pique next gen’s interest
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Opinion
Off the Shelf with Phil Lempert: Oreo & Reese’s – Really, Another Oreo?
What I’m seeing in the snack aisle right now is absolutely fascinating and really weird. Two of America’s biggest snack
American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney Ad Spawns a Culture War
The American Eagle disaster proves that retailers can no longer afford to confuse stock market performance with DEI awareness. Not
Off the Shelf with Phil Lempert: Oreo & Reese’s – Really, Another Oreo?
What I’m seeing in the snack aisle right now is absolutely fascinating and really weird. Two of America’s biggest snack
American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney Ad Spawns a Culture War
The American Eagle disaster proves that retailers can no longer afford to confuse stock market performance with DEI awareness. Not
New Episodes Weekly
The Retail Unwrapped Podcast
Retail insights on-the-go, with Shelley E. Kohan. Available on your favorite podcast platforms.
From Our Partners
Placer’s 10 Brands to Watch + 3 Surprises
Check out Placer.ai’s latest enlightening report on the 10 Top Brands to Watch in 2025 when it comes to retail
How LoveShackFancy and WeWoreWhat Are Crushing Consumer Engagement
Watch and learn LoveShackFancy and WeWoreWhat are building engagement and social media strategies that matter to today’s younger consumer.
Technology
You’ll Need a Video Game Strategy for Next Gens
The key to tapping into gaming communities is authenticity — the most successful brand activations don’t just show a potential
Electronics Retailers Can Shift the Future of PFAS: Here’s How
For retailers, the message is stark: what begins in chemical plants and semiconductor fabs doesn’t stay there. It flows directly
The AI Agent Survival Guide for Retailers
Once AI has unfettered access to product data, it becomes much harder to control the terms of engagement. The brands
Management
Cornered: Retail CEOs in Succession
The most highly visible hires in the retail world over the past few months have been at Walmart and Target.
Gap’s Reinvention: The Peril of Chasing Relevance
For Old Navy or Gap, it’s a risky strategy to assume consumers will meaningfully find beauty or accessories as essentials.
Operations
A Wake-Up Call for Big Food
Here’s the uncomfortable truth the food industry doesn’t want to talk about: This lawsuit isn’t a joke. It’s backed by
Dillard’s Gets Department Store Retail Right
Dillard’s isn’t flashy—in certain circles, it’s been called “Dullard’s.” Yet it has remained a safe harbor in an increasingly turbulent
Retail in 2025: Tariffs, Tumult, and the Search for Sanity
2025 may go down as the year retail lost the plot — and tried to rewrite it at the same