November 24, 2025

  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending is projected to soften by 4% versus last year’s figures, according to Deloitte data, with consumers expected to spend an average of $622 this time around. Despite this, participation rates concerning the event are trending upward. “Value continues to be the centerpiece of the holiday season, and Black Friday-Cyber Monday promotions are an easy way for shoppers to capture those deals,” said Brian McCarthy, principal and retail strategy leader at Deloitte (via Chain Store Age).
  • Kohl’s has named its new CEO, Michael Bender, to the post — its third chief executive in as many years. Bender has been serving as interim CEO prior to his official appointment to the position in permanent fashion. “Kohl’s has a storied and important role in the retail industry, serving and celebrating families with great products, compelling value, and a differentiated shopping experience. I’m looking forward to reestablishing our leadership position by putting our customers first every day,” Bender said of the news (via CNBC).
  • Nvidia downplayed claims of a perceived AI bubble, releasing a report suggesting a massive sales improvement of 60% YoY. “Sales are off the charts… There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our vantage point, we see something very different,” said CEO Jensen Huang (via CNN Business).
  • Ross delivered a strong Q3 report card, with EPS and net income both improving YoY on the back of a resilient core shopper. “The strong execution by the entire team led to broad-based sales growth across merchandise areas and geographical regions. The strength in top-line, coupled with our continued focus on expense control, resulted in an operating margin of 11.6% that was much stronger than expected,” CEO Jim Conroy said (via press release).
  • Car prices are increasing, with the average transaction cost attached to a new vehicle, as of October, registering at $49,105 — a year-over-year increase of 3.1%. “This has been something that we’ve all been waiting for, I don’t think anyone was ever expecting the number to go down. It coincided with a high share of EVs being sold, so naturally, EVs being more expensive it kind of pushed us over the edge,” said Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds (via FOX Business).