TikTok is testing a dedicated in-app social-shopping section, “Trendy Beat,” in the UK to showcase products trending on videos on the app directly sold by TikTok’s parent, ByteDance.

Albertsons Media Collective, Albertsons’ retail media arm, unveiled a preliminary framework last week at The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France to help standardize specifications and methodologies across retail media networks to maximize the emerging medium’s potential.

Kroger Precision Marketing is expanding its private programmatic marketplace to include video and CTV (connected TV) inventory, fueling a convergence of three dominant media trends. What do you think of the advertising opportunity in purchasing CTV and video inventory tied to Kroger first-party data?

Eighty-one percent of companies are reliant on third-party cookies while 85 percent of consumers want brands to use only first-party data, according to a new report. What advice would you give marketers about shifting from reliance on third-party data to first-party data for ad targeting?

According to a new report, the three most prevalent personalization tactics are predictive personalization, email send-time optimization and buyer journey-based personalization. What do you think are the most effective, most overrated and most underrated personalization techniques and related data-mining approaches?

Lindsay Mikos, senior director of omnichannel strategy and programs at Walgreens, spoke about the retail pharmacy chain’s moves to build out and maintain its super-fast omnichannel fulfillment options, including 30-minute pickup, In a session at the Internet Retailer Conference & Expo in Chicago last week.

Generation Z and Generation Alpha’s relationship with technology is, naturally, yielding different shopping habits from older audiences as the younger generations grow into consumers.

Amazon.com has made it official. Its annual Prime Day sales event will kick off on July 11 and conclude on July 12. The big question facing Amazon and all its rivals likely to run competitive promotions is whether consumers will use this as an excuse to increase their spending or sit it out as they continue to limit purchases due to inflation.

University research posits that offering product exchanges or gift cards for returns rather than crediting a customer’s card may be retail’s best option to reduce the cost of online returns. Consumers were found to be more open to spending money again with a retailer when consumers chose to accept an exchange or gift card rather than just get the money back.

Retail media networks are on a roll. Ad revenues are expected to increase 9.9 percent to $125.7 billion in 2023 making retailers’ websites the third-fastest growing channel for advertising, according to a new report.

Walmart’s Store No. 8 has announced the impending launch of a new tech incubator program focused on funding Web3-related initiatives. It is now accepting applications for the first cohort of its dCommerce Base Camp Accelerator program, which it is launching in conjunction with Web3 investor/accelerator Outlier Ventures, according to a press release. 

Stitch Fix has named former Macy’s and Walmart executive Matt Baer its new CEO.  

A few years ago, direct-to-consumer (DTC) was the retail model everyone was talking about. It was bringing success not only to brands with fanatically engaged audiences like Nike, but small startups. It provided an unprecedented opportunity to go directly from an advertising interaction to a sale often without investing in a physical storefront. 

Victoria’s Secret is expanding its partnership with Amazon.com, selling its core intimates directly on the platform for the first time.

Walmart Connect, Walmart’s retail media arm, is testing the sale of ads on in-store radio and integrating in-store sampling programs with online offerings while vowing not to disturb the shopper experience.

CI&T’s Personalization Survey found a majority of consumers more “excited” (56 percent) than uncomfortable (44 percent) over the idea of retailers using their personal information to tailor their shopping experience. Paradoxically, it also found a continued high reluctance to sharing personal data to make that happen.

Loblaw, Canada’s largest grocer, is closing its third-party online marketplace, launched three-and-a-half years ago, to focus its website on grocery and pharmacy. 

Chewy is off to a positive start in 2023 and the online pet products retailer can thank its Autoship customers for that.

The rise of remote working presents opportunities for local retail but may require adjustments to new shopping behaviors. 

The brains behind brands are getting more personal with their fans and customers on TikTok.

With inflation and a precarious economy driving people to look for deals, more U.S. customers are visiting dollar stores. The U.S. dollar store vertical, however, may be looking at competition from an even cheaper offering as value retail app Temu continues making inroads in the U.S. market.

Shein earlier this month announced the launch of its U.S. marketplace after successful rollouts in Mexico and Brazil.

Amazon.com is paying select Prime members $10 to pick up their online purchases rather than get home delivery.

Google last week introduced a new set of features that deliver AI-generated summaries to queries similar to ChatGPT as well as follow-up prompts to engage users in a conversation.

Best Buy is expanding its loyalty program from one paid and one free tier to one free one and two paid.

Promotions could challenge Under Armour’s profit margins in the years to come.

A new survey finds consumers increasingly using their mobile devices and retail apps to support the in-store shopping experience.

Shopify last week announced plans to sell the majority of its logistics business, including Deliverr, to Flexport, the freight forwarding startup.

Sephora will soon require members of its Beauty Insider loyalty program to spend a minimum of $25 online to have their “Free Birthday Gift” mailed to them.

Pinterest has reached a multiyear deal making Amazon.com its first partner on third-party ads, promising to bring more brands and relevant products to the platform.

The Container Store’s mission is to help people get organized. For many people, getting organized includes cleaning out their closets.

The advertising potential of streaming platforms has entered the hype cycle as Netflix and Disney+ recently rolled out ad-supported streaming tiers.

A Gartner survey of marketers found 81 percent have contingency plans to respond to disruptions, but just 21 percent follow through.

Research from Cornell University finds adding “one-click” checkout leads online shoppers to increase their website visits, purchase a broader range of merchandise and spend an average of 28.5 percent more versus previous buying levels.

As prices at the grocery shelf remain high nationwide, one e-grocer says that its method for managing inventory has allowed it to keep its prices relatively low while maintaining its margins.

Yelp is making some “significant” changes. Three to be specific.

Amazon.com’s recent move to end its AmazonSmile charity donation program saw many beneficiaries frowning on social media.

PetSmart’s “Treats Rewards” program is seeking to deepen those connections with the more than 60 million members who have joined the program since its inception in August 2018.

A university study concludes that paid, membership-based free shipping (MFS) programs can compensate for delivery costs, reduce customer churn and be a significant revenue source.

Amazon.com’s cloud computing division last week released a suite of generative AI tools that can enable companies to build chatbots, generate and summarize text, and classify images based on a prompt.

University research finds virtual fitting rooms aren’t “uniformly positive” for customers, particularly those customers with unhealthy body image perceptions.

How fast do consumers want their online orders delivered? Perhaps not as quickly as retailers think.

Amazon.com has begun charging return fees on products brought to the UPS Store.

Poshmark, the resale marketplace, introduced Posh Shows, enabling users to sell secondhand products via live video from their homes.

New research finds that 67 percent of ChatGPT users feel understood often or always by the AI bot compared to 25 percent of traditional support chatbot users.

Apple recently introduced a “Shop with a Specialist” feature that lets online shoppers have a video chat with a retail specialist to get advice on buying an iPhone.

Walmart earlier this week unveiled its redesigned website and app, which immediately drew comparisons to Amazon.com.

There are mixed perspectives on AI in the market now. Some think it will be revolutionary and others are cautious, worrying that it will take over the world.

The U.S. secondhand market is growing 16 times higher than general retail and is expected to double by 2026, reaching $82 billion.

The online thrift market is getting more heated as inflation drives customers to seek more deals, leading some to ask how major retailers will react to the new, more competitive thrifting landscape.