July 16, 2025

  • Aldi, Lidl, and Trader Joe’s outperformed fellow competitors during the first half of 2025 in terms of traffic, per Placer.ai data. While grocery traffic improved by 1.5% YoY, these three grocers saw traffic upticks of 7.4%, 4.9%, and 11.9%, respectively (via Chain Store Age).
  • Estée Lauder has announced a significant digital push, both to capture the interest of younger consumers and to combat flagging sales (via The Wall Street Journal).
  • Diageo CEO Brenda Crew is stepping down from her position helming the world’s largest spirit maker. CFO Nik Jhangiani will be taking the position on an interim basis (via Reuters).
  • Back-to-school shopping has sparked the interest of more than two-thirds of American shoppers, with 67% of NRF / Prospect Insights & Analytics survey respondents stating they’d already purchased at least one item in advance of the new school year (via Chain Store Age).
  • Pop Mart, responsible for the extremely viral Labubu dolls, anticipates a 350% profit surge during the first half of 2025, and a 200% uptick in revenue, versus last year’s numbers. Investors, however, seemed lukewarm to the news, with stock prices trending downward in morning trading (via CNBC).
  • China is showing some degree of resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs, with Alibaba and JD.com stocks rising on news that the Chinese economy had slowed less than anticipated (via Barron’s).
  • Florida’s Aventura Mall has been deemed the top mall in America by USA Today. Second place was awarded to the Mall of America, and third to the Galleria Dallas (via Chain Store Age).
  • Hyundai has announced a full redesign of its popular Palisade lineup for the 2026 model year. The redesign will cost consumers, though, with the new model costing as much as $3,060 more than this year’s offerings (via MotorTrend).
  • Roblox is launching its new licensing platform, with heavy hitters such as Sega and Netflix already on board. Roblox’s stated goal is to provide media licensing at scale (via GamesIndustry.biz).
  • FreeCast is rolling out a live shopping channel, Test Drive Live, to Roku and other FAST platforms. The channel is slated to feature several products which have garnered online attention (via Chain Store Age).