September 24, 2025
- Black Friday is on the horizon, and e-commerce operations are mostly concerned about technical difficulties when asked about potential failures during that period, per Liquid Web survey data (via Chain Store Age).
- JD Sports saw a 13.5% fall in H1 profit, citing weakness in the U.S. market as a primary driver. Regardless, the company maintained its full-year guidance (via Reuters).
- Walmart is now seeing one-fifth (20%) of its referrals originating from ChatGPT. Etsy is seeing more than 20% of referrals from the same LLM, and Target (~15%) and eBay (~10%) are also seeing similar trends (via Modern Retail).
- Kate Spade CEO Eva Erdmann is banking on a back-to-basics approach to reinvigorate interest in its brand. A new ad campaign, “Spark Something Beautiful,” hinges around friendship, optimism, and storytelling elements to get the message across (via Glossy).
- Gucci opened up Milan Fashion Week with a short film featuring Demi Moore, Edward Norton, and others all wearing designs from the brand’s new creative director, Demna. French parent company Kering is engaging in an effort to revive Gucci’s label to prominence (via Reuters).
- Michaels is initiating its planned revival, of sorts, of Joann, bringing “Knit & Sew Shop” store-in-store fixtures bearing the latter’s name into its U.S. and Canadian locations. Fan-favorite Big Twist yarn will be a featured item (via CNN Business).