Merchandising

Artificial intelligence promised to kill gut decisions in retail. Instead, it made guessing more expensive. Retailers have added more AI tools, more dashboards, more predictive models — all of which have created more noise. And it’s left retailers more uncertain about their decisions and further from their customers than ever before. The problem with retail’s…

Kohl’s has introduced “the Deal Bar” to all of its stores, a collection of items priced under $10, reports Yahoo Finance. The collection, located at the front of the store to draw attention, includes gifts, seasonal items and everyday essentials. Most recently, Kohl’s Deal Bar featured Valentine’s Day and Easter-themed items but will rotate to…

Resale is no longer a side story in retail. In fact, the global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $367 billion by 2029, growing over two times faster than the overall global apparel market. As consumers lean harder into value, sustainability, and discovery-driven shopping, the thrift industry is heading into 2026 with momentum and…

Meet the Gen Z shopper: phone in hand, switching between TikTok and Instagram while moving through the world around them. Their attention shifts quickly, shaped by a constant feed of tailored content and instant recommendations. They value authenticity and newness, and they decide within seconds whether something feels worth their time. For retailers, this poses…

At the National Retail Federation Big Show in New York City earlier this month, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan spoke with Mark Barrocas, CEO of SharkNinja, a global product design and technology company known for its two $2 billion-plus brands, Shark ($2.6 billion) and Ninja ($2.9 billion). In the interview, Barrocas emphasizes SharkNinja's consumer obsession and shares…

Impulse purchases used to be inescapable for consumers. You would spend the afternoon combing through every aisle of the store for the best deals, then head to the register to be met with a glorious suite of candy bars, lip balm, gum, air fresheners, and other little unplanned items too tempting to pass up. It…

lululemon athletica said on Tuesday that it has paused online sales of a new workout line called "Get Low" after user complaints. Users on Reddit complained that the leggings from the new launch are "see-through" while bending or squatting. The new product line on lululemon's site seemed to be inaccessible and showed "something went wrong"…

The future of shopping is no longer about searching. It’s about delegating. Soon, consumers won’t need to sift through pages of products or toggle between tabs comparing prices. Instead, artificial intelligence (AI) agents will handle much of the shopping journey on their behalf, from product discovery to purchase, ushering in a new, frictionless era of…

There’s a major shift happening in commerce, and it’s hiding in plain sight. You can see it in how people are starting their buying journeys and in how often they’re already using answer engines to make product decisions. OpenAI’s own data shows that more than 55 million messages every day in ChatGPT are about items…

It happens all the time: brands pour time, money and resources into launching a new product, only to watch it flop once it hits the shelves. Timing or shelf placement are easy to blame, but launches often fail because brands skip the most important step: engaging with consumers before going to market. Gut instinct, historical…