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For retailers, the mobile inbox has become an extension of the storefront. Promotional alerts, order updates, loyalty rewards and curbside pickup confirmations increasingly reach customers through text messaging. SMS continues to outperform email in engagement, and consumers routinely open and act on messages delivered directly to their phones. Yet as retailers rely more heavily on…

Target announced on Wednesday it was reducing prices for more than 3,000 "on-trend" items across apparel, home baby, food and beverages for spring. The company said most of the price reductions would be between 5 percent and 20 percent. It's unclear how long the lower prices will last. Cara Sylvester, executive vice president and chief…

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) has always been about more than what happens on the runway. Look behind the shows and you’ll see a real-time signal of how the fashion industry is evolving and where its biggest pressures lie. As I spoke with designers, brand leaders, and retail executives at NYFW last month, one theme…

Retail doesn’t have a markdown problem. It has an overassortment problem that shows up as markdowns. The distinction matters. Markdowns are the symptom: visible, measurable, and easy to budget for. Overassortment is the disease: harder to see, harder to quantify, and almost never owned by a single function. At its core, overassortment is a capital…

Peak season may be behind us, but for many warehouses and third-party logistics (3PLs) providers, the real test begins after the holidays. The returns wave has a way of exposing operational friction that steady volumes can mask: crowded receiving areas, delayed restocking, inconsistent inspection steps, and limited visibility into what’s actually moving through the building.…

Generative artificial intelligence is quietly rewiring the product data supply chain. AI can now read, structure and reason over product information at scale, turning product data from a back-office burden into a strategic asset. Retailers still wrestle with fragmented product data arriving in multiple formats. Teams spend significant time normalizing attributes, resolving gaps, and rewriting…

Athletic apparel maker Fabletics is launching its first denim collection, the company announced Tuesday, signaling the once white hot athleisure category is starting to slow down, reports CNBC. The collection, launching online and in select stores on Thursday, will include 11 styles across three levels of stretch and seven washes across both women’s and men’s.…

For decades, retailers have invested heavily in owning the customer relationship. Loyalty programs, first-party data, and personalization engines were all designed to ensure brands, not intermediaries, understand their customers best. That foundation is now at risk of slipping away as artificial intelligence-powered platforms increasingly take over the shopping experience. As consumers increasingly discover and purchase…

A new global consumer survey from SOTI, Retail Tech Assessment: Opportunities for Enhanced Consumer Experiences, reveals a retail landscape shaped by rising anxiety and shifting expectations. Drawing on insights from thousands of consumers, the report highlights how fraud, economic uncertainty and supply chain disruption influence how people shop — and whom they trust. For retailers,…

In modern retail, artificial intelligence is everywhere. From forecasting engines to dynamic pricing tools and demand planning dashboards, AI is now firmly embedded within the industry. In fact, 70 percent of retail companies are either piloting or have already partially implemented agentic AI systems, according to FluentCommerce. However, despite this widespread adoption, full deployment is…

Shoppers are shifting their tactics. Burdened by rising prices, depressed spending power, and slumping consumer sentiment, they are, as KPMG explained, “more cautious, more cost-conscious, and more selective than they’ve been in years.” Recent consumer research shows that shoppers still expect instant value, immediate product availability, and a highly relevant experience both online and in-store.…

The Advance Retail Sales Report from the Census Bureau showed consumer spending was down less than feared in January. Headline sales declined 0.2 percent, a step down from December's flat reading but better than the projected 0.3 percent decline. However, better days may be on the horizon for retailers. Economists widely expect bigger tax returns this…

It seems like every holiday season brings record-breaking revenue, yet many retailers may neglect to prepare their sites for the influx of users. For events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, slow load times, difficult-to-navigate interfaces, or checkout failures can frustrate potential customers, leading them to abandon their carts altogether. Simulating holiday traffic is a…

Retailers continue to face margin pressures driven by supply chain disruptions, inflation, changing consumer behavior and rising operational costs. Electricity is one of those rising expenses. It has outpaced overall inflation since 2022, according to the Consumer Price Index, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that retail electricity prices were up 6.8 percent year-over-year…

Retail media is on the brink of reinvention. Fueled by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, shifting consumer expectations, and the growing demand for incremental brand investment, the category is entering a transformative era. In 2026, retail media will no longer be a siloed ad channel — it will become the operating system of retail, where…

Retailers have spent years refining their digital offerings to fit human needs, optimizing layouts, promotions and messaging to capture attention and drive conversion. However, a new factor that will increasingly reshape how purchase decisions are made in 2026 doesn’t shop online, like a human. Consumers are ramping up their use of bot shoppers — automated…

Michaels said Monday it is expanding its loyalty program to reward its most loyal customers. The Texas-based company announced a new 9 percent platinum rewards tier for those who spend $1,000 annually. Red members earn 3 percent after joining, and gold members earn 6 percent after spending $300 annually. "These updates reflect Michaels' ongoing commitment…

Retailers are finally realizing that their customer data can pay for itself. For years, brands have treated first-party data as a cost of doing business, but now it's being redefined as a monetizable asset. Purchase history, browsing behavior, loyalty engagement, and customer preferences are becoming foundational inputs for personalization and performance measurement. Most organizations recognize…

Artificial intelligence can identify your target audience in seconds, optimize campaigns in milliseconds, and generate hundreds of creative variations in minutes. Marketing automation has never been more powerful — or more tempting. Yet the marketers winning right now aren't the ones automating everything. They're the ones who know exactly what not to automate. Because while…

Product reviews remain central to how people evaluate and choose what to buy. Recent data shows consumers read reviews before purchasing, and businesses recognize that verified purchase reviews increase trust. In a recent GoodFirms survey, 94 percent of respondents said verified purchase reviews make them more confident in feedback! Industry coverage over the past year…