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…