Editor's Choice
Inflation Fatigue: Latin America's Smarter Shoppers
17 Jul 26The post-pandemic price spikes have eased across much of Latin America, but 2026 is no clean recovery: inflation has settled near 4% and prices keep rising. Years of stacked increases have changed how people shop. This is inflation fatigue – consumers are not just spending less, they have become tactical, and the winners will adapt to it.
Ivan Salazar
AI-Powered Commerce: What China’s Path Reveals About the West
22 Jun 26One in two consumers globally are using ChatGPT to search for products in 2026. Nearly four in five say AI has introduced them to a brand they hadn't considered before. And yet, we ask a shopper in Shanghai and a shopper in Seattle how they use generative AI to buy things, and there are two different stories that barely resemble each other.
Rabia Yasmeen
The World Cup as a Digital Commerce Funnel
8 Jun 26The FIFA World Cup has long been one of the biggest stages for brands. It brings together mass audiences, national pride and shared cultural attention in a way few global events can. But the nature of that attention and the commercial infrastructure beneath it is fundamentally changing.
Rabia Yasmeen
Retail’s Reset: Why 2026 Is Not About Growth, but Control
4 Jun 26The global retail industry has entered a new structural phase. Growth has slowed, complexity has risen, and traditional expansion levers such as store footprint, promotions, and scale are no longer sufficient.
Rabia Yasmeen
Online Assortment Reshaping E-commerce Performance in Sauces, Dips and Condiments
26 May 26This article explores how online assortment strategies are reshaping e-commerce performance in US sauces, dips and condiments. Using Euromonitor’s Passport E-commerce and Via SKU tracking data, it shows that many leading retailers achieved strong sales growth while reducing SKU counts, highlighting a shift from range expansion towards more focused, higher-performing assortments. The analysis also reveals growing emphasis on affordability, with retailers such as Walmart, Target and Kroger lowering the share of products priced above USD5. The findings suggest that successful e-commerce strategies increasingly depend on careful assortment curation, value positioning and balancing consumer choice with profitability in a price-sensitive environment.
Jared Conway
Saks Global’s Decline Signals a Watershed for US Department Store Retail
22 Apr 26Recent developments at Saks Global do not suggest a recovery, but rather a re-sorting of relevance within the department stores channel. Saks Global, which operates Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman, will emerge from its bankruptcy following USD500 million financing during 2026. However, it will do so with a significantly reduced store footprint, reopening questions about its long-term viability, the future of department store retail in the US, and which players may fill the gap in luxury distribution.
Leah Boston