Pro Features
Retail Media: Coming to a Grocery Store Near You
The lates retail media subset to come to our attention is grocery. Retail media revenue within the category is estimated at $8.5 billion.
Pro Features
Walmart Closes $2.3 Billion Vizio Acquisition
The wait is over for Walmart. The company has just closed its acquisition of TV maker Vizio. The acquisition first made news back in February, but has since been in a holding pattern due to standard federal regulatory approval. Now, Walmart is free to proceed with the all-cash $2.3 billion deal.
Google
Google Lens Doubles Down on Local Offline Shopping
Google Lens continues to be a sleeping giant in the world of local commerce. As a visual search tool, it can identify and contextualize items that you point your phone at. Carrying similar user intent as web search, Google is salivating over the idea of more high-intent query volume that flows from your camera.
Pro Features
Yelp Documents the Transformation of the American Shopping Mall
The role of the Shopping Mall – once a defining venue of American culture in the 80s and 90s – continues to transform. Despite the bloodletting of retailpocalypse, the shopping mall hasn’t gone away. But it has morphed considerably in both “form and function,” according to a new report from Yelp.
AI
Walmart’s Adaptive Retail Mixes a Cocktail of Emerging Tech
Walmart has federated several disparate tech efforts into its latest formalized program: Adaptive Retail. It contains some programs underway and some still developing, for a cocktail of emerging tech infusions.
Pro Features
Retail Media’s Latest Evolution: Standardization
The IAB has ventured to bring structure and standards to retail media through its Retail Media Measurement Guidelines. We examine strategic implications.
attribution
Publicis Beefs Up its Attribution Play with Mars United Commerce
After recently asking if Publicis has gotten too big, we learned this week that it just got a little bigger. The company announced the acquisition of commerce marketing firm Mars United Commerce (formerly the Mars Agency), whose intelligence platform is hoped to round out Publicis’ analytics muscle.
Pro Features
Walmart+: the New Home of the Whopper
Walmart has recently taken QSR collaborations to new levels It’s new Burger King collaboration grants Walmart+ members a robust 25 percent discount on all food ordered via the Walmart app at any Burger King locations.
logistics
Florida Man’s Hair Trigger Raises Key Questions About Last-Mile Delivery
A Florida man shot down a Walmart delivery drone after thinking it was spying on him. What are the implications for the future of last-mile local delivery?
Data Scout
Ranking Retail: Who Are Top Players Globally?
If one were to ask you to name the top five retailers in the world, by revenue, what would you guess? Visual Capitalist recently answered this question and its list crossed our desk, with some surprising and unsurprising results.
Pro Features
Walmart is All-In on Immersive Shopping
Walmart’s virtual showroom feature lets users outfit a room with various items. We examine how this ties in with Walmart’s broader evolution in immersive shopping
eCommerce
Shopify and Target Give SMBs a Path to Scale
Shopify announced this week that it has partnered with Target to give its merchants online amplification and distribution on Target.com.
Pro Features
After a Red-Hot 2024, Will Retail Media Space Cool Off in 2025?
WARC reports that retail media revenue – measured in brand dollars spent with retail media networks – will grow at a faster rate this year, then cool down next year.
Microsoft
Big Box Energy: Retail Media Reaches 200 Networks
Besides AI, retail media networks are perhaps the biggest topic right now in the broader media & advertising sector. This upswing provides a certain amount of energy in the retail sector, following the doldrums and bloodletting of the previous “retailpocalypse.”
AI
Sam’s Club Jumps into ‘Exit Tech’
Sam’s Club is the latest retailer to integrate technology that expedites or replaces the traditional checkout aisle. The technology – which we’re calling exit tech – is meant to streamline longstanding logistical bottlenecks in retail.
Pro Features
The Rise of Media Networks: Chase Jumps In
Chase announced that it’s launching its own media network. Known as Chase Media Solutions it will include inventory within its app, website, and other channels to deliver targeted ads and deals.
Pro Features
Walmart Opens the Retail Media Floodgates
Walmart has revealed that its U.S. advertising division Walmart Connect is expanding access to retail media placement to non-endemic brands and marketplace sellers. We examine strategic implications
Augmented reality
Can Augmodo Bring Local Search to Store Shelves?
A two-decade-old ambition in local search has been to find out exactly what’s on the shelf at nearby stores. Seattle-based Augmodo may have a novel solution to this longstanding challenge.
buy now pay later
Are BNPLs Whistling Past the Regulatory Graveyard?
We have written about how regulators around the world have to varying degrees put buy now pay later in their crosshairs. As the popular payment
Pro Features
Walmart Raises Its Retail-Media Game
Walmart has stepped up its efforts to advertise its own products – and that of third-party consumer products – using high-traffic inventory throughout its stores. Known as retail media, this area has been picking up over the past decade.