Every issue, month by month

Jill Dvorak, SVP Content at NRF, on Prime Day, Walmart's $300m bulky-item hub and the Nike sales decline in China. Is early discounting growing holiday demand or just moving it?Alex Rezvan, Host of The Retail Podcast, and Jill Dvorak, SVP Content at NRF, cover the week&#39…

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ChatGPT virtual try-on puts OpenAI between the shopper and the checkout, while UK footfall fell 2.9% in September and every format went down. Today's briefing also covers Ocado's clean-label aisle, Refresco's possible IPO above $10bn and Seven & i's plan to…

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Lidl adds 43 million visits, Frasers ups its Burberry bet and Boots changes hands. Simone Oloman, Co-host of Five Things Friday UK, explains what this week's moves mean for UK retail.Alex Rezvan, Host of The Retail Podcast, and Simone Oloman cover five stories. Lidl GB gre…

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Amazon layoffs hit around 1,000 corporate roles, most of them in its stores division, as Tesco's profits rise and Walmart puts its AI savings back into customer service. Today's briefing tells retail leaders that efficiency is the theme of the season, and the differenc…

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Walmart drone delivery with Wing is expanding to more than 270 stores by next year, and Boots is going private in a £6.7bn deal with the Weston family. Today's briefing also covers a £440m rise in UK retail electricity bills, Amazon's 63% share of German online retail …

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Quick commerce now decides who survives in India: 7-Eleven is shutting around 60 stores because convenience without 30-minute delivery is no longer enough.Jill Dvorak, SVP Content at NRF, joins Alex Rezvan on the UK sales slump, Primark and Morrisons.What is quick commerce? It…

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Walmart is dropping a patent that would have let Scan & Go personalise prices at the point of scan, while ASOS confirms a cyber attack that reached customers through its own app. Today's briefing shows retail leaders that pricing and customer data are now where trust i…

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Doug Stephens, Founder of Retail Prophet, argues that AI in retail will never be a competitive advantage. Customer trust, earned through fairness to shoppers, staff and suppliers, is the edge that lasts.Alex Rezvan, Host of The Retail Podcast, and Doug cover why only 15% of Am…

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TikTok is keeping checkout and customer data inside the app with Buy Direct, and TikTok Shop's UK sales are heading for close to €5 billion this year. Add retailers' very different rules on AI shopping agents, and today's Decoding Retail shows who is taking control…

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What happened to Nike this week is a second round of job cuts and a $2.5 billion cost saving target, as Boots nears a £7bn sale and world food prices hit a near four-year high. For retail leaders the signal is clear: shoppers are working harder for every basket, and retailers …

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Asia-Pacific's older shoppers, JD Sports' franchise move into Mexico, Fabletics' first store in India, Boots on TikTok Shop and JD.com's new home store in Shanghai. Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak of NRF cover the five international retail stories leaders need this…

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Costco's digital sales just passed $33 billion, Toys R Us is opening 120 stores, and Best Buy is taking 10,000 products to TikTok Shop. Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak of NRF cover the five retail stories US leaders need this week.This week:(00:44) Costco digital sales top $33…

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Retail brands still hire creators for one post. Jade Beason says that era is over.Recorded at YouTube Festival 2026 at the London Palladium, this short conversation covers what retailers are missing in how they work with creators, how trust is actually earned, and what a shopp…

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Boots’ creator-commerce push raises a practical question: whose advice helps customers buy? Alex Rezvan and Simone Oloman examine that question alongside virtual try-on, circular textiles, service-led retail, and Vogue World’s runway robots.Five Things Friday, UK edition. Reco…

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Nine retail companies pitch their solutions at NRF Europe 2026. Host Alex Rezvan then asks what makes each worth choosing over a competitor, before an audience challenge on patents and lasting differentiation.Recorded at the Innovation Stage in Paris, the session moves from sh…

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What happens to e-commerce when the internet is no longer built primarily for humans? John Williams, Co-CEO and CTO of Amplience, explains AEO and GEO, why the AI agent is now your audience before the customer, and why content creation is only a third of what the content suppl…

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14 startups. 60 seconds each. One question: why should a retailer care?Day 1 of NRF Retail's Big Show Europe 2026 in Paris, from the Innovation Stage. Buynomics, Keyban, Ace Waves, Akoustic Arts, Wearfits, M11, Ekoo, Pinpoint, N3xgen, Deepneuronic, Najar, Meteoria, Cloz AI…

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JD’s robotics plan raises a practical question: can automation handle the exceptions that make fulfilment difficult? Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak examine the costs, the people, and the operational test behind the ambition.This Five Things Friday International Edition also cover…

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FULL SHOW NOTESPrimark plans home delivery in Great Britain. Alex Rezvan and Simone Oloman discuss the implications for value fashion and how retailers can earn the next purchase. Plus John Lewis, Boots, Lucy & Yak, Damson Madder, and Tu at Sainsbury’s.In this UK edition o…

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Target is bringing 90 prestige, emerging and global beauty brands to more than 600 stores. Alex Rezvan and Jill Dvorak examine what Target Beauty Studio means for Target, Sephora and Ulta Beauty—and where the customer’s beauty spend could move next.This week’s US retail briefi…

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Pinduoduo's expansion in Malaysia is testing how local retailers compete with ultra-low-price cross-border commerce, while the Singapore–Johor Bahru RTS Link could redraw the retail catchment between the two markets.Ngai Yuen Low, Ryf Quail and Alex Rezvan examine the proj…

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Scott Price, Group Chief Executive of DFI Retail Group, argues that retail cybersecurity is now a sector-wide risk—not a problem any company can solve alone.Recorded at NRF APAC 2026 in Singapore, the conversation examines why retailers need to share threat intelligence, how d…

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Marks & Spencer is moving its European ecommerce fulfilment to Zalando's ZEOS platform across 22 continental European markets. Alex Rezvan and Simone Oloman, Co-founder and CEO of NIFT, examine what the partnership means alongside five other UK retail developments from the…

Marks & Spencer is using Zalando's ZEOS platform for European ecommerce fulfilment across 22 continental European markets.Alex Rezvan and Simone Oloman, Co-founder and CEO of NIFT, cover six UK retail stories: M&S and Zalando's European fulfilment partnership; …

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Walmart has started rolling out Apple Pay at select US Walmart and Sam's Club locations, with rollout to all US stores and clubs planned by the end of 2026. Alex Rezvan is joined by Jill Dvorak, Senior Vice President, Content at NRF, for five US retail stories: Home Depot's na…