Welcome to another edition of Retail Roundup. This is your weekly brief helping retail leaders decode the biggest shifts in retail, AI, and commerce.
In this week's episode, Jeremy Goldman sits down with David Polinchock (Brand Experience Lab) and Drew Cashmore (Vantage & Chair of MiR) to mark nine years since Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition, unpack the FTC's new scrutiny of personalised pricing, and break down what Walmart and Target's latest earnings reveal about the state of retail media.
Inside this special edition, Cashmore shares the motivation behind expanding Media in Retail (MiR) to include brand and agency founding members, rounding out the community for retail media's full ecosystem. He explains how this move elevates the discipline's voices and craft while developing the next generation of retail media talent. Learn more about the community here.
ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:
Nine Years of Whole Foods, and Amazon's Next Flywheel Bet
A look at Project Tetramino, Amazon's next-generation delivery station projected to cost over $530 million through 2029 and process packages 2.5x faster than current systems. Why the panel thinks most retailers can't compete on throughput alone, and what differentiating instead of imitating actually looks like.
Is Personalised Pricing Retail's Next Trust Problem?
The FTC's proposed crackdown on undisclosed personalised pricing, and why the panel thinks consumer tolerance comes down to whether a price shift feels like it's working in their favor.
Retail Media Is Growing, Just Not Evenly
Walmart's ad business grew 38%, and Target's Roundel grew nearly 30%. Still, Cashmore's numbers show growth outside Amazon and Walmart is slowing fast, leaving dozens of smaller retail media networks competing for a shrinking pool of dollars.
🎧 Listen above for the full conversation on the trends making us rethink retail this week.
