Tue.Jan 24, 2023

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7 Banks Team Up to Create Digital Wallet, Challenging PayPal and Apple Pay

Retail TouchPoints

JPMorgan Chase , Bank of America , Wells Fargo and the four other banks behind the money transfer network Zelle are developing a digital wallet to challenge the dominance of PayPal and Apple Pay. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by the company in a blog post. The banks expect to enable 150 million debit and credit cards for use within the wallet when it rolls out in the second half of this year.

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As sales soar, Mosaic Brands plans 130 more stores

Inside Retail

Trans-Tasman apparel retailer Mosaic Brands is set to open 130 new stores as customers return to in-store shopping. Mosaic Group’s brands include Katies, Millers, Noni B, Rivers, Rockmans, Crossroads, Autograph, W.Lane, EziBuy and Beme. According to unaudited accounts for the half year to January 1, sales grew 23 per cent driven by strong trading momentum and a higher average transaction value.

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Takeaways from the 2023 NRF Big Show Floor

Retail TouchPoints

The 2023 NRF Big Show was buzzing with activity. The top goal for retailers and solution providers alike? To dig into the trends and challenges impacting the broader industry. We spoke with top exhibitors at the event to get their thoughts and what advice they’d offer retailers as they make way into 2023.

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Inventory management, inflation ease, and drinking trends - Weekly Snacks #39

Tokinomo

Campaign scoop A little taste of Hell. Philadelphia recently released a limited-edition product called " A Little Taste of Hell ," which is a cream cheese infused with ghost peppers with a Scoville Heat Unit measurement of 1,041,427. This product was only available to residents of Toronto who ordered it via Uber Eats on January 13th. The release was promoted through videos by influencers, including a partnership with TikToker Celina Spooky Boo.

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A Roadmap For Modernization: How To Break Free From Your Monolith Before July 31, 2026

Speaker: Jason Cottrell and Gireesh Sahukar

Retailers know the clock is ticking–legacy SAP Commerce support ends in 2026. Legacy platforms are becoming a liability burdened by complexity, rigidity, and mounting operational costs. But modernization isn’t just about swapping out systems, it’s about preparing for a future shaped by real-time interactions, AI powered buying assistants, and flexible commerce architecture.

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NRF 2023 Spotlights Profitability, Workforce Enhancements and Media Network Opportunities

Retail TouchPoints

The NRF Big Show , held in NYC Jan. 15-17, did more than bring together more than 35,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors. The event also gives us business editors the chance to suss out the major trends that retail decision-makers will be grappling with in 2023. Here’s our take on just a few of the key themes revealed at the show, based on attending sessions and talking to retailers, solution providers and industry experts at the Big Show and illustrated with quotes from session presenters and at

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Dusk CEO Peter King resigns, sparking transition plan

Inside Retail

Dusk CEO and MD Peter King will step down from his position, after almost nine years working for the retailer. King will continue to oversee the company until August, at which point Dusk expects to have appointed a new CEO. Dusk’s chairman, John Joyce, said King has developed an “excellent” exclusive team and has made an “invaluable” contribution since 2014.

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How inventory mistakes hampered City Chic’s half-year earnings

Inside Retail

To what extent can City Chic’s half-year results be attributed to external trends and changes in consumer behaviour? As reported by Inside Retail , the plus-sized womenswear retailer recorded a sales dip of about eight per cent to $168.6 million. Online sales fell by 21 per cent, while sales dropped by three, four and 14 per cent across Australia and New Zealand, Europe and the Americas respectively.

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Walmart Debuts New Ecommerce Platform to Help SMBs ‘Save Time, Money and Hassle’

Retail TouchPoints

Walmart has launched a new ecommerce site and customer experience designed specifically for small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and nonprofits. The aim of the Walmart Business platform is to “remove complexity in purchasing, lower costs and give our customers more opportunities to serve their customers and communities.” With a curated assortment of more than 100,000 items, the new site features categorization and navigation features tailored to the needs of organizational shoppers.

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A new day for Jag: How APG & Co is waking up its “sleeper brand”

Inside Retail

Inside Retail : I know Jag celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. How did you mark the occasion? Samantha De Kauwe: Last year was really about regrouping post-Covid. I started in this role at the start of 2022, and for me it was about setting the brand intention for the future and building the right foundation. It wasn’t a brand relaunch, but rather a reset to go back to the core and ask, ‘What do we stand for?

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How the Explosive Growth of Shoppable Ads will Impact Pricing and Spending

Retail TouchPoints

Social shopping is becoming more and more popular given the surge in social media usage and the ease of completing a transaction without ever leaving the app. It’s no surprise that social commerce sales are expected to reach $45.74 billion in 2022. With this growth, shoppable ads have been gaining traction over the last several months. For instance, ahead of the holiday season, TikTok announced a rollout of several new shoppable ad formats , including video shopping ads, catalog listing ads and

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Humans + Agents = Rethinking Enterprise Commerce with AI

AI agents already analyze trends, draft content, and trigger actions across leading commerce platforms. Yet most organizations still rely on workflows built for human‑only teams, losing speed, margin, and customer loyalty. Humans + Agents: Rethinking Enterprise Commerce in the Age of AI Collaboration shows how to close that gap. In one concise read you’ll see where agent gains surface first, how early adopters prove ROI, and which lean controls keep innovation moving without risking data or bran

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Solid Christmas trading failed to offset slow summer start for Best & Less

Inside Retail

Poor consumer demand and falling foot traffic dented Best & Less Group’s first-half profits. In a trading update of unaudited figures for the 26 weeks to January 1, the company said its sales improved 13 per cent to $324.8 million, driven by positive trading momentum through the Black Friday and Christmas trading periods. However, tax-paid profit for the half fell 31.8 per cent to $13.7 million while like-for-like sales were down 4.9 per cent and online sales fell 29.8 per cent.

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Amazon Deepens Prescription Options with RxPass for Prime Members

Retail TouchPoints

Amazon has launched RxPass, a subscription for Prime members that offers select generic medications with free delivery for a flat fee of $5 per month. The service, which doesn’t require health insurance, currently covers medications for 80 common conditions, including high blood pressure, anxiety and acid reflux. RxPass was designed to save time for Amazon Prime customers while deepening Amazon’s presence in the pharmaceutical space.

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Accent Group reports improved sales across all its brands

Inside Retail

Positive trading conditions boosted sales for multi-brand apparel retailer Accent Group in its December half. The company owns and operates brands including Platypus, The Athlete’s Foot, Subtype, The Trybe, HypeDC, Pivot and 4 Workers, and distributes global labels including Dr Martens, Skechers, Vans and Merrell. In a trading update of unaudited accounts for the 27 weeks to January 1, the business says sales grew 39 per cent to $825 million while earnings before tax are expected to be in the ra

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What retail investors should expect in 2023

Retail Focus

The Bank of England has predicted that the United Kingdom is falling into a prolonged recession, with inflation not expected to return to its target level of 2% until 2024. Here we will discuss the retail sector outlook this year and what investors should expect. Retail Conditions Inflation in the UK currently sits around 10%, the highest rate in 40 years.

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5 Tips for a Winning Category Management Strategy in 2025

Category Management is a cornerstone of a successful retail strategy. While it promotes collaboration between manufacturers and retailers to optimize category performance, challenges persist in its effective implementation due to hurdles in communication and collaboration across teams and partners, and more. In this guide, we outline five essential strategies for success in 2025 that will touch on all the essential pieces of a successful strategy and implementation.

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Technology, trends and key takeaways from NRF’s Big Show

Inside Retail

After so much Covid-19 disruption and damage, the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Big Show returned to the Big Apple with an equally big bang last week. Retailers big and small from around the world, including Australia, came together after a two-year hiatus to hear from the sector’s biggest changemakers, experience the latest innovations, and be inspired by the latest trends, technologies and strategies that will shape the future of retail.

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Americans are getting some relief from inflation

Retail Wire

The rate of inflation has continued to slow for six straight months, dropping to 6.5 percent from nine percent last June. Lower prices at the pump and other savings have some feeling hopeful about their own personal finances. Risks of further inflation remain, however, which has economists looking to the Federal Reserve Bank and whether it will further raise the Prime interest rate above 4.25 percent.

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What to learn from Kmart’s “kind and inclusive” approach to Australia Day

Inside Retail

Kmart Australia has been both warmly praised and loudly criticised for its decision not to sell any Australia Day-themed merchandise, after a customer called out the retailer on Facebook last week, asking it to “please explain” why it did not have any Australia Day-themed clothing or decorations in its Penrith store. The retailer’s response – that 26 January means different things to different people and that it aims to foster an environment that is inclusive and respectful of both its customers

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Consumers cut back in some places and splurge in others

Retail Wire

High prices are prompting consumers to reduce or trade down on many everyday goods they purchase. For some this allows them to splurge on other items. “I may be wearing scratchy Amazon pajamas to bed, but at least my ($600 Italian linen) sheets are lovely,” said Davina Pike Ogilvie, a mother of two from Brooklyn, NY.

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Cut Costs & Complexity: Smarter Fulfillment for Home, Furniture & DIY Brands

Late deliveries. Split shipments. Spiraling freight costs. For home, furniture, and DIY brands, fulfillment has never been more complex—or more critical. This report outlines how a smarter, AI-ready order management system (OMS) helps you reduce shipping costs, streamline project-based fulfillment, and ensure accurate inventory across every channel.

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Serta Simmons files for Chapter 11

Retail Dive

The company, whose holdings include DTC brand Tuft & Needle, is also suing to uphold the terms of a 2020 loan that it calls “critical.

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Microsoft to invest billions more in ChatGPT maker

Retail Wire

Microsoft has confirmed its plans to make a “multibillion dollar” investment in OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT chatbot. The new investment follows previous investments by Microsoft in OpenAI, which also developed the image search engine DALL-E.

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Purple rejects takeover bid

Retail Dive

Coliseum Capital Management sent the brand an unsolicited proposal in September to acquire its remaining common stock for $4.35 a share.

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Newell Brands laying off 13 percent of office staff

Retail Wire

Newell Brands, the parent company of Rubbermaid and Sharpie, plans to cut 13 percent of its office staff by the end of the year. Newell had 32,000 employees at the end of 2022.

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What Your Financial Statements Are Telling You—And How to Listen!

Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker

Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.

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Prestige brand Makeup by Mario raises $40M

Retail Dive

Founded by celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic, the brand joins a list of companies that have snagged funding amid a downturn in VC-backed capital.

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Former Whole Foods associates’ BLM facemask suit dismissed

Retail Wire

Three former Whole Foods employees claimed in a lawsuit that they were discriminated against when the grocer fired them for refusing to remove the “Black Lives Matter” facemasks that they were wearing on the job. A federal judge yesterday dismissed those charges, ruling that “the evidence demonstrates only that Whole Foods did not strenuously enforce the dress code policy until mid-2020, and that when it increased enforcement, it did so uniformly.

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Dollar Tree names former Dollar General exec Rick Dreiling CEO

Retail Dive

Outgoing CEO Mike Witynski is stepping down from the Dollar Tree board and leaving the company.

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Mars replacing M&M’s ‘spokescandies’ with Maya Rudolph

Retail Wire

Mars is swapping out its “spokescandies” for Maya Rudolph after getting caught up in a right wing-created controversy about the wokeness of its animated figures. The candy brand will run a commercial doing the Super Bowl with the seven animated characters in silhouettes on a football field.

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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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H&M transforms Williamsburg store to showcase athletic collection

Retail Dive

The location is a “kinetic, tactile playground” that showcases the retailer’s new H&M Move brand and offers daily fitness classes.

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Candy brands urged to reduce lead and cadmium in dark chocolate

Retail Wire

Consumer Reports has called on Hershey, Mondelez, Theo Chocolate and Trader Joe’s to reduce the amount of lead and cadmium in their dark chocolate products. Long-term exposure to these metals can cause immune system suppression, kidney damage and nervous system issues.

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Versace exec to take on CEO post at Michael Kors

Retail Dive

Cedric Wilmotte, who currently heads operations at Versace, will move to the new position in April.

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Streetwear brand features compostable clothing

Retail Wire

Demand is growing for plant-based clothing from brands such as Unless, which claims to be “the first streetwear brand to create products that will harmlessly decompose at the end of life.” Eric Liedtke, CEO of Unless, said, “We started the company because we’re a bunch of fashion executives that got tired of the make, take and throw away culture of fashion.

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SEO vs. PPC: Which Strategy Is Best for Your Business?

When it comes to driving traffic and growing your online presence, businesses often ask: SEO or PPC—what’s the better choice? This guide breaks down the key differences between search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, highlighting their pros, cons, and best use cases. Whether you’re looking for long-term organic growth or immediate visibility through paid ads, we’ll help you determine which strategy—or combination of both—is right for your business.