May, 2025

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The 9-Month Gap: Why Retail Display Execution Often Falls Short of the Plan

Wiser

In the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry, seasonal retail displays are planned months in advanceoften 8 to 9 months before they hit store floors. Brands like Haribo, General Mills, and Nestl lock in Halloween promotions in Q1, ship mid-summer, and expect execution by late summer. But despite early planning, retail display execution frequently diverges from strategy.

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Why retailers view CX as a ‘nice-to-have’ rather than a core driver of revenue

Inside Retail

In 2025, retail is definitely a battleground where the customer experience (CX) can make or break a brand. In an industry where 86 per cent of consumers are willing to pay more for a great experience, yet only 22 per cent feel that retailers truly understand their needs, the gap between expectation and execution is massive. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, there are amazing retailers out there that create immersive, seamless, and personal experiences and win by changing shoppers into

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Battle of the Retail Giants Comes Down to Amazon’s ‘Why’ vs. Walmart’s ‘And’

Retail TouchPoints

Earlier this spring, Amazon and Walmart released investor updates within one day of each other that presented an interesting juxtaposition of how the two companies approach innovation: The long and short of it is that Amazon is a Why company, while Walmart is an And company. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in an April 9 update following the companys investment community meeting: Were an and company.

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Cloud Cost Optimisation Strategies in 2025: What Every CIO, CTO and CFO Needs to Know

Retail Assist

Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is projected to reach 542 billion in 2025. Yet executives estimate that at least 30% of their cloud spending is wasted. That is a huge amount of budget disappearing into underused or untracked services. Two-thirds of businesses say that chasing rising cloud costs disrupts both finance and IT teams.

Finance 52
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Breaking The Commerce Bottleneck: Your SAP Exit Plan Starts Now

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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How Retailers Are Using Gamification to Boost Customer Loyalty

365 Retail

In an increasingly competitive retail environment, traditional loyalty schemes are no longer enough to keep customers engaged. Points-based systems and occasional discounts have become expected rather than appreciated. To stand out, many retailers are now turning to gamification, the application of game design elements in non-game contexts, to enhance customer engagement and strengthen brand loyalty.

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Target Fires 2 Executives Who Supported DEI Causes, Further Adding to Sales Woes

Retail Wire

Target continues to eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices despite ongoing customer pushback. Bloomberg Law is reporting that after joining Target last summer to succeed retiring legal and compliance director Don Liu, who spent nearly nine years there trying to reduce the company’s outside counsel panel using DEI and other criteria, including efficiency and risk tolerance, Amy Tu is departing Target.

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Dion Lee reportedly rescued by US retail group

Inside Retail

Fashion brand Dion Lee has been sold to US-based Revolve Group, a year after it collapsed into administration. The Australian Financial Review reported that Dion Lees administrator DVT Group has sold the brands remaining assets, including its archives, to Revolve for under $1 million. Revolve did not respond to the AFRs request for comment. People close to the negotiations said the Nasdaq-listed group has been in discussions to buy the label since last year.

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Victoria’s Secret Latest Hit in Growing Swath of Retail Cyber Attacks

Retail TouchPoints

Victorias Secret is the latest retailer to be hit by a cyber attack following similar incidents at Marks & Spencer , Dior , Harrods and Adidas , all this month. On Thursday the Victorias Secret website featured a message that the site had been shut down due to a security incident, however, consumer commentary online indicates that website outages may have started much earlier in the week.

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Why Retailers Must Start Valuing Digital Assets Like Stock

Retail Focus

Retailers are no strangers to tracking every item on the shelf, but most still ignore the true value of their digital shelves. Your product images, promotional videos, branded templates, and SEO content arent just accessories to your brand, but also assets with measurable impact. When treated as stock, these resources can significantly sharpen your competitive edge.

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Cold play: Toy industry faces ‘devastating’ impact from tariffs

Retail Dive

Around 96% of American toy companies are small- and medium-sized businesses. Nearly half of them could shutter due to U.S. tariff policies.

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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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Was Kohl’s Warned About Ex-CEO’s Shady Business Practices Before He Was Fired? This Exec Claims They Were

Retail Wire

In a RetailWire exclusive, Brittain Ladd claims Kohl's was warned about its ex-CEO's behavior.

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From Automation to Agentic AI: Your Crash Course on the Future of AI in Retail

The Retail Doctor

If you're running a retail operation with hundreds of stores, you're already using AI whether you know it or not. Stock alerts, customer review engines, price recommendation tools - that's AI in its early form. It's a new class of operations.

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SurfStitch website offline as shoppers await response on orders

Inside Retail

Australian online retailer SurfStitchs website has been down and inaccessible for at least two weeks with customers waiting on orders since last year, raising questions about whether the brand has ceased trading. The retailers website shows a blank page, while its mobile version shows a message stating that the site is currently undergoing maintenance and that it will be back soon.

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Hyper-Personalization Strategies Any Retailer Can Try

Retail TouchPoints

Shopifys Future of Personalization report names the top trends in 2025, and hyper-personalization is at the top of the list. Hyper-personalization is a strategy that uses data and AI to create experiences that are tailored to individual shoppers or customers. Personalization: Send an email featuring coats and sweaters to people in Minneapolis and sandals to people in Florida.

Marketing 262
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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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Tommy Bahama Reinvents Retail with Hospitality Concept

Retail Focus

As retailers nationwide grapple with changing consumer behaviours and the evolving role of brick-and-mortar, Tommy Bahama is charting a new course that blends hospitality, lifestyle, and experiential retail in an inviting way. The Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar redefines the retail and dining experience, combining a relaxed, island-inspired atmosphere with a fusion of shopping and hospitality.

Outdoor 147
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M&S to open 12 new food stores in ex-Homebase locations

Retail Gazette

M&S is ramping up its store renewal strategy with plans to open 12 new food halls across England including what will become its largest standalone food store to date. The new sites, which sit on former Homebase plots, will create over 550 jobs and form a central part of M&Ss store rotation programme aimed at building bigger, better locations.

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ALDI Plans To Open 800 New Locations by 2028

Retail Wire

ALDI is gearing up to grow.

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Why Most Retailers Will Fall Behind in the Unified Commerce Benchmark 2025—and How to Catch Up

The Retail Doctor

If you have felt like the pace of change in retail is accelerating, you are right. The Unified Commerce Benchmark (UCB) 2025 report by Manhattan Associates, now covering 250 specialty retailers, paints a clear picture. Unified commerce means integrating all retail systems so the customer journey, whether in-store, mobile, or online, is seamless and consistent.

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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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ABS finds steady growth in spending in Australian retail sector

Inside Retail

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has found a 3.8 per cent lift in retail spending in April year on year. Cosmetics, sports and household goods saw the highest increase at 5.3 per cent, with a 4.2 per cent rise in spending on food, and 3.9 per cent at on cafes, restaurants and on takeaways. Cost-of-living pressures and economic uncertainty continued to impact consumer behaviour in April, despite spending being above last year’s levels, said Chris Rodwell, CEO of the Austr

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It’s Time to Confront the Exploitation Behind Ultra-Fast Fashion

Retail TouchPoints

After May 2, ultra-fast fashion will be slightly more expensive. The human cost, however, remains astronomical. For years, ultra-cheap, ultra-fast fashion has rewired where and how Americans shop. Led by Chinese-founded online retailers Shein and Temu, ultra-fast fashion has succeeded in part by driving prices for trendy clothes as low as possible. Now that model is starting to fray.

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Material Innovation: Sheep Inc. Unveils FIBREGEN™ a revolutionary 100% regenerative material with new collection of hoodies & sweatshirts

Retail Focus

Sheep Inc Unveils FIBREGEN a revolutionary 100% regenerative material alongside a collection of FIBREGEN hoodies & sweatshirts developed over two years of R&D and extensive trials. This is the first product release since completing their series A investment last month. Developed in collaboration with Inovafil in Portugal, FIBREGENTM was created over two years of meticulous development.

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How Cisco Networking Academy is Enhancing Accessibility Education

Cisco Retail

Discover how Cisco Networking Academy is empowering the next generation of tech leaders with accessibility at the forefront.

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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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In-N-Out Burger Confirms the Opening of the Second-Largest Location in Las Vegas in 2026

Retail Wire

In-N-Out Burger continues its Las Vegas takeover with a confirmation that it will be opening the second-largest location in history in 2026. SF Gate has confirmed what has long been speculated: the popular burger chain has begun construction on an 8,000-square-foot indoor location with 2,500 square feet of an outdoor seating area within the massive 400,000-square-foot mixed-use complex called BLVD, which will also have stores like H&M and Puma.

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Asda ditches plans for driver-facing cameras in delivery vans

Retail Gazette

Asda has scrapped its plan to install driver-facing cameras in its home delivery vans following privacy concerns. The supermarket chain said it put the proposal on hold as it concentrated efforts to revive its grocery business, The Times reported. Asda had planned to introduce cameras that used artificial intelligence to identify subtle movements from drivers and provide audio prompts if there was a safety concern.

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Athleisure is reshaping Australia’s retail leasing market. Here’s why

Inside Retail

Strong growth potential of athleisure brands is expected to drive up demand for prime retail tenancies, according to a report by CBRE. CBREs Fitness Becomes Fashion report shows that demand for athleisure clothing in Australia has been booming thanks to the rise of remote work, active lifestyles, social media and a generational shift. As a result, many brands have been looking to expand their online success into physical retail stores.

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Retail Risk is Serious Business – and it’s Time we Acted Like it

Retail TouchPoints

From a risk and compliance perspective, defense, finance, tech, and healthcare are generally thought of as the riskiest industries but the retail sector is more vulnerable than it might appear. Organized retail crime (ORC), fraud rings, evolving regulations and other challenges all have the potential to cause significant disruption in the retail sector, and most retailers have invested considerable time and resources to mitigate them.

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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.

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Dalziel & Pow launches innovative retail space in Suzhou, China, for Children clothing giant Balabala

Retail Focus

Global design and strategy studio Dalziel & Pow recently unveiled the eighth generation image space design for Balabala , a leading Chinese childrenswear brand. The first store in the series is located in Suzhou – which opened on 8th May 2025 – and the design concept will be gradually promoted to thousands of stores in the brand’s global regions such as China, the Middle East and South East Asia.

Fashion 147
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Loss-making Surfstitch, Ginger & Smart sold to a mystery buyer

Inside Retail

Alquemie Group has sold luxury Australian womens brand Ginger & Smart for a token amount to an undisclosed buyer, along with its remaining SurfStitch assets. Inside Retail reported SurfStitch’s website to be down last week, with its social media posts carrying inquiries regarding unfulfilled orders and refunds as recently as two weeks ago.

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ABS data shows healthy rise in retail sales across Australia

Inside Retail

Australian retail sales rose by 4.3 per cent year on year in March, continuing a positive improvement in recent months. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data showed a rise of 0.3 per cent from February to March. While the steady growth is heartening, cost-of-living pressures and economic uncertainty continue to impact consumer behaviour,” said Australian Retailers Association chief industry affairs officer, Fleur Brown.

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The trademark dilemma: Protection vs priorities for Aussie retailers

Inside Retail

In Australias current retail terrain, an abundance of businesses may assume they are protected from copycatting and opportunistic competitors, simply because they have registered their business name with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. According to franchising expert, Tereza Murray, this common misconception may result in an arduous and complex legal process, particularly for new business owners.

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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.