Amazon is moving quickly to contain a new threat to its eCommerce dominance as AI-powered shopping bots begin to reshape how consumers discover and buy products online. The company is blocking third-party artificial intelligence (AI) shopping tools from accessing its site even as it explores...
Retail in 2025 was defined less by a single breakthrough than by a set of pressures that forced retailers to get practical. Consumers kept shopping. But they did it with a sharper pencil, trading down where it made sense, leaning into promotions, and treating credit,...
Holiday shoppers are willing to spend but are looking for value, Tanger CEO Stephen Yalof told CNBC Tuesday (Dec. 23). Retailers at Tanger’s outlet centers are catering to this demand with promotions and are gaining traffic and sales, Yalof said, according to a CNBC report....
Expedia, Yelp, Angi, and Square are building agentic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for Amazon’s Alexa+. The new integrations are set to debut on the virtual assistant device next year, Amazon wrote on its blog Tuesday (Dec. 23). “We understand that a truly useful personal assistant...
American consumers spent more this holiday season while using cross-channel shopping and artificial intelligence (AI) tools for bargain hunting and convenience, according to separate analyses by Mastercard and Visa. Mastercard SpendingPulse found that U.S. retail sales excluding automotive increased 3.9% year over year from Nov. 1 through Dec. 21,...
Saks Global is considering bankruptcy while facing a $100 million-plus debt payment, Bloomberg reported Monday (Dec. 22). The luxury retail group is also mulling other ways to boost liquidity, such as raising emergency funding or selling off assets, according to the report, which cited unnamed...
As peak holiday demand stretches supply chains to their limits, global retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target are leaning heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to move goods faster, reduce errors and protect workers from physically demanding tasks. What was once experimental technology has...
Instacart is suspending its price testing practice on its grocery delivery platform, according to a Monday (Dec. 22) company blog post. The announcement followed the Dec. 9 publication of an investigation by Consumer Reports in partnership with advocacy groups Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union...
Retailers are moving quickly to tighten control over how consumers pay, as new PYMNTS Intelligence data shows embedded finance shifting from a background capability to a frontline business priority. According to “Retailers Expand Embedded Finance to Unlock Control and Customization,” a November 2025 PYMNTS Intelligence report...