Trends & External Forces

Articles on retail trends and external forces impacting retail (from weather to COVID to governmental regulations)

  1. Trends & External Forces

Funding the vape war will cost £140m for an army of inspectors, says ACS

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has called on the government to provide trading standards in England with £140m over the next five years to fund 400 enforcement officers, aimed at tackling the rising tide of illegal vape devices being distributed in England. Research released… This story continues at Funding the vape war will cost […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Mars Wrigley unveils Skittles Giants Gooey

Mars Wrigley has launched Skittles Giants Gooey, the confectioner’s most ambitious new product development to date. Skittles Giants Gooey fill soft, fruity-flavoured giant candy with a gooey citrus core, “delivering a tangy hit of zestiness”. Alice Maramotti, Skittles senior brand manager, comments: “We have a track record… This story continues at Mars Wrigley unveils Skittles Giants Gooey […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Kikkoman fires up for BBQ season

Kikkoman is rolling out a programme of support for the summer months to demonstrate its commitment to remain front of mind as “the nation’s favourite soy sauce”. ​Under the tag line ‘Fire Up the Umami’ a dedicated BBQ themed neck hanger will appear on over… This story continues at Kikkoman fires up for BBQ season […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

New flavour for Carr’s Melts

Pladis presents new Caramelised Red Onion flavour to its Carr’s Melts range. With a chutney-inspired flavour baked in, the new launch sees these crisp wheaten biscuits infused with the sweet and smoky flavour of caramelised red onion. “We’re seeing consistently high demand for top-quality and… This story continues at New flavour for Carr’s Melts Or […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Golden Wonder new Chilli and Lime Transform-A-Snack

Golden Wonder has added a new addition to its £1 PMP range with Chilli and Lime Transform-A-Snack A spokesperson for the company said: “For generations, Golden Wonder Transform-a-Snack has been the tasty snacks that allow you to build your own out-of-this-world car before experiencing a cosmic flavour journey and… This story continues at Golden Wonder new Chilli and Lime Transform-A-Snack […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Walmart+ Members will Get First Dibs on New Products During 24-Hour Event

From 12 noon ET on Monday, April 29 through noon on April 30, the Walmart+ Early Access online sales event will offer program members a curated assortment of products new to Walmart — including Dolly Parton’s Rockin’ New Baking Collection, Doritos Flamin’ Hot Mystery Flavor, Pampers diapers and men’s and women’s shoes from Reebok. “Walmart+ […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Kaiser Discloses Health Insurance Data Breach

Health insurance company Kaiser is notifying millions of its current and former members about a data breach. The breach occurred when Kaiser shared patients’ information with third-party advertisers like Google, Microsoft, and X (formerly Twitter).
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Foxtrot & Dom’s Market Sudden Closure: The Broader Impact

On April 23, 2024, Chicago-based premium convenience stores Foxtrot Market and Dom’s Kitchen & Market permanently and abruptly closed all 35 locations with news of a Chapter 7 filing for bankruptcy. The news sent shockwaves through Chicago and other major cities. In recent years, Foxtrot expanded to new markets in Washington, D.C., Dallas and Austin […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Breaking Down Barriers: Helping Patients Get Therapies Quickly

Today’s guest post comes from Kevin Kettler, President of CoverMyMeds. Kevin asks: What if there were no barriers across the therapy access and reimbursement process? In his view, eliminating barriers requires a combination of expert insight, actionable data, and simplification of the providers’ experiences. Click here to learn more about CoverMyMeds’ comprehensive technology solutions. Meet […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Five Shipping Tips To Benefit Your Ecommerce SMB Strategy

The growing ecommerce landscape represents an incredible opportunity for SMBs, allowing them to expand their reach into new geographies and connect with customers worldwide. That said, ecommerce growth does come with challenges to overcome.  One of the most significant issues of all is figuring out how you’re going to manage the complexities of shipping, both […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Walgreens Looks to ‘Break Through Health Care Silos’ with New Specialty Pharmacy Division

Image courtesy Walgreens Walgreens is bringing all of its specialty pharmacy services into one integrated unit and expanding its offerings for patients suffering from complex chronic conditions with an investment in gene and cell services. It’s all part of what the company described as the “latest step to leverage its neighborhood pharmacies into fast-growing areas […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Are LLMs About To Hit A Wall?

Each new generation of large language model consumes a staggering amount of resources.  Meta, for instance, trained its new Llama 3 models with about 10 times more data and 100 times more compute than Llama 2. Amid a chip shortage, it used two 24,000 GPU clusters, with each chip running around the price of a […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Grocerant Guru’s Full-Flavored Forecast: 2024’s Flavorful Trends

  Get ready to tantalize your taste buds with a peek at what’s hot in the culinary world! Once again Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® and his team,  are seeing some new signals of our ever-evolving consumer focused adoption of fresh food with functionality; including botanical infusions, and even a […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Surge in violent shoplifting increases calls for more police support

This week’s official figures showing a 37% increase in shoplifting in one year have reinforced demands for greater protection for retailers. The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) is among those that have called for more to be done. John Halliday, Bira’s marketing director, said: “The… This story continues at Surge in violent shoplifting increases calls […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Kettle Chips launches Virgin Experiences on-pack promotion

Kettle Chips has announced its partnership with Virgin Experiences for an exclusive on-pack promotion. The partnership will offer consumers the chance to win Virgin Experience vouchers every hour and also include 20% off Virgin Experience purchases with every pack. Kettle Chips’ partnership will offer a… This story continues at Kettle Chips launches Virgin Experiences on-pack […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Working lunch In focus: Food-to-go

Once again, lifestyles are changing. Workers are going back to the office, if not full-time then at least two or three days a week, which means popping out to the shops for a grab-and-go al fresco or ‘al desko’ lunch is back on the agenda.… This story continues at Working lunch In focus: Food-to-go Or […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

UK’s hotspots for illegal vapes revealed by local authorities

Manchester and London are among the UK’s hotspots for illegal vapes, a freedom of information request to local authorities has revealed. The information request, put in by Vape Club, the online retailer, found more than 1.5 million illegal vapes were confiscated in 2023. Greater Manchester… This story continues at UK’s hotspots for illegal vapes revealed […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Asda’s c-stores trialling display screens for spirits sales

Asda is running a trial of digital spirits display screens in 23 of its Express stores, in partnership with Diageo. The screens allow customers to select from a larger choice of spirits, with the range increasing from 13 or 26 products to 50. The screens… This story continues at Asda’s c-stores trialling display screens for […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

How Bark is Creating Products and Experiences that Pups (and Pup Parents) Love

Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022, up from $123.6 billion in 2021, according to the American Pet Products Association. Half of these pet-owning households are run by millennials and Gen Zers, who don’t just look at their pets as “furry friends” but as their children. Bark is one company that is laser-focused […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

The Estée Lauder Companies and Microsoft look to reimagine the beauty industry with generative AI tools

The Estée Lauder Companies and Microsoft Corp. have announced the creation of an AI Innovation Lab as an expansion of their global strategic relationship. Leveraging generative AI capabilities in Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, the companies will work together to develop solutions for ELC’s more than 20 prestige beauty brands with the aim of creating closer […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Last Week’s Retail Performance Highlights

Last week, foot traffic in the furniture industry was 48% higher on the West Coast compared to the east, and 33% higher than the industry average. In this week’s newsletter, we’ll dive into the latest trends and insights from the furniture and mattress industry’s performance last week. Discover how these trends will impact the industry […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Rebag, Newegg Join Growing List of Retailers Launching Membership Programs

Membership programs are quickly becoming 2024’s hottest accessory, whether you’re a luxury resale platform or an electronics ecommerce site. Online marketplaces Rebag and Newegg have joined the growing roster of retailers launching membership programs. This year alone, the list of retailers that have launched or beefed up their loyalty and membership programs includes Albertsons, Carter’s, PetSmart, Target, Sunglass […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

Target’s April 2024 Circle Sale was its largest by sales lift

Track General Merchandise spending free Access chart in Dash. Target’s April Circle Sale generated 7% more sales than the weekly average in the previous 4 weeks according to Earnest credit card data. This represents a 2 point acceleration in the Circle Sale’s contribution to Target’s topline compared to Target’s October sale. Target Circle is a […]
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  1. Trends & External Forces

TikTok Shop customers spend more at lower ticket apparel retailers

Download full TikTok Shop report Access TikTok and Panel data in Dash. TikTok Shop customers spent 26% of their apparel wallet on Off-Price Department Stores and 11% on Fast Fashion in the 12-months ended February 2024, compared to 24% and 7% for the average shopper. Conversely, TikTok Shop users spent less than their peers at […]
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