Predictions and Forecasts

Gazing into the crystal ball and predicting what the future will hold.

  1. Department & Category
The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Greer Tessler & Luke Goldstein, co-founders of Simple Food Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the future of healthy foods and products. SFV’s partnership with the Albertsons Companies helps their protfolio brands with omnichannel distribution. Follow Greer Tessler on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greer-tessler-50256640/Follow Luke […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
RTIH Editor, Scott Thompson, brings you his top ‘future of retail’ systems launches and deployments from the past week, including checkout free store milestones, startups focused on building in Web3, and the ongoing digitalisation of the fashion industry. Poundland Poundland has launched a suite of digital accessibility tools to support job applicants and workers with […]
  1. Channel: Grocery
The Dallas Morning News reports that H-E-B will bring its Joe V’s Smart Shop format, which emphasizes low prices on fresh foods, to the Dallas-Fort Worth market with two new stores there. One will open in southern Dallas in late summer 2024, and the other will open in east Dallas in spring 2025.  “These Joe […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
It’s Friday, the weekend is almost upon us, so let’s kick back and reflect on another eventful week for the retail systems space. Here’s your briefing on the most important stories from the past five days, including Emperia, Recite Me, Amperity, Walmart’s incubator arm Store No8, and Outlier Ventures. 1. Emperia – new Apple mixed […]
  1. Channel: Grocery
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Hy-Vee this month will celebrate the grand opening of the newest store featuring the regional supermarket chain’s entirely reimagined grocery store format. After more than a year of construction, the store, in Gretna, Neb., is set to greet its first customers June 13. The 135,000-square-foot store will feature many of […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
In today’s retail landscape, brands are embracing artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technology solutions to keep up with the competition and provide their customers with the best possible shopping experiences. However, it’s equally important to maintain a personal touch and human element to create a truly immersive and engaging experience. The most successful retailers will […]
  1. Shopper & Customer
Today, people are shopping online more than ever before. The reality is that many people just prefer the convenience of shopping from their mobile devices. To meet this demand, e-commerce has become widely accessible to entrepreneurs around the world thanks to Shopify. In fact, e-commerce sales are expected to grow 10.4 percent in 2023 alone, […]
  1. Partnerships & Alt Profit
AstroPay, a FinTech and online payment solution specialist, has announced the extension of its principal partnership with English Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, also known as Wolves. Having inked a sponsorship deal in 2021, AstroPay has worked with Wolves to provide fans with a range of experiences, rewards and prizes. As part of […]
  1. Media & Marketing
The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon “is planning to launch an advertising-supported tier of its Prime Video streaming service as it looks to further build its ad business and generate more revenue from entertainment.” The discussions of such an offering, the Journal writes, “come in the wake of cost-cutting reviews across the company’s businesses, […]
  1. Channel: Mass
Bloomberg has a story about how “a slew of retailers are beefing up their grocery investments to lure in consumers cutting back on non-essentials like clothing and electronics. But as they lay out plans to improve their food offerings and supply chains, the big question is how does one compete with the mighty Walmart Inc. on […]
  1. Retail Operations
Europe’s leading direct to consumer e-commerce fulfilment company, Alaiko, is expanding into the UK. To serve the local market, its is partnering with a state-of-the-art fulfilment centre north of London. Unlike other logistics providers, Alaiko is a tech first fulfilment company. It enables shops to manage e-commerce operations from start to finish, using its unique […]
  1. Channel: Grocery
Several years after opening its last Joe V’s location, H-E-B is reigniting the banner with two locations set to open in Dallas by 2025. Dive Brief: H-E-B announced Tuesday it is opening two Joe V’s Smart Shop by H-E-B stores in Dallas, marking the first time the grocer’s discount format will appear outside of the Houston area. […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
In April 2023, Walmart unveiled its plans to automate its supply chain network by 2026 to increase productivity and enhance the customer and associate experience. With customer expectations higher than ever and supply chain disruptions impacting inventory levels, we can expect many other companies to follow in Walmart’s footsteps by taking steps to automate their […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
Technological advancement continues to disrupt retail strategies, altering customers’ behavior and, consequently, retail businesses. New technologies influence customers as they switch between channels for research and shopping. Companies must focus on managing the numerous customer touchpoints available simultaneously. Omnichannel has become an appealing medium for retailers to interact with customers and sell their products and […]
  1. Channel: Drug
Fox News reports on a new Walgreens store in Chicago’s South Loop that has “been redesigned to allow customers to browse only two aisles of products – after they pass through anti-theft detectors. “The changes at the store on 2 E. Roosevelt Road in the South Loop area put most of the merchandise in aisles behind staffed […]
  1. Trends & External Forces
Yesterday we took note of a Boston Globe story about how youth organizers with the Hyde Square Task Force in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, did significant market research and figured out that a grocery cart of items at their local Stop & Shop cost $34 more than the same products at the chain’s store in suburban […]
  1. Media & Marketing
E-commerce integration platform as a service (iPaaS), Patchworks, has joined the MACH Alliance as an ISV (independent software vendor) member.  According to a press release: “A MACH (Microservices, API first, Cloud native SaaS and Headless) architecture gives companies a greater degree of agility, allowing them to deliver new features to customers at speed.” “As organisations […]
  1. Data & Insights
The retail industry’s commitment to artificial intelligence (AI) is unmatched, surpassing all industries except finance. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), a staggering $300 billion investment in AI is anticipated by 2026. This influx of resources promises to augment the relationship between humans and machines, delivering immense advantages to brands and consumers. There’s a […]
  1. Data & Insights
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly popular tool across a number of industries, with the retail space being no exception. Earlier this year, a report published by Fact.MR showed that global AI in the retail market has the potential to surge to $8 billion by 2033, expanding at 30.3 percent on a compound annual […]
  1. Data & Insights
Amperity, an enterprise customer data platform (CDP), has announced a partnership with Forever 21. The fast fashion retailer says that it will now be able to provide more relevant, personalised customer experiences. reach more consumers, while enriching advertising campaigns through insights on cross-channel behaviour, data science scores, and content affinities. Forever 21 has a significant […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
Walmart’s incubation arm, Store Nº8, and Ebay have both launched new accelerator programs aimed at supporting startups developing technologies designed to help shape the future of digital commerce. Store Nº8 Accelerator Aims to ‘Unlock’ Decentralized Commerce Store Nº8 has teamed up with Web3 investor and accelerator Outlier Ventures to launch the Store Nº8 dCommerce Base […]
  1. Channel: Grocery
The Boston Globe this morning reports that “the teenage sleuths of Hyde Square are at it again. “Six years after prompting TD Garden to donate $1.65 million for a skating rink after discovering the complex failed to hold fund-raisers for local recreation programs as required by state law, they have another behemoth in their sights: […]
  1. Department: Food
The Los Angeles Times has an excellent story about how Southern Californians are strategizing to save money at the grocery store. First, some context for their decision-making: “The U.S. is not in a recession, but the psychological weight of that possibility — combined with the effects of still-high inflation — have consumers bracing for the […]
  1. Trends & External Forces
MNB has initiated a new sponsorship tier that reflects what for us is a new approach to the topic – I’ve decided that I really want to forge sustained relationships with companies that have value propositions and missions in which I believe and that, in turn, believe in MNB’s value proposition and mission.  My goal […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
A few weeks ago, an internal memo from Google (or so it was claimed) was leaked that warned, “We have no moat.” Allegedly, it was written by an AI researcher at the company who was explaining how the real competitive threat to Google’s generative AI initiatives wasn’t OpenAI. It was open source communities. If you […]
  1. Shopper & Customer
The subscription economy has been the subject of dire headlines recently, with terms like “subscription fatigue,” “the great unsubscribe” and even “subscription apocalypse” being bandied about. Some stats support the gloomy outlook: according to Kearney, 40% of consumers feel they have too many subscriptions, and subscription ecommerce is predicted to have its slowest growth year […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
Apple last night unveiled a mixed reality headset called Vision Pro – its first entirely new product in eight years. The device blends a video feed from the outside world with a virtual world displayed on screens inside the headset. “Today marks the beginning of a new era for computing,” says Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. […]
  1. Retail Ecosystem
The seventh annual IAB U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue report, prepared for IAB by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”), quantifies annual podcast advertising revenues generated over the past year, analyzes revenue share by ad category and content genre, and forecasts future revenues through 2025. Following a year of unprecedented growth for the overall digital advertising industry in 2021, […]
  1. Technology & Innovation
Nowadays, any organization looking to thrive needs to think seriously about global expansion, but there’s no possible way to expand without being able to communicate effectively with your various customers, vendors and stakeholders in multiple languages. That’s why, in 2023, e-commerce localization has become one of the industry’s biggest trends. E-commerce localization is the process […]
  1. Channel: Ecommerce & Digital
As the world evolves, so do the buying habits of consumers. Understanding the unique shopping tendencies of different generations is crucial for businesses in today’s fast-paced, digital environment. However, one cannot look at generational buying as a single purchase funnel. Retailers need to consider a spectrum of content and commerce to adapt their strategies accordingly. […]

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Editor’s Choice

  1. Channel: Mass
  2. Channel: Grocery - Natural
  3. Channel: Mass
  4. Channel: Specialty & Other
  5. Department & Category
  6. Department: Consumer Durables
  7. Department: Nonfood
  8. Corporate Strategy
  9. Media & Marketing
  10. Shopper & Customer
  11. Trends & External Forces
  12. Merchandising
  13. Stores & Formats
Bloomberg has a story about how “a slew of retailers are beefing up their grocery investments to lure in consumers cutting back on non-essentials like clothing and electronics. But as they lay out plans to improve their food offerings and supply chains, the big question is how does one compete with the mighty Walmart Inc. on […]
  1. Department: Beverage
  2. CPG: Adult Beverage
  3. CPG: Beverage
  4. CPG: Food
  5. CPG: Food & Bev
  6. CPG: HBC
  7. Channel: Ecommerce & Digital
  8. Channel: Restaurants
  9. Department & Category
  10. Department: Adult Beverage
  11. Department: Beverage
  12. Department: Food
  13. Department: HBC
  14. Department: Nonfood
  15. Corporate Strategy
  16. Corporate Finance
  17. Corporate Purpose
  18. ESG
  19. Media & Marketing
  20. Agencies & Vendors
  21. Data & Insights
  22. Shopper & Customer
  23. Technology & Innovation
  24. Trends & External Forces
  25. Merchandising
  26. Operations & Supply Chain
CHICAGO – Circana, formerly IRI and The NPD Group, has released its 2022 New Product Pacesetters, the 28th annual report revealing the top new product launches across food and beverage and nonfood sectors. The report illustrates the enduring power of CPG innovation, revealing that consumer spending on new product offerings remained elevated last year despite challenges […]
  1. Channel: Mass
  2. Channel: Mass
  3. Acquisitions, Divestitures & Mergers
  4. Media & Marketing
  5. Retailer Media
  6. Shopper & Customer
  7. Trends & External Forces
  8. Owned Brands (Private Label)
From Advertising Age: “Walmart Connect, which has made huge gains in recent years through digital advertising, is testing ways to bolster in-store pieces of its retail media network. “For the first time, Walmart Connect is selling ads on its revamped in-store radio network and integrating sampling programs with online offerings. While aspects of Walmart Connect’s […]
  1. Channel: Grocery
  2. Trends & External Forces
  3. Stores & Formats
Several years after opening its last Joe V’s location, H-E-B is reigniting the banner with two locations set to open in Dallas by 2025. Dive Brief: H-E-B announced Tuesday it is opening two Joe V’s Smart Shop by H-E-B stores in Dallas, marking the first time the grocer’s discount format will appear outside of the Houston area. […]
  1. Retailer Media
  2. ESG
  3. Media & Marketing
  4. Retailer Media
  5. Shopper & Customer
  6. Operations & Supply Chain
The platform leverages the chain’s loyalty program, bringing personalized ads to shoppers in-store, in-app, on social media and elsewhere, said Damian Scott, who heads up the grocer’s retail media and front-end digital operations. Dive Brief: Giant Eagle announced on Wednesday the debut of Leap Media Group, an in-house retail media arm that leverages the regional […]

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