Latest News & Articles - Retail TouchPoints

NRF Forecasts Import Declines Through Early 2026, Blames Tariff Uncertainty

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and consulting firm Hackett Associates are predicting a 3.4% decline in cargo volumes for 2025 compared to…

Albertsons Debuts Google Cloud’s AI-Powered Conversational Commerce Agent

Albertsons will be the first retailer to bring the new Google Cloud Conversational Commerce agent to market via its Ask AI tool,…

Why Holiday Campaign Success Depends on Experience, Not Just Exposure

Holiday marketing has long been the season that can determine the success of a brand’s sales year. But in today’s fragmented media…

Listen Now: The Experience Equation — What Retailers Need to Get Right

We live in an age of instant discovery, with the world available at our fingertips. And yet, despite continued enhancements to the…

Dick’s Names Execs to Manage Recently Acquired Foot Locker, Debuts House of Sport Virtual Tour

Dick’s Sporting Goods has finalized the $2.5 billion acquisition of Foot Locker announced in May 2025 and has named an executive team…

Temu Fined $2 Million for Alleged Violations of Consumer Complaint Law

Whaleco, Inc., the corporate entity that operates Chinese-direct marketplace Temu, will pay a $2 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that the…

Sephora Glams Up Delivery via Uber While Ace Gets to Work with DoorDash

Sephora and Uber Eats have partnered to provide on-demand delivery services from the beauty retailer’s stores across North America. Sephora will be…

How Conversational AI is Shifting SMS from a Marketing Tool to a Service Channel

From the moment that it became socially acceptable (and technically possible) to send marketing text messages, brands have eagerly jumped on the…

From D2C to A2A: How Agentic Shopping is Rewriting Ecommerce Catalog Strategy

Imagine you’re searching for the best shoes for trail running in wet climates. Instead of starting on Google or Amazon, more consumers…

Macy’s Marks Four Decades of I.N.C. Brand with Christian Siriano Collaboration

Macy’s is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the I.N.C. women’s ready-to-wear private label brand by recruiting noted designer Christian Siriano as Creative…

Walmart to Offer Associates Free OpenAI Training in 2026

As part of its $1 billion commitment to employee skills enhancement, Walmart has collaborated with OpenAI to offer frontline and office-based associates…

Office Depot’s New Pickup Promise: 15 Minutes or a $15 Coupon

Office Depot has launched its “15-Minute Pickup Promise” at Office Depot and OfficeMax stores nationwide. Qualifying mobile or online orders will be…

The Challenge of Retail Data Security in 2025: Balancing Personalization and Protection

Retail has reached a stage where customers desire and demand personalization. In the present world, people expect to get products and services…

Harry & David, Things Remembered will be Popping Up for Holiday 2025

Gourmet food brand Harry & David and personalization retailer Things Remembered — both part of the 1-800-Flowers.com portfolio of brands — plan…

Skechers Debuts First U.S. Performance Store in Miami

Skechers has opened its fifth “Performance” store — and its first in the U.S. — at Miami’s Dolphin Mall, which attracts 36…

Gap Ventures into Beauty Space, Starting with 150 Old Navy Stores

Gap Inc. will add beauty and personal care products to its offerings as it seeks a share of this $100 billion category….

UPDATE: Barnes & Noble to Buy Bankrupt Books Inc.

[Update as of Sept. 5, 2025] After filing for bankruptcy in January, 174-year-old Books Inc. has requested court approval to be acquired…

UPDATE: Hertz to Sell Used Cars on Amazon Autos

[Update as of Sept. 5, 2025] Hertz Car Sales is the first fleet dealer to join Amazon Autos following the platform’s expansion…

Drone Delivery is No Longer Science Fiction: It’s a Logistics Revolution in Flight

A recent episode from the science fiction show Black Mirror showed a DHL drone landing on a suburban porch, autonomously delivering a…

Pacsun Kicks Off College Football Tailgate Tour

Pacsun pop-up shops will be showing up on college football game days this fall following an initial installation at the Ohio State…

Ebay Celebrates 30th Birthday with 1995 Throwback Pop-Up Shop in NYC

Ebay celebrated its 30th anniversary by ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite on Sept. 3 and hosting a one-day-only pop-up…

Walmart Launches Weekly Livestreaming Series for Collectors

Walmart is expanding its long-time partnership with live commerce platform TalkShopLive to launch a new weekly livestreaming series called Collector’s Night, which…

Ulta Beauty Enters Mexico

Ulta Beauty, in partnership with Grupo Axo, has opened its first two stores in Mexico, with plans for several more debuts this…

Gen Z May be Digital-First, but They’re Also Fans of In-Person Retailing

If your mental image of Gen Z is a bunch of teenagers glued to their devices, you’re only half right: time has…

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