October 08, 2026

Presented By

Hello, it’s Thursday, and we’re here to answer the question that’s been keeping you up at night: Which cottage cheese is the best? Thankfully, Consumer Reports has done the hard work, evaluating seven major brands for flavor, texture, and ingredients. And the winner(s) is(are)...Daisy Low Fat 2% Milkfat Small Curd and Breakstone’s 2% Milkfat Lowfat Small Curd. We heard the competition was pretty curdthroat.

In today’s edition:

—Jeena Sharma, Andrew Adam Newman, Layla Ilchi

STORES

One-stop shop

Shoptalk

Steps away from Nashville’s iconic Broadway strip bustling with country bars and tourist traps, was Shoptalk Fall’s first ever rodeo in town, bringing more than 3,500 retail leaders to Music City Center for three days of conversations about what retail might look like in 2027.

In true Nashville fashion, the mainstage—renamed “the headliner stage”—was also home to a live country band. But rest assured, it was indeed a retail conference, with an inaugural theme of “Retail Unplugged,” that delved into AI-driven customer experiences, modernized tech, and the increasingly blurry intersection of commerce, content, and community.

And if you spent enough time sitting through sessions—as Retail Brew did—a few themes started sounding familiar.

AI, of course, was difficult to escape. But instead of simply talking about how retailers can deploy the technology, executives kept coming back to what AI is changing about how consumers discover brands, and, more importantly, what brands still need humans to do.

Meanwhile, executives from TikTok Shop, Favorite Daughter, Glow Recipe, Estée Lauder Companies, Crocs, and others kept returning to two decidedly less futuristic ideas: entertaining people and building actual relationships with them.

Here are three takeaways Retail Brew gleaned at Shoptalk Fall.

Keep reading here.—JS

Sponsored By Wunderkind

The deal on deals

Discounts aren’t the only reason customers make a purchase. With BFCM just around the corner, retailers locking in on discounts alone could leave a whole lotta money on the table.

Wunderkind reports that two-thirds of shoppers rank things like urgency, shipping, and loyalty above discounts. And they’re gaming the system: Wunderkind’s research found that 40% abandon carts hoping for a follow-up offer, and 36% subscribe to email or SMS to snag a discount.

The generational divide is as strong as ever, too—your nephew and your grandma are basically shopping in different universes. Gen Z discovers deals on social (41%) while boomers still lean on email (32%) + TV (49%).

Here’s what else you need to know.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOR & TRENDS

America the duty-full

American and Canadian freight containers dangling mid-air on bright blue sky depicting North American commerce rivalry

J Studios/Getty Images

After a year and a half of “51st state” taunts from President Trump, escalating tariffs, and most recently, outright import bans, it will come as no surprise that many Canadians are snubbing American products.

More than half (51%) of Canadians avoid buying US-made products when possible, according to a new report from Abacus Data based on a September survey. That’s up from 38% who’d avoided American products when Abacus asked in February 2025 amid Trump’s initial tariff threats against Canada.

Seven in 10 Canadians want grocery stores to remove American products from shelves. Even more want them to stock more Canadian and other non-US alternatives (87%) and to clearly label products that are made in Canada (89%).

Shoppers in 13 countries across Europe and Asia are spending less on American products, too, according to a new survey by Bloomberg and Morning Consult.

Keep reading here.—AAN

E-COMMERCE

Point of resale

Fashionphile

For luxury fashion resale company Fashionphile, the key to success is a strong omnichannel strategy that connects IRL retail, e-commerce, and social commerce in a way that attempts to meet customers where they are.

Fashionphile’s latest effort in this strategy was its New York City three-day pop-up, which took place in August and offered a curated assortment of handbags under $2,500, social media integrations, and a TikTok Shop livestream.

“We found that you’re not going to break through the competition by just out-advertising people with ads. So, what do you do?” said Fashionphile president and founder Sarah Davis. “People love an experience today. Ever since Covid, so much moved online and once people came out, that hasn’t ended. People love the in-store experience. We found that our fastest-growing segment of Fashionphile is our retail business.”

Keep reading here on Revenue Brew.—LI

Sponsored By Insense

Pay creators too little, and quality drops. Overpay at scale, and you’re over budget. So where’s the balance? Insense’s free cheat sheet gives you 2026 pay benchmarks, UGC vs. influencer pricing, and a look at when flat fees beat performance payouts. It was built for DTC brands running UGC at scale for Q4, not one-off collabs. Download it for free.

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Moving on: Athleta CEO Maggie Gauger has left the company and joined Lululemon as its new chief product officer. (CNBC)

Downsizing season: A new wave of layoffs impacting hundreds of employees has hit Amazon’s retail unit. (Reuters)

Hotspot: What are retailers up against with the Super El Niño? (Retail Dive)

Checking out: This shopping season, 46% of customers plan to spend more than last year, but they’re still mindful of inflation. Wunderkind’s research explores why discounts alone don’t motivate shoppers anymore. Check it out.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

Jobs

Tired of one-size-fits-all job boards? CollabWORK highlights roles that reflect your interests and goals—delivered through communities like Retail Brew. Click here to explore the full job board.

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Written by Jeena Sharma, Andrew Adam Newman, and Layla Ilchi

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