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Colleen Baum, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, on stage at the ReCon event.

Colleen Baum, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company. Emma Devereaux/Trevor Brenden

Trade conferences often feature industry analysts, and yet an April 3 presentation from Colleen Baum, senior partner at McKinsey & Company, was nothing if not novel. That’s both because Baum was speaking at ReCon, which billed itself as “the only conference focused exclusively on resale,” and—fittingly but still unusually—she was speaking exclusively about the state of the global resale market.

The State of Fashion 2026 report by McKinsey in partnership with Business of Fashion projects that the global secondhand apparel market will grow to $317 billion in 2027, up from an estimated $256 billion in 2025. So brisk is the growth of resale that in its recent annual report, ThredUp stated that the resale industry is taking “measurable” market share from new retail.

Here are some of Baum’s insights from the ReCon stage.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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RETAIL MEDIA

Network clues

Illustration: Amelia Kinsinger, Photos: Adobe Stock

Retail media is in a liminal space.

WPP’s 2025 forecast has retail media accounting for almost a fifth of total ad revenue by 2030, and the channel has outgrown retail, with financial and travel businesses getting into the space under the broader umbrella of commerce media. Still, the exponential growth seen in recent years may be hard to maintain.

At the same time, retail media networks have expanded offerings far beyond digital display ads, and making a clear pitch to advertisers and ad buyers is top of mind. That’s a big reason Albertsons Media Collective, the retail media offering for the grocery chain, showed up at the IAB NewFronts this year as a first-time presenter.

Keep reading here.—KM

SUPPLY CHAIN

Hit me with your pest shot

A tractor sprays a field of leafy produce with pesticide.

Fhm/Getty Images

It may be Popeye’s source of supernatural strength, but spinach apparently can’t fight off bugs as effectively as the sailor fights off his adversaries. For the second consecutive year, spinach topped the Dirty Dozen list of conventionally grown produce with the most residual pesticides.

Published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) annually since 2004, the list is based on data from the USDA’s Pesticide Data Program, which tests agricultural commodities. The program mimics the routine for produce in consumers’ kitchens, typically rinsing it for 15–20 seconds, before testing for pesticides.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads.

Snack boss: Packaged-food giant Conagra Brands named John Brase as CEO, as the company tries to navigate a pull back in spending on snack foods. (Reuters)

Bad chemistry: Texas AG Ken Paxton is investigating whether Lululemon uses “forever chemicals” in its products. (the Associated Press)

Kodak moment: Kodak is trying to cash in on a resurgence in interest in traditional film among moviemakers. (CNBC)

Transform customer service with agentic AI: Learn how to address the three systemic barriers standing between retailers and the customer service experiences they need to deliver. Get the guide.*

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