September 08, 2026

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It’s Tuesday, and for the first time in a decade, McDonald’s is dropping its pumpkin spice latte in favor of a caramel apple pie coffee flavor. Does this spell the end of Big Pumpkin? Or is the fast food chain just trying out a new way to call in the fall?

In today’s edition:

—Erin Cabrey, Alyssa Meyers

STORES

Small format

Beautyspace

After years of curating major retailers’ beauty selections, Beautyspace is opening a store to sell beauty itself—in a way its partners never have.

The former wholesale distribution arm of UK beauty retailer SpaceNK, which was spun out and sold to beauty distributor The PCA Companies in 2024 (Ulta Beauty subsequently acquired SpaceNK in 2025), Beautyspace curates beauty shop-in-shops featuring more than 200 brands for 10 retailers spanning luxury to mass, including Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Walmart, and Old Navy, Noah Rosenblatt, president of Beautyspace US, told Retail Brew.

But on September 10, it’s striking out on its own, making its brick-and-mortar retail debut with a 765-square-foot store in New York City’s Union Square called Little Luxuries dedicated solely to selling mini beauty products across 100 prestige brands.

Rosenblatt, who has led retail for LVMH, Henri Bendel, and Tommy Hilfiger, sees the concept as a “candy store for beauty,” capitalizing on beauty consumers’ interest in travel-sized items.

“Nobody walks into a candy store and buys one item, and in beauty we think the same around minis,” he said. “Nobody’s going to walk in and say, ‘Great, I just want this one item.’ They’re truly going to build a basket and be able to create this environment where they explore every category.”

Keep reading here.—EC

Sponsored By Swap Commerce

Artificial intelligence meets real storefronts

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are but a few ho-ho-hos away. Agent readiness may just be the gift that keeps on giving, considering AI and agents drove $67 billion in global sales during Cyber Week 2025, according to Salesforce.

Swap’s commerce operating system helps brands guide shoppers from discovery to checkout while keeping you in control of your experience and your data. Brands on Swap’s agentic storefront see 2x conversion, a 22% lift in monthly average order volume, and 20% fewer returns.

Their free playbook breaks down four ways to prepare brands for Black Friday/Cyber Monday:

Get your site agent-ready.
Put your own branded agent to work.
Optimize for answers instead of keywords.
Extend agents beyond checkout into service and returns.

Download the full guide to help your storefront live in the present.

RETAIL

Pitch perfect

Richard Pelham/Getty Images

If you were in one of the World Cup’s 11 US host cities and five in Canada and Mexico—or even remotely online—this summer, then you likely saw the influx of international World Cup travelers flocking to North America. So how much did retail businesses benefit?

According to a new report from Placer.ai and Colliers, dining visits jumped 53.7% YoY, while retail visits rose 22% within a mile of stadiums hosting World Cup matches.

Sporting goods stores were the retail standout, with visits on match days rising across all 11 US host metro areas at an average of 14% compared to typical pre-tournament weekday visits.

The report highlighted the efforts of Adidas, Fanatics, and Foot Locker, whose new and pop-up retail locations and activations saw particular success, with Adidas serving as the highest performing retailer in terms of foot traffic in June, with visits up 28% YoY.

Keep reading here.—EC

MARKETING

Once around the snack

Graphic showing Mondelēz brands and football team helmets.

Mondelēz International

Athletes move quickly, but Mondelēz International moves quicker—at least when it comes to sports marketing.

About a month after the conclusion of the World Cup, the food and beverage giant, which owns brands including Oreo, Ritz, and Clif Bar, announced a pair of new sports deals: one with the Kansas City Chiefs, the company’s first pro football team sponsorship, and another spanning five NCAA programs.

The deals signify something of a new era for Mondelēz’s broader sports strategy as the company pushes further into regional partnerships to beef up its already massive national and global presence in sports.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—AM

Sponsored By WooCommerce

“Gee, I’ll be a customer for life.” That’s what brands dream customers will say about them (sitcom inflection included). WooCommerce shares that 62% of consumers will pay more for an identical product from a trusted brand. The on-demand webinar and free playbook by WooCommerce and Klaviyo explore how to become a brand customers pay a premium for.

Level up your career with these resources from our sponsors!

How to gain greater visibility across individual buildings and multisite portfolios

Keeping up with your physical storefront may take real-time insights and data

swapping skus

Today’s top retail reads.

Flock off: Retailers such as Lowe’s and Ulta are facing backlash related to their contracts with Flock Safety, the company known for its controversial surveillance tech. (Yahoo Finance)

Fast mass retail: Walmart is edging into DoorDash and Uber Eats territory with a new delivery offering bringing Dunkin’ to customers’ homes. (CNBC)

In the folds: Apple spent more than a decade researching foldable phones. Now it’s set to reveal one of its biggest design changes in nearly 20 years. (Bloomberg)

More in store: Swap surveyed 80 brands, retailers, and agencies. They found that 90% already use AI to improve the shopping experience, and 70% tested or run an agentic storefront. Get their latest report for all the findings.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

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Written by Erin Cabrey and Alyssa Meyers

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