Retail Brew // Morning Brew // Update

January 13, 2025

It’s Monday, and if instead of embarking on all of the challenges and indignities of a new work week, you’d prefer to lower yourself into a bubble bath, here’s your excuse: It’s National Rubber Ducky Day.

In today’s edition:

—Andrew Adam Newman, Alex Vuocolo, Kristen Parisi

STORES

Diversity reverse-ity

Panelists on stage at an NRF Big Show panel in 2022, “The Achievable How: Implementing DE&I learnings inside your business.”

An NRF Big Show panel in 2022, “The Achievable How: Implementing DE&I learnings inside your business.” NRF via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine

In 2022, the National Retail Federation made it plain that it was championing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

An NRF blog post in advance of that year’s “Big Show” conference, which is now accessible only through the Internet Archive, promised that the gathering would “highlight [the] importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Multiple panels would be part of its “DE&I Stage and Showcase,” highlighting retail’s “recommitment to the important work that remains in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

I covered that conference, and in an article recapping the show published in January 2022 wrote that DE&I “topped the agenda.”

But that’s unlikely to be anyone’s takeaway for this year’s Big Show, which begins Sunday.

Retail Brew compared this year’s Big Show programming schedule with archived versions from 2022, 2023, and 2024. We discovered that in three years NRF went from using DE&I terminology liberally to using it rarely or not at all:

The words “inclusive,” “inclusion,” or “inclusivity” appeared 13 times in the 2022 program but only twice in 2025.
The words “equity” or “equitable” appeared four times on both the 2022 and 2023 schedules, but not at all in 2024 or 2025.
The word “equality” appeared 26 times in the program in 2022 (when some panels were held on an “Equality Lounge” stage) but not once in the 2025 agenda.

When it comes to speakers at the conference, “diversity” appeared in their titles six times in 2022 and five times in 2023 but not once in 2024 or 2025, according to this year’s online list of speakers and archived versions from the three previous years.. Similarly, the word “equity” appeared in speakers’ titles twice in 2022 and four times in 2023 (although in one case it was someone in the non-DE&I-related equity financing profession) but not once in 2024 or 2025.

Keep reading here.—AAN

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LABOR

DE&...bye?

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

McDonald’s became the latest company to announce changes to its DE&I programs this week, following a private pressure campaign from DE&I opponent Robby Starbuck.

Among the changes, McDonald’s rebranded its DE&I team as its “global inclusion team” and will no longer have representation goals, according to a statement. The fast-food giant will also end its supplier diversity program, noting it had met its 25% diverse-owned supplier spend goal ahead of schedule. Like several other companies, McDonald’s will no longer participate in external employer surveys, although it did previously participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

The company boasted its diversity metrics, noting that 30% of its leadership team is from underrepresented groups and that it has achieved gender pay parity. It said it will continue much of its DE&I journey, including publishing its annual Purpose & Impact report, which shares its employee demographics. Its affinity groups will also remain intact.

Keep reading here.—KP

RETAIL

‘Retail’s biggest event’

Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images

The National Retail Federation’s Big Show kicked off on Sunday and will continue for the next two days at the Javits Center in Manhattan. The first day featured a lineup of big names, including Walmart US President and CEO John Furner, Nordstrom President and Chief Brand Officer Pete Nordstrom, and Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman, to name a few.

The industry group said the event draws 39,500 attendees and 19,000 retail professionals for a combination of panels, store tours, and networking events, as well as an exhibition floor featuring major retailers and brands.

Some of the big themes this year are AI adoption, retail media, in-store experiences, and the state of the US economy as the Trump administration takes office.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In data releases: Two big economic reports are releasing this week, with new data on the crucial last month of 2024.

Keep reading here.—AV

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SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads.

Diverse in reverse: Apple’s board of directors is recommending that shareholders vote against a shareholder proposal to eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (Reuters)

Buy before you try: Why Amazon is shutting down its Prime Try Before You Buy program. (PYMTS)

Whole new smallgame: Burlington plans to open 400 new, small-format stores in the next four years. (the Wall Street Journal)

Brand boost: AI can take your biz to the next level, and Bloomreach can help. They combine real-time customer and product data with AI to deliver a game-changing + personalized solution. See for yourself.*

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