Retail Brew // Morning Brew // Update

March 06, 2026

Hello, and happy Friday! Aperol maker Davide Campari-Milano is convinced that people in the US are not drinking enough Aperol. CEO Simon Hunt has raised advertising spend in the US in hopes of increasing market share here. It’s a good reminder to start thinking about that first outside cocktail of the year.

In today’s edition:

—Jeena Sharma, Erin Cabrey, Jaimee Kidd

SUPPLY CHAIN

Tax and wane

Construction site with signs blocking materials reading tariffs.

Ismagilov/Getty Images

The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Trump’s emergency tariffs has evoked reactions of both surprise and confusion. More so, since in response the White House created a new global tariff—using a different legal authority—initially set at 10%, then quickly raised to 15% on imports from pretty much all countries for up to 150 days without Congressional approval.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation that could refund as much as ~$175 billion in tariff revenue collected under Trump’s “illegal tax scheme,” in the words of Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, though whether retailers would actually see that money any time soon remains unclear. Like we said…confusing.

So where does this leave fashion and luxury retailers that have been doing the tariff dance for a while?

Keep reading here.—JS

Presented By The Bouqs Co.

Two college roommates, one $100b problem

Seeing 60% of flowers get wasted and never sold, roommates John Tabis (ex Disney exec) and Juan Pablo Montufar-Arroyo (third-generation farmer) founded The Bouqs Co. to reinvent the $100b floral industry.

They’re now the No. 4 highest-revenue company to ever appear on Shark Tank.

Why? Because they’ve created a flower business model that gets 90% of flowers from farms and sells them directly to consumers. Skipping importers, wholesalers, and order-gatherers makes The Bouqs Co. 3x more efficient than traditional models.

That’s why they’ve sold over 270m stems, with $1b in lifetime gross revenue.

Now, they’re giving investors a unique opportunity to join their mission. Invest in the Bouqs Co. as they disrupt the global floral supply-chain model.

OPERATIONS

Price mismatch

Retail price stickers indicating several price changes

Dianna “Mick” McDougall, Photo: Getty Images

Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger are among the top retailers adjusting prices most often, according to new analysis by web data-gathering platform Decodo.

Amazon executed 116,509 price changes throughout 2025, with a nearly even split between price increases and decreases, followed by Walmart with 68,926 total changes, 53% of those discounts. Kroger, with 55,601 changes throughout the year, also had a nearly even split between price bumps and markdowns.

The analysis covered pricing activity across more than 120 e-commerce sites in 40 countries, spanning 12 products per website across various price points from January to December 2025. While Decodo analyzed the level of discounts offered across retailers, it didn’t disclose the same for price increases.

Keep reading here.—EC

Together With Shoptalk

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MARKETING

Creator distraction

Arthur Leopold

Arthur Leopold is the co-founder and CEO of Agentio, an AI-native platform for creator advertising. He is set to speak at Retail Brew’s upcoming event, The Future of Retail Marketing: Content, Data and the Power of Community, on March 19th on how he’s rethinking where brands and creators can work together and simplify campaigns. Before then, we had a chance to pick his brain on the current creator landscape and what brands are leveraging that to their advantage.

Retail is moving at the speed of culture. What’s one shift you think marketers are still underestimating in 2026?

Fifty percent of consumers’ attention goes towards creators’ content, yet only 2% of ad spend goes towards creator marketing. This is the biggest gap today. And while the world’s top brands know that creators matter, it’s not a coincidence that Unilever’s CEO recently said 50% of their budget will move to creators. A lot of marketers still don’t understand that creators need to be embedded across the entire funnel, not siloed into a single awareness play or a one-off campaign moment.

That means building a diversified portfolio of creator partnerships across tiers: macro-creators for pipeline and broad awareness, mid-tier creators for engagement and consideration, and micro-creators for niche community trust and conversion. Each tier plays a distinct role, and the brands that treat them as interchangeable are leaving enormous value on the table.

We see this clearly on Agentio. Our data shows that brands testing ten or more creator verticals increase their chances of finding successful partnerships by up to 2.3x. The lesson is simple: a diversified creator portfolio outperforms concentrated bets every time. The brands winning right now aren’t just “doing creator marketing”; they’re building creator programs with the same rigor they bring to paid search or programmatic.

Keep reading here.—JK

SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads.

America’s ube-session: The Philippines is struggling to keep up with America’s demand for ube, which has gone viral for its color and taste in lattes and ice creams. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

That bottom line: Victoria’s Secret’s turnaround is working despite rising costs. (the Wall Street Journal)

Undisclosed number: Amazon is trimming staff in its robotics division after it cut 16,000 corporate roles in January. (Business Insider)

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✢ A Note From The Bouqs Co.

This is a paid advertisement for The Bouq’s Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.bouqs.com.

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