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STORES

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When it comes to off-holiday sales events, short and sweet could be the future.

“The days of putting something on sale for a week or longer are going to be behind us,” Michael Brown, partner in Kearney’s consumer products and retail practice, told Retail Brew. “What they’re trying to do right now is keep engaging the consumer with something new, something different.”

Target offered a case in point this spring sales season when instead of running promotions for a full week under the name Target Circle Week, as it had the previous year, sales were concentrated into a three-day period dubbed “Target Circle Deal Days.”

Though rivals Walmart and Amazon stuck to weeklong events this year, Brown said there is increasing pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers to offer more “rapid-fire,” shorter promotions to compete with online retailers that can change their deals on an hourly basis. There is a “new cadence of promotions,” he added, that is more “proactive” and “fast and furious.”

Keep reading here.—AV

Sponsored By IBM

Innovation, delivered

Many retailers are facing tighter margins, unpredictable demand, and increasing pressure to innovate.

IBM shares that generative AI is reshaping how leading supply chains respond, starting with smarter inventory decisions. By analyzing real-time and historical data, AI can help predict changing demand behaviors, allowing retailers to optimize stock levels with accuracy.

Executives are also seizing this moment to accelerate innovation, using generative AI to help unlock fast discovery cycles and drive new product and service ideas.

Generative AI is helping to predict demand and unlock innovation at scale. IBM explores how supply chains are staying ahead by embracing the next generation of AI-driven capabilities.

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E-COMMERCE

Tying the knot

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Brides-to-be can now ask ChatGPT to find them the dress as wedding retailer David’s Bridal enters conversational commerce. The wedding dress retailer will now sell its dresses and gowns on AI platforms including Open AI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot.

“What we want to do is make sure that we’re showing up in the places that our brides are searching,” Scott Saeger, CTO at David’s Bridal, told Retail Brew. “It’s really the Amazon effect. A lot of people will start their progression in a product or whatever on Amazon. We want to be that for bridal.”

David’s Bridal is the latest entrant to the AI hype train as retailers get on board with artificial intelligence.

Keep reading here.—VC

COMMUNITY

Coworking with Luis Jesus Garcia

Luis Jesus Garcia

On Wednesdays, we ~~wear pink~~ spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Luis Jesus Garcia is director of business growth at Via Trading, a wholesale supplier of liquidated inventory.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? Ever wonder what happens to the products you return after the holiday season? Or the items that quietly sit on a retailer’s shelves for months—then suddenly vanish? That’s my world. I work in what we call the reverse logistics industry, helping give those products a second life instead of letting them go to waste.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Sometimes I think I work in retail’s witness protection program.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? Over my career, I’ve seen thousands of trucks and millions of SKUs—but I’ve only encountered this once: figuring out how in the world we were going to give thousands of open-box toilets a second life.

Keep reading here.—EC

Schedule less chaos

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Morning Brew Inc.

On April 16, join Staffing Smarter: How Automation Turns Labor Pain into Revenue Gains to see how retailers are using AI to forecast better, connect systems, and actually make new tools stick. The payoff: stronger teams, smoother ops, and results that look intentional.

SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads.

Putting in the AI: Allbirds has secured $50 million in funding to build AI infrastructure. As part of the pivot, the sneaker maker plans to change its name to NewBird AI. (Bloomberg)

New brews: Starbucks is beta testing an app in ChatGPT to find new customers. (CNBC)

New look: Walmart will revamp its private label brand Great Value across 10,000 food SKUs. (Reuters)

In stock: IBM shares that generative AI is reshaping how leading supply chains respond, starting with smarter inventory decisions. By analyzing real-time and historical data, AI can help predict changing demand behaviors. Download their guidebook.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

Ads in an agentic world

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As AI agents shop on consumers’ behalf, advertising could shift into the background. Here’s how brands may adapt as ads become part of the algorithm—not the feed.

Check it out

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