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GenAI is on the agenda for most retailers in 2024: Walmart, Target, Canadian Tire, and others are turning to the tech to boost customer and employee satisfaction.

Walmart boosts healthcare to trickle down to its bottom line: It鈥檚 adding 28 clinics in 2024 and has new partnerships to address health inequities. The moves could lure more shoppers to higher-margin products, like prescription and OTC medications.

Walmart courts affluent audiences to make up for shoppers trading down: But the retailer鈥檚 attempts to grow its Walmart+ membership base look increasingly desperate.

Things are looking up for Walmart: The retailer made headway on its inventory glut and gained grocery share in Q3, but discretionary categories struggled.

Once again, Walmart takes the No. 1 spot in our US grocery ecommerce sales forecast, but Instacart and Amazon are fighting for the second spot.

As retail media evolves, ad placements off-site and in-store will help grocery advertisers reach shoppers in new and more engaging ways, but consumers may not be in a spending mood as credit card balances grow and savings accounts shrink. If Amazon can get grocery right, it may be able to fight off losing share to Walmart. But if the Kroger-Albertsons merger goes through, it could change everything.

As the top two retailers in the US, Walmart and Amazon are battling for holiday success by rolling out the best deals, the fastest delivery, and the best in-store experience. Here鈥檚 who we expect will come out on top in each of those areas, plus a post-holiday outlook.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Walmart plans to use AI to enhance the customer shopping experience, Instacart pushing smart carts into in-store retail media, why consumers are dissatisfied with their in-store shopping experience, how best to reduce clothing returns, the rise鈥攁nd potential fall鈥攐f the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Blake Droesch and Carina Perkins.

Walmart is reaping the benefits of Walmart+: And it has clear opportunities to unlock even greater growth.

Amazon was the most downloaded mobile shopping app in the US in 2022 as its reach continued to grow. Closing in on Amazon was Shein at No. 2, followed by Walmart, Fetch, and Shopify鈥檚 Shop app.

Temu overtook Target in US unique website visitors in January, but Walmart and Amazon remain on top (by a wide margin, in Amazon鈥檚 case), per Comscore Inc.

Attracting and retaining retail employees isn鈥檛 easy: But it's critical to delivering a high-quality customer experience. That鈥檚 why Walmart and others are boosting wages.

Shoppers hold out for Super Saturday sales: A record 158 million consumers are expected to shop that day as Amazon, Target, and Walmart ramp up promotions.

Thanksgiving food costs are expected to soar 13.5% this year: Walmart, Aldi, and Lidl aim to use discounts on turkey, stuffing mix, and other holiday ingredients to attract new customers.

Amazon is projected to take the lion鈥檚 share of US holiday season retail ecommerce sales this year, beating out its closest competitor, Walmart, by over $80 billion, according to our June 2023 forecast.

Prime Day is Amazon鈥檚 biggest sales event, but it offers other retailers a boost as well. This year, 44% of Prime Day digital buyers in the US considered shopping only on Amazon, while 32% checked out Walmart and 24% browsed Target as well.

On today's episode, we discuss how this year's Amazon Prime Day will be different, how competitors can maximize the sales holiday's impact, and an uncanny link between Prime Day and the end-of-year holiday season. "In Other News," we talk about the significance of NBCUniversal and Walmart Connect bringing targeted ads to live sports and Amazon's AI initiatives. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president and analyst Andrew Lipsman.

Some 57% of US consumers started their online shopping searches on Amazon as of Q2 2023, according to Jungle Scout. That鈥檚 more than those who started on a search engine (42%), the Walmart website (39%), or TikTok (17%).

Advertisers saw higher ROAS from Walmart than Amazon in Q2: But the ecommerce giant continues to attract the lion鈥檚 share of retail media spend.

Kroger and Albertsons look to merge: A deal would create a supermarket giant that would be better able to compete against Walmart.

It鈥檚 getting hard to ignore the organized retail theft problem: Home Depot, Walmart, and Target are among the retailers ringing alarm bells about the growing crime issue.

Several retailers look to harness generative AI鈥檚 potential: Instacart, Walmart, and Levi Strauss are among those testing potential use cases for the emerging technology.

This year, furniture and home furnishings will make up a $179.75 billion ecommerce market in the US, according to our forecast, and growth is accelerating. With challenges coming from big names like Amazon and Walmart and resale platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, Ikea has no choice but to innovate to keep up.

Grocers seek to make inroads with lower-income consumers: Walmart, Albertsons, and BJ's Wholesale Club are among the retailers eyeing the sizable customer segment.

锘縒hen it comes to online shopping, 61% of US consumers begin their product hunt on Amazon, close to half on a search engine like Google, and 32% on Walmart.com.