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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Amazon Turns Alexa Into Its Next Storefront appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "For years, retail\u2019s artificial intelligence (AI) ambitions revolved around making search smarter. Now, Amazon and Walmart\u2014two of the world\u2019s biggest retailers\u2014are placing very different bets on what comes next. The split says a lot about where commerce may actually be headed.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nOn Wednesday (May 13), Amazon made its move: the company announced it was sunsetting its standalone Rufus AI shopping chatbot and replacing it with Alexa for Shopping, a new agentic AI tool available U.S. customers on the Amazon Shopping app, website and Echo Show\u00a0devices.\nThe decision skips past the chatbot moment many in retail anticipated: the gradual migration from keyword search to conversational commerce, eventually giving way to agentic, autonomous in-browser shopping.\nIt suggests a bolder thesis: rather than treating AI as a layer on top of eCommerce search, Amazon is betting that voice can become the operating system for shopping itself.\nSee also: Commerce Finds Its Voice\nAmazon\u2019s Return to Voice\nWhen\u00a0Amazon launched Alexa\u00a0in 2014, the big idea was simple. People would\u00a0talk to machines\u00a0the way they talk to each other.\u00a0The reality played out differently, but advances in AI capabilities are increasingly helping voice-based interfaces intersect with the upper range of user expectations.\nIn a recent analysis, PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster\u00a0argued\u00a0that voice is poised to become the connective tissue between consumers and agentic commerce systems. \u201cVoice will finally pull agentic commerce onto the mobile phone by turning complex, desktop-only \u2018go do this for me\u2019 prompts into natural, spoken conversations that consumers can have anywhere,\u201d Webster wrote, framing voice not as an incremental feature but as an unlock for execution at scale.\nAfter all, Amazon CEO\u00a0Andy Jassy\u00a0said during an April 29 earnings call that customers using Alexa+ are talking to the\u00a0voice assistant\u00a0twice as much, completing purchases on devices three times more, streaming music 25% more and using smart home functions 50% more.\nNew PYMNTS Intelligence research in the\u00a0April 2026 Payments Innovation Tracker\u00ae\u00a0Series, a collaboration with\u00a0Paymentology, finds 48% of consumers are at least somewhat interested in artificial intelligence\u00a0agents\u00a0doing their grocery shopping or planning their meals for them, while the same share would let an autonomous assistant manage their subscriptions, and 44% are somewhat interested in using the tech for buying gifts.\nA shopper asking Alexa to \u201crestock my vitamins,\u201d \u201cfind a cheaper alternative to this brand,\u201d or \u201cbuy the same groceries as last week but healthier\u201d creates a fundamentally different behavioral model than traditional eCommerce navigation. The consumer is delegating intent rather than conducting a search. Voice accelerates this dynamic because spoken interactions tend to be more contextual and habitual than typed ones. Consumers speak differently than they search. They reveal urgency, ambiguity, emotion and preference in ways that keyword queries rarely capture.\nAn AI shopping agent becomes most truly useful when it understands preferences over time: dietary habits, household routines, brand loyalties, replenishment cycles, price sensitivity and contextual behaviors. The more persistent the memory layer, the more natural the commerce experience becomes.\nAmazon possesses an enormous structural advantage here. Alexa sits inside homes, kitchens, living rooms and daily routines. Combined with Amazon\u2019s purchase history, Prime ecosystem data and logistics infrastructure, the company can build a retail memory graph that few competitors can replicate at scale.\nRead more: The AI Coding Boom Is Breaking CFOs\u2019 Enterprise Budgeting Cycles\u00a0\nWalmart\u2019s AI Reorganization Reflects a Different Priority\nAt the same time and across the retail landscape, recent news from Walmart, by contrast, shows the retail giant appears to be focusing less on AI\u2019s interface transformation and more on its role in driving organizational coherence.\nThe company is undertaking its own restructuring around AI, eliminating or relocating roughly 1,000 corporate technology roles while consolidating product, design and engineering teams. The move reflects a very different philosophy: less consumer-facing experimentation, more operational centralization. Walmart appears to be optimizing for execution efficiency and internal AI alignment, while Amazon is doubling down on interface transformation.\nFor Walmart, the most immediate AI value may not come from conversational shopping experiences. It may come from demand forecasting, inventory management, workforce productivity, fulfillment optimization and enterprise-wide decision systems.\nBoth retailer strategies acknowledge the same underlying reality: AI is no longer an experimental feature in retail. It is becoming the architecture around which modern commerce is organized. The chatbot era introduced the technology. The agentic era may determine who controls the customer relationship once AI starts making decisions alongside consumers, or eventually for them.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Amazon Turns Alexa Into Its Next Storefront appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-14T16:05:25-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-14T20:32:16-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Amazon-Alexa-1.jpg", "tags": [ "agentic commerce", "AI", "Amazon", "Amazon vs Walmart", "digital transformation", "ecommerce", "Featured News", "News", "PYMNTS News", "Voice AI", "walmart", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3726619", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/instacart-upgrades-fulfillment-and-picking-options-for-grocers/", "title": "Instacart Upgrades Fulfillment and Picking Options for Grocers", "content_html": "Instacart\u00a0has introduced what it calls two major updates to its fulfillment platform.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Instacart Upgrades Fulfillment and Picking Options for Grocers appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Instacart\u00a0has introduced what it calls two major updates to its fulfillment platform.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\n\u201cAs grocery retailers scale their ecommerce and fulfillment operations, many are still managing picking, delivery, and labor across disconnected systems, creating unnecessary complexity for store teams and inconsistent customer experiences,\u201d the company said in a Tuesday (May 12)\u00a0blog post .\nWith that in mind, Instacart says it has added new delivery management software for retailer-owned fleets to its Fulfillment Pro offering, as well as improved \u201cenhanced enterprise-grade\u201d picking capabilities for store employees.\n\u201cRetailers have made real investments in their ecommerce programs, and they need fulfillment tools that can scale with them,\u201d\u00a0Blake Wallace, Instacart\u2019s vice president of retail partnerships, said in the release.\n\u201cFulfillment Pro brings picking, labor, and last-mile delivery into one system – giving retailers more control over their operations while helping them run more efficiently and deliver better experiences for their customers.\u201d\nInstacart is making these changes at a time when consumers are increasingly doing their grocery buying\u00a0through virtual channels.\nAs covered here earlier this year, research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that shoppers feeling high levels of financial stress spent an\u00a0average of $109\u00a0on their most recent grocery purchase, versus $95 among low-stress shoppers. This result indicates fewer trips and more deliberate planning, rather than looser spending discipline.\n\u201cDigital channels amplify this behavior,\u201d PYMNTS wrote. \u201cFinancially stressed shoppers appear to favor online grocery purchases for the control they offer, including easier price comparisons and access to promotions. In-store grocery shopping still plays a role, but the growth momentum is clearly digital for this group.\u201d\nThe research also found these shoppers were more likely to patronize\u00a0Walmart\u00a0than\u00a0Amazon. The overall trend towards online grocery buying, the report added, \u201creflects a broader shift toward deliberate spending, consolidation and value orientation.\u201d\nPYMNTS wrote last week about Instacart\u2019s latest\u00a0earnings, which show that the company is turning a decade of grocery data into an artificial intelligence system that plans meals, builds shoppers\u2019 baskets and predicts what they might have overlooked.\n\u201cWith 1.6 billion lifetime orders and a fulfillment network rooted in physical stores, Instacart is building what its CEO\u00a0Chris Rogers\u00a0called the gold standard of agentic grocery AI,\u201d that report said. \u201cInstacart runs on three engines, including a consumer marketplace, an enterprise platform for retailers and an advertising ecosystem for brands. Each is growing \u2014 and more importantly, growing each other.\u201d\n\r\n\r\nThe post Instacart Upgrades Fulfillment and Picking Options for Grocers appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-12T13:30:10-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-12T13:30:10-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Instacart.jpg", "tags": [ "ecommerce", "fulfillment", "grocery", "Instacart", "News", "PYMNTS News", "Retail", "What's Hot" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3722669", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/shoppers-are-ready-for-ai-to-steer-the-cart-not-swipe-the-card/", "title": "Shoppers Are Ready for AI to Steer the Cart, Not Swipe the Card", "content_html": "It\u2019s certainly nice to imagine a digital assistant that can take over the weekly grocery trip, but not if that assistant is going to steal the shopper\u2019s identity and drain their bank account.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Shoppers Are Ready for AI to Steer the Cart, Not Swipe the Card appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "It\u2019s certainly nice to imagine a digital assistant that can take over the weekly grocery trip, but not if that assistant is going to steal the shopper\u2019s identity and drain their bank account.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nNew research from the latest edition of PYMNTS Intelligence\u2019s exclusive Agentic AI Report shows that Americans are increasingly comfortable letting artificial intelligence (AI) take over their carts. More than half of U.S. consumers already use AI in the buying process, making it the most popular use case for the technology today.\n\nIt\u2019s not just about asking AI what to buy anymore. Many consumers are open to letting autonomous agents handle the entire transaction. Nearly half say they\u2019d consider letting an AI assistant shop for groceries, and 44% would trust one to pick out gifts, according to previous PYMNTS Intelligence research. The appeal is obvious: offloading time-consuming decisions and errands to software that never gets tired.\nThat convenience can be a slippery slope.\n\u201cConsumers will be lured by the simplicity of having a machine shop for them or do difficult planning tasks like travel and big-ticket purchases,\u201d Ron Zayas, CEO of\u00a0Ironwall by Incogni, said in an interview. \u201cEach step along the process will seem like a logical next step: \u2018as long as I am researching this for you, would you like me to purchase it for you?\u2019\u201d\nAgentic commerce has come a long way in the last year. In January, Google launched its Universal Commerce Protocol, an open-source standard designed by the giant tech company and industry partners, to enable AI-driven, agentic commerce. It has now introduced agentic commerce through Etsy and Wayfair, with plans to add Shopify, Target and Walmart.\nHowever, major concerns still linger. Agentic commerce involves handing over a lot of information to the AI platforms and payment companies supporting those transactions. For agents to be able to make purchases, the Visas and American Expresses of the world need to know a lot about the people they\u2019re acting on behalf of. Shoppers have their doubts. Almost all (95%) consumers have at least one concern about agentic commerce. Those worries range from simple mistakes like buying the wrong item to higher-stakes issues like identity theft.\nThose anxieties aren\u2019t coming out of nowhere. People had enough security concerns even before agentic AI was introduced. In fact, PYMNTS Intelligence finds that nearly one in five consumers have been scammed in the last five years. That figure is even higher for the most digitally connected generations: 22% of Generation Z and 24% of millennials. Now, agents come with a whole new set of risks.\n\u201cMany AI systems rely on multiple APIs and vendors,\u201d David B. Hoppe, the founder and managing partner at technology-focused Gamma Law, told PYMNTS. \u201cEach integration increases vulnerabilities and complicates accountability for breaches or misuse \u2026 Even \u2018anonymized\u2019 data becomes highly identifiable when combined across sources, enabling granular profiling that may [lead to] unfair targeting concerns.\u201d\nConsumers and merchants alike could grant agents unprecedented access. And if that access goes unchecked, the possibilities are concerning.\nStill, many people want to trust agentic commerce, so they\u2019re willing to negotiate. The technology promises to take the work of shopping off people\u2019s hands, an appealing proposition for anyone who\u2019s had to navigate their way through a department store during the holiday season or spend precious minutes of their lives deciding between nearly identical jars of pasta sauce. Half of U.S. consumers say they\u2019d trust agentic commerce if they knew that there were fraud protections in place.\n\u201cConsumers are pragmatic and will trade data for a time-back ROI, but only if they feel in control,\u201d Albert Roux, executive vice president of product and identity at Microblink, told PYMNTS.\nPayment giants are paying close attention to those trust concerns. Take Visa, for instance. The company recently helped design Stripe and Tempo\u2019s Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) and extended that protocol to card payments on its global network and Visa Acceptance Platform in an effort to provide secure autonomous agent payments. Rubail Birwadker,\u00a0Visa\u2019s senior vice president and global head of growth, recently explained in an interview with\u00a0PYMNTS\u00a0CEO\u00a0Karen Webster that the technology needs \u201ccontinuous validation of agent behavior\u201d from humans to get people to trust it.\nSimilarly, American Express\u00a0chairman and CEO\u00a0Stephen J. Squeri\u00a0wrote in a\u00a0March letter to shareholders that having the right security measures in place is \u201cof paramount importance\u201d for agentic commerce to succeed. Mastercard, for its part, has partnered with PayPal\u00a0to provide secure, verified agentic AI payment options.\nThe goal is to ensure that even if a machine is making the purchase, there\u2019s still oversight, verification and accountability behind the scenes. The stakes are high. People are just starting to form their opinions about agentic commerce, and trust, once broken, is hard to rebuild.\n\u201cIf AI is just a more sophisticated way to target and sell, that will erode trust quickly,\u201d Trulioo CTO Hal Lonas explained to PYMNTS. \u201cThe real opportunity, and the line consumers will draw, is whether the agent is actually solving problems for them or just creating new ones.\u201d\nAt PYMNTS Intelligence, we work with businesses to uncover insights that fuel intelligent, data-driven discussions on changing customer expectations, a more connected economy and the strategic shifts necessary to achieve outcomes. With rigorous research methodologies and unwavering commitment to objective\u00a0quality, we offer trusted data to grow your business. As our partner, you\u2019ll have access to our diverse team of PhDs, researchers, data analysts, number crunchers, subject matter veterans and editorial experts.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Shoppers Are Ready for AI to Steer the Cart, Not Swipe the Card appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-12T04:00:23-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-11T20:20:58-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/SB4-AI-shopping-agent-1.jpg", "tags": [ "agentic commerce", "AI", "digital transformation", "Featured News", "News", "Payments Intelligence", "PYMNTS Intelligence", "PYMNTS News", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3724388", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/simon-property-group-sees-retailers-racing-to-renew-leases/", "title": "Simon Property Group Sees Retailers Racing to Renew Leases", "content_html": "Retailers are looking to renew their leases on space in malls as much as three years before their current lease expires, Simon Property Group CEO, President and Chief Operating Officer Eli Simon said Monday (May 11).
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Simon Property Group Sees Retailers Racing to Renew Leases appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Retailers are looking to renew their leases on space in malls as much as three years before their current lease expires, Simon Property Group CEO, President and Chief Operating Officer Eli Simon said Monday (May 11).\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nSimon was speaking during the first quarter earnings call for the company, which owns shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations across North America, Europe and Asia.\n\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting when talking to the leasing team is retailers are now wanting to talk about their 2027, 2028, 2029 expirations, which historically might have been more of a luxury tenant phenomenon, who think, much like we do, in terms of decades, not quarter to quarter,\u201d Simon said. \u201cWe\u2019re actually hearing from legacy retailers in our existing portfolio, non-luxury, that actually want to start having those conversations because I think they understand this pipeline too and the interest in our space.\u201d\nAs of the end of the first quarter, March 31, Simon Property Group had recorded year-over-year increases in its U.S. malls and premium outlets operating statistics, according to a Monday earnings release.\nOver the year, occupancy rose 10 basis points to 96%, base minimum rent per square foot increased 5.2% to $61.99, and reported retailer sales per square foot rose 11.8% to $819.\nU.S. malls and premium outlets accounted for 77.1% of Simon Property Group\u2019s net operating income during the first quarter, according to a supplemental presentation released Monday.\nSimon said during the call that in the first quarter, the company signed more than 1,100 leases totaling over 4.7 million square feet, with about 25% of its leasing volume being new deals. He added that the company has completed more than 75% of its 2026 expirations, which puts it ahead of last year\u2019s pace, and that the pipeline of deals is \u201csignificantly larger\u201d than it was at this time last year.\n\u201cOccupancy gains, increased shopper traffic and higher retailer sales drove strong cash flow growth in the quarter, reflecting solid fundamentals across all our platforms, the resilience of the consumer, and the strength and breadth of tenant demand we have for our centers,\u201d Simon said. \u201cRetailer demand remains broad-based, spanning new and legacy retailers across a wide range of categories in all of our platforms and geographies.\u201d\n\r\n\r\nThe post Simon Property Group Sees Retailers Racing to Renew Leases appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-11T20:47:04-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-11T20:47:04-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Simon-Property-Group-earnings-xxx1.jpg", "tags": [ "brick-and-mortar retail", "Earnings", "News", "PYMNTS News", "shopping malls", "simon property group", "What's Hot", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3723927", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/storefront-overhauls-turn-retailers-into-data-hubs/", "title": "Storefront Overhauls Turn Retailers Into Data Hubs", "content_html": "As retailers grapple with pressures on discretionary spending and shifting shopping habits, the challenges are mounting to get shoppers through the doors, and then to keep them moving through aisles, engaging digitally and ultimately converting visits into purchases.
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\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"\u2122\"](\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/2122.png\")
\u201d shopping experiences, where digital tools are integrated directly into physical retail journeys. The post Storefront Overhauls Turn Retailers Into Data Hubs appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "As retailers grapple with pressures on discretionary spending and shifting shopping habits, the challenges are mounting to get shoppers through the doors, and then to keep them moving through aisles, engaging digitally and ultimately converting visits into purchases.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe modern storefront is increasingly becoming a technology platform designed to merge physical commerce with digital engagement in real time.\nThat evolution is showing up in both retailer spending plans and consumer expectations. PYMNTS recently reported that major chains including Walmart, Target and Dollar General are investing heavily in store remodels aimed at strengthening connections between physical stores and digital commerce ecosystems. Though some of the initiatives are cosmetic in nature, other prongs of the strategies tie in to a broader shift toward stores functioning as fulfillment hubs. A melding of in-store visits and digital features yield myriad data collection points that help fine tune operations.\nPYMNTS Intelligence data shows consumers are increasingly embracing what the company calls \u201cClick-and-Mortar\u201d shopping experiences, where digital tools are integrated directly into physical retail journeys. Nearly one-third of U.S. consumers now actively engage in digitally assisted in-store or pickup-based shopping experiences, while Click-and-Mortar shoppers have grown 35% since 2020.\nThe data suggests that retailers are responding to a shopper who increasingly expects stores to operate like extensions of mobile apps. Customer satisfaction rises 65% for shoppers using digitally assisted in-store experiences compared to traditional in-store shopping. Consumers are also demanding consistency between online and physical shopping environments, particularly around payments, promotions and inventory visibility.\nDigital Commerce Infrastructure\nThe remodel wave underway across major chains reflects those expectations. PYMNTS reported that Walmart alone has been engaged in a multiyear remodeling effort, including upgrades to hundreds of supercenters and smaller-format stores. Target has announced plans to remodel more than 300 stores while also expanding its physical footprint. Dollar General has similarly outlined an extensive real estate strategy that includes remodels and new openings intended to strengthen ties between its physical and digital operations.\nStore redesigns are intended to improve pickup efficiency, optimize product placement and create smoother transitions between online browsing and physical fulfillment. In some cases, retailers are redesigning backrooms specifically to support buy online, pick up in-store activity and faster order staging.\nThose physical upgrades dovetail with broader changes in digital shopping behavior. As we\u2019ve noted in past research, in collaboration with Visa Acceptance Solutions, 85% of U.S. consumers now regularly use multiple digital shopping features. Consumers increasingly expect mobile-compatible sites, stored order histories, digital coupons, preferred payment options and easy-to-navigate shopping carts regardless of whether they shop online or inside stores. Rather than serving solely as a transaction point, stores are becoming digitally connected environments that feed data into inventory systems, loyalty programs and personalization engines.\nReal-Time Data as Retail Currency\nAt the center of the transition is real-time data. PYMNTS Intelligence found that 73% of retail shoppers want digitally updated inventory visibility. Consumers increasingly expect retailers to know what is available, where it is located and whether it can be fulfilled immediately.\nThat demand has implications far beyond convenience. Real-time inventory visibility supports faster fulfillment, reduces failed pickup experiences and enables more personalized promotions tied to local buying patterns. It also strengthens the foundation for retail media networks, which rely heavily on shopper behavior, loyalty and transaction data to deliver targeted advertising and offers.\nThe more digitally connected the store becomes, the more valuable that data ecosystem becomes. Retailers can condense payments, loyalty participation, mobile engagement and inventory patterns into a single operational view designed to increase conversion rates and basket sizes.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Storefront Overhauls Turn Retailers Into Data Hubs appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-11T17:20:23-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-11T17:20:23-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Walmart-retail-storefront-data.jpeg", "tags": [ "brick and mortar", "Connected Economy", "ecommerce", "News", "PYMNTS News", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3721343", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/retailers-launch-20-billion-remodeling-effort-to-boost-in-store-sales/", "title": "Retailers Launch $20 Billion Remodeling Effort to Boost in-Store Sales", "content_html": "American retailers are spending billions on renovations to entice shoppers back into stores.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Retailers Launch $20 Billion Remodeling Effort to Boost in-Store Sales appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "American retailers are spending billions on renovations to entice shoppers back into stores.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nAs the New York Times (NYT)\u00a0reported\u00a0Monday (May 11), companies such as\u00a0Target,\u00a0Walmart\u00a0and\u00a0Dollar General\u00a0are among the chains investing more in brick-and-mortar retail.\nAltogether, the largest retailers in the U.S. are expected to spend $20 billion this decade on remodeling their stores, the report added.\nNearly half of that spending comes from Walmart. The NYT points out that the retail giant has done well as it has\u00a0rebranded\u00a0as a place to find trendier products and clothing along with groceries and other essentials. The company began a $9 billion remodeling project in 2023, and said recently it is\u00a0upgrading 650\u00a0additional supercenters and smaller stores.\nAs PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster has argued, Walmart\u2019s storefront is the company\u2019s most irreplaceable asset.\n\u201cRoughly 100 million people walk into Walmart for the most frequent, most habitual, most non-discretionary purchase in retail: their groceries,\u201d Webster wrote earlier this year. \u201cThat foot traffic is massive. But it\u2019s also their\u00a0greatest Achilles\u2019 Heel.\u201d\nFew people who visit Walmart to get groceries purchase anything else, that report added. While the company\u2019s foot traffic is enormous, its slice of the retail basket is narrow. PYMNTS Intelligence data has found that Walmart\u2019s share of retail is\u00a0declining\u00a0in almost every category other than food.\nMeanwhile, Target announced in March that it plans to remodel\u00a0more than 130 stores\u00a0this year \u2014 in addition to opening 300 new stores by 2035 \u2014 as part of its $5 billion capital investment plan.\nThe NYT report offers a glimpse at what those renovations look like, describing Target\u2019s overhaul of a store in Paramus, N.J.: new lighting, an expanded grocery section, and changes to backrooms to make it easier for workers to drop off items for in-store pickup.\nAlso in March, Dollar General said it is planning an extensive real estate strategy that includes opening around 450 new stores and completing thousands of remodels.\n\u201cExecutives said the goal is to\u00a0strengthen the connection\u00a0between the company\u2019s physical footprint and its digital ecosystem,\u201d PYMNTS wrote at the time.\nThe NTY report touches on the same idea: remodeling efforts to promote in-store visits can also encourage consumers to shop virtually.\n\u201cThe in-store experience is still important for shaping the e-commerce brand,\u201d\u00a0David Marcotte, an analyst at research firm\u00a0Kantar Retail IQ, told the newspaper. \u201cRemodels are almost always the best way to go.\u201d\n\r\n\r\nThe post Retailers Launch $20 Billion Remodeling Effort to Boost in-Store Sales appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-11T08:32:52-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-11T08:32:52-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/retailers-remodeling-stores.png", "tags": [ "brick and mortar", "brick-and-mortar retail", "Dollar General", "News", "PYMNTS News", "Retail", "Target", "walmart", "What's Hot" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3720485", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/nike-customers-sue-to-recover-tariff-related-refunds/", "title": "Nike Customers Sue to Recover Tariff-Related Refunds", "content_html": "Nike customers have reportedly sued the sneaker giant to recover tariff-related refunds.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Nike Customers Sue to Recover Tariff-Related Refunds appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Nike customers have reportedly sued the sneaker giant to recover tariff-related refunds.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe proposed class action lawsuit accuses Nike of not refunding the costs it passed onto consumers in higher prices in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s so-called \u201cLiberation Day\u201d tariffs, Reuters reported Friday (May 8).\nThe plaintiffs argue that the company should not be allowed to keep \u201csignificant\u201d refunds it can expect following a Supreme Court ruling which declared the tariffs illegal.\nAccording to Reuters, Nike has said it paid around $1 billion in tariffs on imported items after the White House imposed new tariffs. Consumers say the company increased prices on some shoes by $5 to $10 and $2 to $10 on some apparel items to cover the costs.\n\u201cNike has made no legally binding commitment to return tariff-related overcharges to the consumers who actually paid them,\u201d the complaint reads. \u201cUnless restrained by this court, Nike stands to recover the same tariff payments twice \u2014 once from consumers through higher prices and again from the federal government through tariff refunds.\u201d\nA spokesperson for Nike declined to comment when reached by PYMNTS.\nAs covered here last year, Nike was among a group of several \u201cblue chip companies\u201d that \u201creported 9- to 10-figure headwinds due to tariffs\u201d in the latter half of the year.\nOther companies facing legal action from customers seeking tariff refunds include FedEx, Costco and RayBans-maker EssilorLuxottica.\nMeanwhile, research by PYMNTS Intelligence cataloged the impact of tariffs on businesses throughout the past year.\nFor example, surveys taken in September found that 48% of product executives said tariffs represented a long-term U.S. policy direction, while another 45% described them as a mix of short- and long-term measures. Just 7% viewed them as temporary.\nLater in the year, 47% of goods product leaders said tariffs were mostly or completely negative for business finances, while 88% were still anticipating supply chain disruptions. However, around two-thirds of goods firms and 80% of services firms said tariffs could bolster supply chain resilience over time.\n\u201cThe data reflects a shift from reaction to normalization,\u201d PYMNTS wrote last month. \u201cTariffs are now embedded in planning assumptions rather than treated as external shocks. The next phase is less certain. Firms have adjusted, but the question is whether those adjustments can support renewed growth and not simply continued defense.\u201d\n\r\n\r\nThe post Nike Customers Sue to Recover Tariff-Related Refunds appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-10T20:13:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-10T20:15:22-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Nike-tariffs-xxx1.jpg", "tags": [ "athleticwear", "Liberation Day", "News", "Nike", "PYMNTS News", "tariff refunds", "tariffs", "What's Hot", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3712781", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/kraft-heinz-slashes-prices-as-consumer-affordability-hits-breaking-point/", "title": "Kraft Heinz Slashes Prices as Consumer Affordability Hits Breaking Point", "content_html": "Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Cahillane said his company is focused on lowering prices because consumers are having trouble paying their bills.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Kraft Heinz Slashes Prices as Consumer Affordability Hits Breaking Point appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Cahillane said his company is focused on lowering prices because consumers are having trouble paying their bills.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nIn an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Cahillane said the packaged food company\u2019s strategy includes price cuts on items that had become expensive, more promotions, and new, smaller package sizes with lower prices.\n\u201cConsumers are literally running out of money toward the end of the month,\u201d Cahillane said. \u201cBeing there with the right offering at the right time has never been more important.\u201d\nPYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote in an article posted in January that for a growing share of consumers, affordability conversations revolve around covering day-to-day expenses rather than preferences such as vacations, home renovations, newer cars or savings.\nCiting PYMNTS Intelligence research, Webster said 87% of consumers report that rising prices on everyday items is a challenge.\n\u201cThe biggest components of household budgets \u2014 housing, healthcare, insurance, utilities, transportation and debt service \u2014 have reset higher over the past several years and show little evidence of reverting,\u201d Webster wrote. \u201cThese are not expenses consumers can easily comparison-shop, negotiate away or substitute out of.\u201d\nPYMNTS Intelligence\u2019s February \u201cGenerational Pulse Report\u201d found that the share of consumers who said the experience financial stress when buying groceries rose to 89% in January, a figure that was five percentage points higher than the 84% who said that in October.\nIn addition, 51% of consumers said that managing their daily living costs was challenging, according to the report.\nIt was reported in February that not only Kraft Heinz but also fellow packaged food giants General Mills and PepsiCo were cutting prices to woo cautious consumers.\nThe report cited Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that consumers have cut their spending as grocery prices have climbed 26% in the past five years.\nPepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said in February that his company was seeing \u201ca middle- and low-income consumer that continues to be stretched and choiceful.\u201d\nAt the time, PepsiCo was planning to make \u201csurgical\u201d price cuts of up to 15% on certain snack brands after seeing its North American sales dip 2% in 2025.\n\r\n\r\nThe post Kraft Heinz Slashes Prices as Consumer Affordability Hits Breaking Point appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-06T18:27:22-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-06T18:27:22-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Kraft-Heinz-prices-1.jpg", "tags": [ "consumer packaged goods", "Consumer Spending", "CPGs", "Kraft Heinz", "News", "PYMNTS News", "What's Hot", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3704383", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/doordash-ai-accelerates-local-commerce-growth/", "title": "DoorDash AI Accelerates Local Commerce Growth", "content_html": "DoorDash has introduced several new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools for merchants.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post DoorDash AI Accelerates Local Commerce Growth appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "DoorDash has introduced several new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools for merchants.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nThe tools help merchants onboard faster, manage their video content, enhance their photos, launch branded\u00a0websites\u00a0and automate marketing campaigns, the company said\u00a0in\u00a0a Monday (May 4)\u00a0press release.\nDoorDash\u2019s new self-serve onboarding experience automatically surfaces details such as photos, store hours and menu items from a merchant\u2019s online presence, so the merchant can simply review and edit the details instead of entering them manually. The experience can help merchants launch 35% faster, according to the release.\nThe company\u2019s new Video Library helps merchants upload,\u00a0organize\u00a0and manage their video content. This tool allows merchants to tag menu items in\u00a0videos\u00a0so customers can order directly from what they see, continually refresh their storage page with\u00a0new content, and track performance metrics.\nDoorDash\u2019s new photo editing experience features three AI-powered modes: AI Retouch to improve existing menu photos, AI Replate to match food with appropriate dinnerware and other\u00a0surroundings, and\u00a0Match the Style to create images with a style\u00a0similar to\u00a0others chosen by the merchant. These three tools make these changes without altering the appearance of the food.\nOne of the company\u2019s enhancements to its DoorDash Commerce Platform uses AI to turn the menu,\u00a0branding\u00a0and images a merchant already has on DoorDash into a branded website for direct ordering. Another enhancement uses AI to automate marketing campaigns around occasions such as Mother\u2019s Day, per the release.\n\u201cThese new tools reflect our belief that the right technology should remove friction, not add it, so merchants can focus on what they do best: making great food and delivering incredible customer experiences,\u201d\u00a0Brian Tolkin, head of merchant product at DoorDash, said in the release.\nPYMNTS reported in February that DoorDash is evolving from a food delivery app into a broader commerce platform that blends software, advertising,\u00a0fulfillment\u00a0and autonomy\u00a0in an effort to\u00a0give\u00a0local businesses\u00a0the tools to compete with larger digital rivals.\nDuring the company\u2019s fourth quarter earnings call, DoorDash Chief Financial Officer\u00a0Ravi Inukonda\u00a0spoke of the company\u2019s investments in owning the software and\u00a0logistics\u00a0stack that powers local commerce. \u201cWe believe these investments are the right investments, especially as we think about becoming the operating system for local commerce,\u201d Inukonda said.\n\r\n\r\nThe post DoorDash AI Accelerates Local Commerce Growth appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-05-04T14:06:33-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-04T14:06:33-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/doordash-logo.jpg", "tags": [ "AI", "automation", "DoorDash", "News", "PYMNTS News", "Retail" ] }, { "id": "https://www.pymnts.com/?p=3695846", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2026/walmart-eyes-local-products-as-national-consumer-mood-sours/", "title": "Walmart Eyes Local Products as National Consumer Mood Sours", "content_html": "Walmart\u00a0is reportedly expanding its local product lineup to attract an extremely pinched American consumer.
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\r\n\r\n\r\nThe post Walmart Eyes Local Products as National Consumer Mood Sours appeared first on PYMNTS.com.
\n", "content_text": "Walmart\u00a0is reportedly expanding its local product lineup to attract an extremely pinched American consumer.\r\n\t\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\nAccording to a\u00a0report\u00a0Thursday (April 30) from Bloomberg News, this effort is happening in markets such as Florida, where Walmart stores have begun stocking more Cuban-inspired coffee and beans from a local producer. In other states, the company is offering local brands of condiments like mustard and mayonnaise.\nThe report adds that although regionally sourced items are nothing new, Walmart is aiming to stretch beyond its current assortment and prioritizing this work based on customer response.\nA spokesperson for the retail giant told Bloomberg Walmart is melding together\u00a0technology and merchant expertise to understand which products local customers value, and then quickly getting them on shelves.\nBloomberg notes there\u2019s a balancing act in play: Local products can draw in more customers, but the vendors behind these items are typically smaller and can face more supply chain issues than national brands.\nThe report also points out retailers are feeling pressured, as\u00a0rising gas prices\u00a0and declining consumer sentiment makes consumers more cautious about spending.\nIn fact, consumer sentiment is now at a historically bad place because of the price of fuel. Last week, the\u00a0University of Michigan\u2019s Index of Consumer Sentiment\u00a0fell to the\u00a0lowest level\u00a0recorded in its nearly 75-year history due to gas prices.\nThe connection between the cost of gas and consumer sentiment was seen earlier in the month, when gas prices softened after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the U.S-Iran war, followed by a modest uptick in consumer sentiment.\nAs for Walmart, research by PYMNTS Intelligence shows that the company and rival Amazon are now\u00a0courting the same shoppers.\n\u201cThe data shows that Amazon still leads in the fun, non-essential stuff, while Walmart dominates in necessities,\u201d PYMNTS wrote earlier this month.\nFor example, Amazon\u00a0captured 35%\u00a0of consumer spending on sporting goods, hobby items, music and books, while Walmart enjoys 21% of food and beverage spend. However, both retailers are pushing into the other\u2019s territory while also serving as \u201ceach other\u2019s best teachers,\u201d the report added.\n\u201cWhat\u2019s changing is how aggressively both retailers are moving beyond those traditional lanes,\u201d Doug Straton, chief marketing officer at Bazaarvoice (and former chief digital officer of Hershey), said in an interview with PYMNTS.\n\u201cWalmart is expanding its digital and\u00a0marketplace capabilities\u00a0to compete in more discovery-driven categories, while Amazon is pushing further into everyday essentials and repeat purchases.\u201d\n\r\n\r\nThe post Walmart Eyes Local Products as National Consumer Mood Sours appeared first on PYMNTS.com.", "date_published": "2026-04-30T13:43:19-04:00", "date_modified": "2026-04-30T13:43:19-04:00", "authors": [ { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" } ], "author": { "name": "PYMNTS", "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/author/pymnts/", "avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/679fcf5c2ed5358e99e8e23b22e3b5d761e37bdb76fa7b0e13d8ecd9ff01bf88?s=512&d=blank&r=g" }, "image": "https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Walmart-basket1.jpg", "tags": [ "Consumer Spending", "News", "PYMNTS News", "Retail", "walmart", "What's Hot" ] } ] }