Saks Global has halved its full-year profit forecast to about $150 million after reporting a 13% year-over-year sales drop and a $77 million quarterly loss, Bloomberg reports. Less than a year after acquiring Neiman Marcus, the merger’s promise of creating a luxury powerhouse is faltering as Saks struggles with vendor payments, mounting debt, and withheld merchandise ahead of the holidays. The company’s weakened position gives competitors like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s an opening to capture its customer base, underscoring how fragile even top-tier retailers can be in today’s shifting luxury market.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered an outage that continued to disrupt services into Monday afternoon, degrading services across more than a thousand company websites, including Disney+, Reddit, McDonald’s, Facebook, United Airlines, Coinbase, Perplexity, and Canva, per The Verge. Businesses reliant on a single cloud vendor could face operational, legal, and reputational risks when outages hit public services, banks, and travel sectors simultaneously. Brands should audit vendor dependencies, test crisis communication flows, and prioritize multi-cloud failover readiness to safeguard user experience during inevitable disruptions.
Adobe’s new genAI model marketplace—Adobe AI Foundry—lets brands create bespoke versions of its Firefly AI model. The marketplace helps enterprise users train and deploy customized content-creation models by retraining Firefly’s base knowledge. The models can understand brands’ tone, style, and products, per VentureBeat, then generate content accordingly. Platforms like Adobe AI Foundry could help marketers create more relevant, personalized ad experiences across platforms. CMOs should treat model customization as a way to consolidate creative tools and vendors while scaling personalization at speed, using it to strengthen collaboration between in-house teams and agencies.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how digital has changed in 2025: why the digital ad triopoly (Google, Meta, and Amazon) are losing influence, how YouTube is still under valued, how AI search behavior is changing, and more. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, VP of Global Content Operations, Eleni Digalaki, and Principal Analyst, Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Nearly half (46.9%) of US brand and agency marketers plan to invest in marketing mix modeling (MMM) over the next 12 months, according to July data from TransUnion and EMARKETER.
As the oldest members of Gen Alpha prepare to turn 16 next year, they have more purchasing power than ever before. For retailers, that means the race is on to understand how to connect with a generation that is not only digitally native but has grown up with an expectation for an active, back-and-forth relationship with brands.
Klarna rolled out Klarna balance and Klarna Card in the UK. Credit cards aren’t as big a market in the UK as they are in the US, but issuers should be concerned by what Klarna calls its “balances.” Klarna is a real bank in the EU and recently was granted an Electronic Money Institution license in the UK. That means even without getting a bank charter in the UK—or the US for that matter—it can use its existing bank infrastructure to offer a robust suite of bank-like services in the style of Cash App or even Apple Wallet.
Retailers expect 15.8% of annual sales, or about $849.9 billion, to be returned this year, a slight drop from 16.9% in 2024, according to a new report from the National Retail Federation and Happy Returns. The shift suggests stricter return policies, such as charging fees, are discouraging some returns but also risking customer loyalty. With most shoppers prioritizing free and flexible return options, retailers are expanding in-store, QR-based, and “no box, no label” methods to boost convenience. Balancing return costs with shopper expectations remains key to maintaining satisfaction and long-term loyalty.
The vast majority—86%—of citations from AI-generated responses come from sources that brands either directly control or strongly influence, according to an analysis by Yext. That includes their own websites, listings, and reviews. It’s imperative for companies to act quickly to optimize their websites, product listings, and other content for AI-driven discovery.
While many Amazon Big Deal Days shoppers sought savings on essentials, nearly one in three participated “just for fun,” per a new CivicScience survey. About 41% planned purchases in advance, while 38% made impulse buys, showing a mix of deliberate and spontaneous shopping. Despite signs the event may have underperformed, it still offered strategic value by driving engagement, boosting retail media investment, and generating incremental sales. Retailers can build on this momentum by personalizing offers, sustaining engagement post-event, and using campaign data to refine future promotions and deepen shopper loyalty.
Twitch introduced livestream shopping ads powered by Amazon’s advertising platform. The ad launch reflects the burgeoning popularity of livestream commerce, which despite being slow to take off in the US is now gaining traction thanks to TikTok, a booming collectibles market, and the rise of “shoppertainment.” Amazon is betting that an easier path to purchase will encourage more viewers to pull the trigger on products they discover via livestreams. However, a successful live shopping strategy requires thinking about the channel less as an avenue for direct conversions and more as an opportunity to engage potential customers and build lasting relationships.
Citi’s Strata Elite rollout has been pockmarked by poor customer service, per a report by The Wall Street Journal. Amex’s Platinum and Chase’s Sapphire Reserve products look increasingly desirable as competitors fumble their entrance into the premium space. To win over former Strata Elite cardholders, Amex and Chase should advertise their card portfolios’ solid customer service performance records in combination with their impressive reward packages. In addition, both issuers should highlight their cards’ travel rewards compatible with flying American Airlines. Former Citi cardholders may have joined specifically for AA frequent flier benefits, making travel rewards preferences critical for those members who might switch to a new product.
Despite audience preference for relevant advertisements, users across age groups maintain a generally negative sentiment toward ad personalization, per a Verve study—representing a unique challenge for advertisers. Marketers must understand the factors that make consumers more receptive to personalized ads and adapt accordingly.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is regaining cultural and commercial relevance as digital environments grow more synthetic and less trusted. OAAA’s Anna Bager and Vistar Media’s Lucy Markowitz told EMARKETER that OOH’s greatest advantage is its permanence—it’s “literally there.” As misinformation and algorithmic fatigue reshape consumer behavior, physical media has become a trust signal that can’t be faked or filtered. Modern OOH blends this credibility with interactivity, using 3D creative, AI-assisted design, and viral social moments to amplify campaigns beyond the street. For marketers, OOH isn’t just awareness—it’s proof of authenticity in an era of artificial everything.
BMO announced that it would sell 138 branches—nearly all in the Mountain West and Midwest—to First Citizens Bank. The sales includes about $5.7 billion in deposits and about $1.1 billion in loans. Customers still value branches: 55% of respondents to EMARKETER’s US Banking Consumer Habits survey said “branches near me” ultimately led them to purchase banking products or services. While digital services enable national reach with little additional cost, physical connection with consumers and small-business customers is crucial. And for banks scaling to the degree that they offer commercial banking services to corporate customers, an in-person presence is mandatory.
American Express’ total revenues increased 11% in Q3 2025, per its earnings release. Increased card member spending, higher net interest income, revolving loan balances, and card fees supported growth, the company said. The uptick in dining indicates that even the wealthy are looking to pull back on bigger indulgences like vacation and looking for more local opportunities to splurge. To make up for lost travel volume, issuers should encourage spending on fine dining with exclusive dining pop-ups and experiences through their dining apps, focusing on local vendors—similar to Square’s Neighborhoods’ launch, but elevated.
Corporate dredit quality is causing investor consternation even as bankers overall appear optimistic. While risks to the economy abound, very few headlines reflect it. Faint echoes of the 2023 banking crisis—in which contagion was narrowly averted and economic cataclysm prevented—do nothing to calm investors’ nerves. Pockets of consumer worry haven’t metastasized, and there’s been no clear sign of a commercial credit meltdown. But bankers should follow the undercurrents in anticipation of the next crisis, even while the economy appears “fine.” The 2023 regional banking crisis seemingly came from out of nowhere, even though the signs were there. The subsequent need for the government’s emergency actions as well as frantic mergers among regional banks show how shaky the foundation can be.
This sponsored article by TransUnion® will explore why marketers’ trust in measurement is plateauing.
The connected car is shifting from a tech talking point to a marketing one as in-car entertainment becomes the next attention battleground for advertisers. Nearly two-thirds (63%) want infotainment systems to give them personalized recommendations based on listening behavior, and 67% want those systems to organize content seamlessly. A brief window exists before in-car ecosystems mature and become harder to penetrate. Marketers should act now by experimenting with partnerships, designing “car-first” experiences, establishing a cross-device identity, and investing in personalization.