As tariffs threaten to raise prices, a potentially existential question is facing retailers: How much inventory is too much or too little in such an uncertain environment—and is it worth squirreling away a little extra if higher costs are on the horizon?

Recent earnings reports of retailers and logistics companies show that some are choosing to stock up just to be safe. Apple and Amazon, for example, both said they had made forward purchases of goods in the last quarter.

“We’ve done some forward buys of inventory where we're the first-party seller,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said during its Q1 earnings call. “Our third-party sellers have pulled forward a number of items so that they have inventory here as well.”

Meanwhile, Prologis CFO Tim Arndt said the warehouse operator had spoken with 300 of its customers and found they were “accelerating shipments where possible,” and there was “urgent demand for overflow space.” Speaking with a prominent third-party logistics partner, the company also found that its utilization rate had jumped from 83% to over 90%.

Beyond these anecdotes, macro-level data paints a similar picture.

Keep reading here.—AV

The first quarter of 2025 brought with it a shifting dynamic in the US beauty industry. For the first time in several years, year over year mass beauty sales outpaced prestige sales, according to Circana.

While prestige sales were flat in Q1, mass beauty sales rose 3%. The boost for the mass market was driven largely by price bumps, while unit sales dropped 1%. Consumers pulled back on spending in the prestige market in January, a trend which improved throughout February and March, when all prestige categories saw a sales lift.

The industry “will continue to stabilize” after a strong performance from prestige last year, Larissa Jensen, global beauty industry advisor at Circana, said in a statement, directing beauty companies to focus on “creating brand value beyond price and focusing on compelling value propositions and high-margin innovations to appeal to consumers.”

Keep reading here.—EC

Google wants to refine its AI shopping experience with three new tools.

At Google’s I/O conference, the tech giant announced the rollout of a new AI search tool called AI Mode, a new virtual try-it-on feature, and teased the upcoming launch of a checkout feature powered by (you guessed it) agentic AI.

For Google Shopping, it’s all about “improving with AI,” Lilian Rincon, VP of product for Google Shopping, told reporters on a press call, from inspiration and consideration to enhancements of the virtual try-on technology all the way through to purchase.

The tools come as product listings on Google’s shopping graph grew to 50 billion from the last reported 45 billion. All three features will sit inside of product listings.

Keep reading here.—VC