Mastercard has officially joined the retail media race with the launch of Mastercard Commerce Media, a network built on 160 billion annual transactions with direct access to 25,000 merchants and 500 million consumers.

The financial services provider has entered a crowded landscape to pitch itself as a bridge between retailers, advertisers, and consumers with smarter targeting, cleaner attribution, and real return on investment. While most retail media networks only see what happens inside their own stores, Mastercard sees where and how people actually spend.

Mastercard’s first-party data (from card transactions and purchase history) could give its Commerce Media network an edge, but whether it’s enough to attract advertisers remains to be seen.

Keep reading here.—VC

The next time you ask ChatGPT for help with an anniversary gift under $20, you will be able to get that relationship-ending picture frame from within that conversation, thanks to a new partnership between Walmart and OpenAI.

Soon, customers will be able to link their Walmart or Sam’s Club accounts to ChatGPT for seamless shopping should the bot that’s writing your work emails include a Walmart item among its suggestions (it will still also list items from other, non-partner places). It’s part of the “agentic commerce” trend, where bots become personal shoppers and the tech companies get a piece of the sale.

Keep reading here on Morning Brew.—DL

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Michael Jaszczyk is CEO of GK Software USA and chief digital transformation officer at GK Software SE, which works with retailers like Adidas, ShopRite, and Lidl.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? My primary job is to help retailers be successful. This includes helping to make their customers happy and keep them coming back, helping retailers focus on what they need to do—sell products—and making sure that our software anticipates the future of retail so we still provide value in 10 years.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? Retail actually involves a lot of innovation, and the industry tends to adopt leading-edge technology very early on.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? I enjoy all projects as each is different, and you always learn something new. But the most interesting one was probably the Metro Group Future Store project in 2003. The retailer brought leading solution providers together to create a “store of the future.” Many of the technologies we created back then are just making it into mainstream use today, 22 years later.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? Probably, as you might have guessed, the usage of AI. We learn new things every day about what today’s AI technology can do to optimize retail processes and provide an exciting shopping experience for consumers.

Keep reading here.—EC

Think online and in‑store shopping are still solo acts? Not anymore. This article shows how mobile apps (like Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go) are acting as the ultimate retail matchmakers—blending checkout-free convenience with in‑aisle ads so slick, your cart starts doing cross‑channel backflips. Read on to see digital and physical join forces.