Believe it or not, fall shopping deals are already here, and this year could well be the one that establishes early summer as a key kickoff for both fall and winter holiday shopping.

Back-to-school shopping, per Gartner, began as early as Memorial Day weekend. According to Kassi Socha, director analyst at Gartner, a few sales at major mass retailers such as Wayfair, Target, Walmart, Nordstrom, and Amazon, created space for new inventory that’s typically brought in for fall. “It wasn’t just a clearance,” Socha told Retail Brew. Retailers are preparing earlier than they have in past seasons for back to school, Socha added. According to Wayfair Head of Marketing Campaign and Content Planning Jesse Kiel, the furniture retailer expects back-to-school traffic to “start building in June, with peak traffic typically running from late June through mid-August,” Kiel wrote in an email.

But with a 90-day pause on the steepest tariffs on China, water filtration brand Hydros, which sells pitchers and bottles shipped from China, is fast tracking its strategies to get the most out of this big sales event. Hydros’s founder and CEO Winston Ibrahim told Retail Brew he is rushing to get everything in order before back-to-school season. “We’re getting ready for some aggressive promotions for Amazon Prime Day,” Ibrahim said. “We normally see a fusion of back to school selling periods where it starts with Amazon Prime Day, and it goes for another couple of weeks after that, then, into the, say, middle part of August.”

Keep reading here.—VC

Well, we know where all the recession-anxious shoppers are taking their hard-earned dollars.

In its latest earnings report, Dollar General, the discount giant, beat analyst forecasts for the quarter for revenue and earnings, and now expects sales to grow around 3.7% to 4.7% in fiscal 2025. That’s up from the previously predicted 3.4% to 4.4%.

You might have already noticed: Not a lot of companies are raising forecasts right now. (More are doing the exact opposite.)

But Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos noted the company is “uniquely well-positioned to serve our customer in a variety of economic environments,” adding that it saw growth in both its core customer base and “trade-in customers,” or middle-income consumers shopping at the lower price point offered by the discount retailer.

Keep reading here on CFO Brew.—NP

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Skye Frontier is executive vice president at retail media analytics company Incremental.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I used to joke that I worked for the internet when explaining my job to my grandparents. These days, I say we help people understand the why and how of advertising so they can do it more effectively. If you can make ads more effective, everyone benefits—the consumer, the advertiser, and the retailer.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? While a lot of my work is client- and market-facing, some of the best days are when I’m diving deep into our advertising data to tackle big questions: Is ROAS a myth? Do pricier ads actually perform better? At my core, I’m an analyst who loves uncovering the story in data.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? Some of our partnerships have been incredibly exciting to bring to life. It’s so rewarding to create and execute a shared vision that helps elevate the entire ecosystem.

Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? I’m really excited about retail media moving up the funnel. While search remains dominant, as retailer data starts feeding into traditionally brand-building channels like CTV, we have the chance to take a more integrated, holistic approach to marketing across the entire funnel.

What’s your go-to coffee order? A classic cappuccino.

Worst piece of advice you’ve received? “Stick to what you’re good at.” Some of my biggest personal and professional breakthroughs have come when I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and tried things I wasn’t initially good at.

What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? When I was 15, it was all about books—I was probably rereading The Lord of the Rings for the umpteenth time. The biggest difference now is that, thanks to Amazon, books just show up at my door without me even having to leave the house.—EC

Retail is getting a revamp. Join us on July 23 as Megan Kohout, CRO at REBEL, shares how the brand is rewriting the rules of growth in an increasingly competitive digital marketplace. She’ll dig into how REBEL is turning data into strategy, building meaningful customer journeys, and scaling with intention. Her session is part of a full-day Retail Brew event tackling today’s biggest challenges in retail—grab your ticket now!