Ahead of the holiday season, Retail Brew made a trip to Chicago where retail executives spoke candidly about AI search, tariffs, and assortment overhauls at Shoptalk Fall. However, the Windy City’s crisp September weather made retail’s moment of networking gold even better—although not without a jacket.

During the show, we learned that retailers and brands of all sizes have to be invested in testing and being dynamic about AI. Despite the speed of change, prioritizing a smooth customer experience is crucial, top retail executives said during keynote sessions.

The “best metric” for winning within AI-driven search is when “search becomes invisible”—a sign of a seamless customer experience, Ranjeet Bhosale, VP of digital product management at Target, said at Shoptalk.

“The future for us is, at Target, we believe in guest experience,” Bhosale added. “And guest experience is not just about bringing relevant results. It’s also to reduce friction within finding the assortment.”

Bhosale said Target is modernizing its search platform to support longer queries because of the advent of generative AI. “The power and the rate at which GenAI is evolving is exciting, but at the same time relentless,” Bhosale said. Target has also noticed consumers are leaning into longer queries because of the advent of generative AI, he added.

Keep reading here.—VC

The holiday shopping season is getting a jump start in October with major sales events from Walmart, Amazon, and Target. And while all three retail giants are promising steep discounts, only Walmart is saying “no membership required.”

“Walmart Deals are open to all customers—no membership required,” the company said in a press release, though Walmart+ members do get a five-hour head start on the sale on October 6 at 7pm ET.

Amazon, meanwhile, said its sales event is “member-exclusive,” and Target is requiring shoppers to sign up for its “free-to-join” Circle membership to access promotions.

• Whatever the strategy behind Walmart’s messaging, the retailer is still driving shoppers to its membership program. On a recent earnings call, CEO Doug McMillon said income from membership fees was up 15% across the company in Q2, with Walmart+ seeing double-digit growth.
• Target also noted in its latest earnings that membership revenue grew double digits in the latest quarter.
• Amazon Prime membership also appears to be growing steadily, though the Federal Trade Commission is alleging some of these gains were made unfairly, claiming that the company “duped tens of millions of Prime customers by signing them up without their consent,” Reuters reported.

Keep reading here.—AV

Everything is getting smaller—and no, we’re not just talking about shrinkflation.

Mini products are becoming ubiquitous across brand categories. Take the Trader Joe’s mini totes, which are set to come back this fall after repeatedly going viral over the last two years, or L.L.Bean’s mini Boat and Tote bags that it unveiled over the summer. Even Hermés and Fendi have gotten into the micro-handbag trend in recent years.

Beauty brands that perhaps weren’t already tapping into the travel-sized or stocking-stuffer market, like La Mer and Jones Road, have also dipped their toes in the pond in the last year as brands like Ulta and Target have partnered with toymakers like Mini Brands and MGA to create tiny toy replicas of their signature products. Even Frito-Lay has rolled out a line of mini Cheetos, Doritos, and Sun Chips.

Minis, brand marketers told us, allow brands to introduce themselves to new customers, particularly Gen Z and millennials, at a time when budgets are tight and economic concerns are high. Beyond that, minis are generating attention online for simply being adorable.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—KH

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