To say that everything has been on sale these days would be an understatement. This brings up a key question: How are retailers doing this summer in a big year of change for the sector overall?

The summer 2025 sales season kicked off with Amazon’s extended four-day Prime Day (July 8–11), which drove $24.1 billion in US e-commerce sales across all retailers—representing 30.3% YoY growth and greater sales than two Black Fridays, per Adobe data.

Separately, Numerator data showed that Prime Day shoppers also reported shopping at other retailers’ summer sales events. Numerator noted 49% of respondents said they shopped or planned to shop at Walmart Deals, 38% said they shopped at Target Circle Week, and 11% shopped at Best Buy Black Friday in July.

This summer sales season also stands out for its longer duration. The time periods of longer sales starting with Amazon and extending to week-long events by other rivals is what some experts are now calling the “Prime week” phenomenon.

Keep reading here.—VC

With tariffs hanging over the economy, many retailers have assured customers and investors they will do their best to hold the line on pricing. But this week, two major retailers garnered headlines for major changes to their pricing strategies that could reflect rising pressures from President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

Let’s start with Amazon. Over the past five months since tariffs took effect, the company has raised prices upwards of 30% on 1,200 low-cost essential goods, per a Wall Street Journal analysis. These price hikes came after Amazon very publicly stated that keeping prices low was its top priority.

• “We’re doing everything we can to keep our prices low for customers in a way that makes economic sense,” CFO Brian Olsavsky told investors in May.
• In the same call, CEO Andy Jassy said the company was “maniacally focused” on the goal of keeping prices down.

The price hikes ran the gamut of “everyday essentials,” to use Amazon’s term, ranging from deodorant and laundry detergent to canned soup and beans.

Target, meanwhile, is reportedly ending its company policy to match prices with competitors.

Keep reading here.—AV

Breakups are often inevitable—even for consumer packaged goods giants.

Kraft Heinz is reportedly on the brink of consciously uncoupling after a decade together. The purveyors of Kraft Mac & Cheese and Heinz Ketchup, among other brands that dominate the grocery aisles, were mashed together in 2015 under a deal arranged by investors 3G Capital and Warren Buffett. Ten years later, the grocery landscape has changed considerably, with many consumers focused on how processed their food is and an FDA seeking to “make America healthy again”—and the company is set to undergo another structural shift. This time, some of the Kraft grocery brands may move under a separate company that could be worth up to $20 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal, while keeping condiment-aisle staples like the titular ketchup and Grey Poupon under the same roof.

“As announced in May, Kraft Heinz has been evaluating potential strategic transactions to unlock shareholder value,” Lynsey Elve, a Kraft Heinz spokesperson, wrote in a statement to Marketing Brew. “Beyond that, we do not comment on rumors or speculation.”

Should Kraft Heinz truly decouple, a move that will likely take years to be fully fleshed out, brand consultants and ad agency execs told Marketing Brew that the move stands to play a major role in the futures of the vast portfolio of CPG brands, as well as affect their approaches to advertising under new corporate structures.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—KM