This week in retail: Black Friday in July, retail advocacy summit

The midsummer promotional cycle will keep chugging along this week. On Friday, Wayfair will kick off its “Black Friday in July” sale, promising discounts up to 80%. The furniture and appliance store is just the latest retailer to bring Black Friday-level discounts to the middle of July. Best Buy held its own “Black Friday” sale last week, and LG Electronics launched a promotion last Thursday that will run through this week.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In advocacy: The National Retail Federation is holding a series of events this week as part of its Retail Advocates Summit 2024, which brings retailers to Washington, DC, for two days of engagement with lawmakers. After a series of advocacy sessions on Wednesday, the NRF will host an event called the Retail Experience on Thursday, which it described as “an interactive, educational showcase designed to take policymakers on a journey through the retail industry.” The trade group will close out the summit with its Retail Champions awards dinner, celebrating exceptional small business advocates.

In webinars: NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz and VP of Industry and Consumer Insights Katherine Cullen will also host a webinar on Tuesday to discuss the back-to-school shopping season, which got a boost last week from Prime Day.

In earnings: Q2 earnings season is here, and a handful of major brands are reporting this week. Coca-Cola and Keurig Dr. Pepper are on deck, and coming off Q1, it’s looking up for Big Beverage. Coca-Cola raised its revenue outlook last quarter on the back of higher prices, and Keurig Dr. Pepper is also expecting net sales growth in the mid-single-digit range.

Mattel and Hasbro are also reporting, and the toy companies should have plenty to talk about. Both are in the middle of an industry transition to leverage their intellectual property and outsource more of their licenses and production to third parties.