This Week in Retail: October sales events and holiday sales forecast

It’s a big week for promotions and arguably the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season, with Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days event running October 7–8 and competing sales events from Walmart running October 7–12 and Target running from October 5–11, and some are calling these fall sales events the “new Black Friday.”

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

In conferences: The Retail Industry Leaders Association is hosting its Retail Law Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida, from October 8–10. The event brings together legal professionals from the retail industry to discuss everything from shifting demographics to the advent of artificial intelligence. On the docket to speak are legal officers from retailers such as Amazon, Albertsons, PetSmart, and Five Below.

Meanwhile, 400-plus industry leaders are gathering in New York City for the Pioneer conference. The event will focus on new opportunities in using AI for customer service. Topics include how to build an “AI-first customer service team” and how AI innovations are reshaping modern organizations.

In data releases: Adobe is releasing its holiday forecast today. The report covers estimated spending and discount levels in November and December, including key sales moments such as Cyber Week. The report will also track the emerging trends such as AI-driven traffic, buy now pay later, and social media influencers.

In earnings: Beverage giants are reporting earnings this week, including Modelo maker Constellation Brands on Monday and PepsiCo on Thursday. For a taste of what may be on the docket, the latter is weighing a proposal from an activist investor to spin off its bottling business following moves made by Coca-Cola a decade ago, while the former is still reeling from Michelob Ultra surpassing Modelo as the top-selling beer brand.