Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

Retail Brew

Andrew Adam Newman

retailbrew.com

A woman onstage holding a piece of paper and speaking

A primer on organized retail crime. 

The problem is way beyond isolated shoplifters, the NRF says, but sometimes the problem of organized retail crime is overstated.

An organized retail crime primer—and a call to action

Katishi Maake

Holiday retail sales were up in 2022

The median order discount percentage for November and December 2022 was up by 2.3% YoY from 20.75% to 21.23%

Holiday retail sales were up in 2022 as retailers diversified

The year ahead in off-price retail

Dollar General plans to open 1,050 new store openings in FY 2023.

Some off-price retailers are poised to thrive in 2023, while others look to get back on their feet

Mobile phone displaying a retail store rack of t-shirts

Retail

Unlike Times Square, a tourist destination that many 

 would rather drive carpet staples into their gums than go near, Grand Central Station, that marvel of beaux arts architecture with its dramatic arches, marble staircases, and 125-foot muralled ceilings, can warm the cockles of even the most jaded New Yorker’s heart.

Now NYC Bud, a cannabis retailer, is paying homage to the terminal, with a new store in Manhattan that’s a whimsical scaled-down version.

 The interior of the new Manhattan location of NYC Bud, a scaled down replica of Grand Central Station. 

, which is in Midtown on West 39th Street, the rounded ceiling is the same shade of green as in Grand Central, as are the murals of constellations rendered in gold paint. The familiar walls and intricate decorative details are made from Venetian plaster, the floors are topped with marble, and numbered signs over doorways are identical to the original’s signs for tracks.

A structure in the center, a replica of Grand Central’s circular information booth, functions as a display case. Still to come: a replica of the 

It’s the second transit-themed store for the retailer, whose original NYC Bud in Long Island City is modeled after a New York 

, complete with a replica of a subway car.

Credit Giancarlo Pinto, who along with Jonpaul Pezzo is a co-owner of NYC Bud, with designing both stores. Asked on a recent tour for Retail Brew of the store if he had a design background, he answered with a single word, “No.”

But after a beat, Pinto added a one-word clarification: “Legos.”

The interior of the new Manhattan location of NYC Bud, a scaled down replica of Grand Central Station. 

Befitting a devotee of the plastic bricks, there’s a child’s sense of play here, albeit for a decidedly adult product, when it comes to both the design and the shopping experience.

After ordering cannabis products from tablets positioned near the displays, shoppers can see their names on monitors that resemble departure boards, with status “In Progress,” at first, then “Ready.”

Then they proceed to a replica of three ticket windows to pick up the purchase from budtenders. While it adds nothing to the Grand Central Station verisimilitude, there’s a retro touch here. The secured stockroom with all the cannabis products is in the basement, and once the orders are pulled, they’re put on a dumbwaiter and arrive in that room behind the ticket windows.

“We don’t call it a ‘dumbwaiter,’” Pinto said. “We have a smart waiter.”

The location and opening date for the next NYC Bud are TBD, but it will be a variation on the theme: very New York, and transportation-oriented.

“More than likely,” Pinto said, it will be “a New York City streetscape from the ’90s to early 2000s with cars and everything.” He said they’ve already acquired a 1989 Chevy Caprice that they hope to park in the store.

“It’s New York as a backdrop with cannabis in the foreground,” Pinto said.

If they all seem a bit less serious than your average retail store, remember: They call it recreational cannabis for a reason.

“The reality is that cannabis is fun and it shouldn’t be taken seriously,” Pinto said. “It shouldn’t be just so retail-oriented, where we’re just trying to make it transactional.”

NYC Bud is a scaled-down replica of Grand Central Station

NYC Bud’s first location was modeled after a subway station. 

Why this new cannabis store is a scaled-down replica of Grand Central Station

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Questions?

Between tariffs, taxes, and trade complexity, global ecommerce isn’t getting any easier. Join Retail Brew and Swap Commerce to learn how brands are simplifying operations, staying compliant, and turning red tape into growth.

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Successful Growth in a Complex World: Strategies to Navigate Tax, Tariffs & Trade

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Join Retail Brew and Placer.ai for a virtual deep dive into the key retail trends and consumer behaviors defining 2025. Uncover data-driven insights on foot traffic, evolving preferences, and category shifts to help you stay agile and informed in a fast-changing market.

Understanding the 2025 Consumer: Navigating Retail's Evolution

Morning Brew Creative Studio

With growth comes change—and that’s especially true in business. You’ll need to invest in new equipment, find new marketing channels, and expand your team. Make sure you have a POS system that’s built to grow with you.

Once upon a time, all a POS needed to do was ring up customers and help store owners manually keep track of inventory. In today’s omnichannel world, POS systems need to do more.

Let’s start by redefining “POS.” Traditionally, POS stands for “point of sale.” But today’s market demands a different meaning: “place of service.” Because customers can shop anywhere at any time, checkout is everywhere—and just a quick stop along a broader buying journey.

No matter how shoppers choose to checkout, their presence at the POS creates a treasure trove of information for retailers. And all of that data can be used to instantly help businesses understand what their customers are lookin’ for, manage inventory, improve pricing and more. Outdated systems just aren’t up to the modern-day task.

 to dig into what biz leaders need to know about refreshing their POS systems. Let’s get started.

POV: You’re planning to grab some grub from your fave restaurant. Instead of dining in, you order through an app and pick up your food on the way home from work. The payment process is simple. With just the tap of a button on your phone, your meal is a short commute away. Yum.

That app-ordering experience is designed to be convenient and cater to what you’re looking for: From the minute you open a food app, the search function is integrated with both the payment and delivery or pickup options. You can search for the restaurants you want to try, what to order, and choose delivery or pickup in one integrated experience.

There’s no back and forth between browser windows, no paying the driver or cashier. The app will probably even remember your order the next time you open it. And when integrated with the right loyalty program, a POS system can help coordinate the sending of occasional deals and coupons on your fave snacks, too.

Contrast that with ordering a pizza from a local shop just a few years back. You called in your order and paid the pizza delivery person in cash. (Whew, are we dating ourselves here?) The point is, that the process relied on very basic POS systems. The pizza delivery person and the restaurant probably didn’t remember your order the next time you called, let alone know your ordering habits well enough to offer you personalized discounts.

Here’s another critical difference: A modern POS system connects with backend operations, ensuring that the front of the house can send information to the back—while helping improve employee management, too.

A modern POS system can help answer questions like: 

Are customers ordering more fried or grilled items? How should tips be divided? Is employee time keeping being managed effectively to ensure operational efficiency?

These are the differences between outdated and modern POS systems.

 POS is designed to meet the modern needs of every restaurant type and scale, from full service table management to counter service. The platform pairs with hardware engineered for high performance. Genius provides everything restaurants need: waitlist and reservations, real-time reporting, tableside payments, marketing tools, loyalty programs, and more.

Whether you’re running a restaurant or a boutique clothing store, Genius POS will help you get to know your customers better. Think about it: shoppers can use the system to browse everything from graphic t-shirts to handcrafted pottery and locally made goods.

As merchants utilize new digital POS systems to complete sales, they can access a wealth of information. That customer intelligence helps create an interactive, personalized shopping experience.

Let’s say a customer routinely purchases their favorite graphic t-shirts from a boutique. The store owner can track each customer’s purchase history in-store, and when a new shipment of delightfully droll duds arrives, that customer receives an email about the new shirts 

 a 10% discount code for an in-store purchase.

That lucky buyer’s journey is powered by an integrated POS system. Retailers can combine their payment hardware with loyalty programs, marketing campaigns, and custom ordering platforms in one place.

 makes it simple. Whether you’re opening your first brick-and-mortar shop or expanding into a new location, Genius for Retail is designed to work easily, right out of the box. From managing orders and tracking inventory to delivering reliable checkouts, plus built-in tools for loyalty, marketing, invoicing 

 reporting, Genius for Retail is designed to support small and medium-sized retailers.

You don’t have to lose the magic of your business to modernize your POS system—instead, an updated system can give your biz a boost while making it easier to run your business. 

 solution helps restaurants and retailers streamline workflows and payments across all channels, from online orders to traveling food trucks and brick-and-mortar stores.

Learn what retailers and restaurateurs are prioritizing this year in the 

Adopt an innovative POS system with Global Payments.

person paying with credit card at restaurant

Global Payments

Global Payments Q2 2025 Branded Article Native Ad #3

How small businesses can use POS systems 

How next-gen POS systems can help biz owners streamline as they scale

How customer data + POS systems help small businesses grow

Retail in 2025 never sleeps. Payment technology is advancing and exciting new tools are constantly arriving on the scene. These tools offer enhanced operational efficiency and better customer experiences, must-haves in this competitive landscape.

But along with all this new tech, merchants also have to prepare for new forms of fraud. Juniper Research found that 

, with losses expected to exceed $343b from 2022 through 2027.

Here’s the situation: Payments and security are increasingly intertwined, often built in tandem and living within the same systems. And sophisticated attackers are relentless in their efforts to infiltrate this ecosystem with fraudulent transactions, identity theft, and other cyberattacks.

To respond to fraudsters’ latest tactics, payment tech companies, governments, and banks are experimenting with new security measures like biometrics, tokenization, and AI.

 to learn about the latest fraud trends and how merchants can take advantage of efficiency-boosting tech—without leaving themselves vulnerable to attacks.

To fight fraudsters’ new tricks, merchants and institutions are getting creative. The introduction of biometrics and tokenization are cutting edge new tools, providing a hard-to-hack layer of protection. What makes these security measures effective? Let’s find out.

Biometrics are specific biological identifiers that combine with tech to confirm your identity (think fingerprint ID, facial recognition, retinal scans, and even vein patterns). These traits are all difficult to replicate, making them useful tools for enhancing security measures.

Because while hackers may be able to guess your cat’s name, it’s far less likely that they can recreate your fingerprint.

Think about the last time you completed a purchase on your smartphone. When you finalized your information at checkout, you may have been prompted to rescan your face or use your fingerprint to confirm your identity. This additional layer of protection helps prevent fraudulent activity, and it also streamlines the payment process.

But as with many new tech offerings, there are privacy concerns to consider. Issues of security and consent are inescapable when discussing biometric security. Merchants using biometrics should ensure that their technology partner is securing the consent of each individual to collect their biometric information.

Next comes how they secure and store the information. To address the regulatory and privacy concerns of biometrics, many companies turn to tokenization instead.

Payment tokens and cryptograms (aka encoded messages to validate transactions) are another rising star on the security scene. With tokenization, consumers’ devices get assigned a payment credential. Users just unlock their devices using biometrics or a passkey, and they can verify login information using their existing credentials.

Tokenization is taking off in the international market, too. New payment methods that utilize tokens and cryptograms allow users to reduce or avoid exchange fees, all while keeping payments fast and secure.

Here’s how it works: The tokenization process converts sensitive data into unique digital tokens that are securely transmitted using standardized definitions, with no need for complex verification processes. And existing payment systems can deploy tokens regardless of location.

Tap-to-pay’s popularity has outlived its pandemic-era boom. While adoption took off in an effort to protect personal health and safety, tap-to-pay has evolved to become a preferred payment method.

Tap-to-pay and other contactless payment technology brings both tokenization and biometrics together. The tokenization protects consumer data from third-party inception and biometrics integrate identity authentication, especially for purchases made via smartphone.

Okay, so that’s a rundown of select new security measures. Now let’s pivot to a technology that's taking the world by storm: AI. Just like other industries, generative AI is making an impact in the cybersecurity world. By spotting variations in consumer spending and account activity, GenAI can flag potentially fraudulent activity.

And with large language models, AI can alert payment technology companies about activity that differs from an account’s historical activity with surprising…intelligence. Let’s say you’re a season-ticket holder for your local minor league team, but your account suddenly shows big purchases for courtside seats at a pro basketball game. The system might detect potentially suspicious activity and flag the purchase.

AI is also changing the way merchants approach illegal chargebacks, or the practice of credit card providers asking retailers to refund or replace fraudulent or disputed transactions. Traditionally, merchants go through a grueling manual investigation to track down a product from order confirmation and shipment through delivery confirmation.

With AI-enabled tools, retailers can separate legitimate chargebacks from fraudulent claims and even detect patterns that need more investigation.

With new developments come new opportunities for fraudsters to attack. AI’s massive power can be harnessed by bad actors not only for mass phishing but also to constantly check security systems for weaknesses and generate deepfakes.

New tech gives merchants the power to fight fraud like never before. Fraudsters are developing increasingly creative (and sophisticated) cyberattacks, but companies have the tools they need to understand the threat landscape—from synthetic identity fraud to real-time payment fraud—and get ahead of potential issues. 

 helps merchants create secure, streamlined payments across all channels so you can provide your customers with a safe buying experience.

Learn about the trends influencing merchants this year in the 

restaurant worker taking credit card payment from two diners at table

Global Payments Q2 2025 Branded Article Native Ad #2 

 How merchants are preventing fraud with new security measures

As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, merchants are experimenting with high-tech security measures.

Lock it down: How merchants use innovative new tech to prevent fraud

Morning Brew

From social media to shopping apps to physical stores, consumers can shop for what they want, where they want, when they want. All of those choices have created a new expectation for retailers: a seamless, smooth-as-butter buying experience.

Imagine you’re lying on your couch, shopping for a newer, comfier couch. You’ve found two great options at the same price point, and you’re ready to buy.

But here’s the catch: Retailer A’s journey to checkout is clunky, and their payment system doesn’t have the options you want. Retailer B’s checkout process is simple and makes payment a breeze. All else being equal, you’ll move forward with the couch from Retailer B simply because of the better buying experience.

Consumers’ focus on a seamless buying experience shouldn’t surprise retailers. With the rise of search-to-purchase functionality, live commerce, and the resurgence of physical stores, brands are already making it simple for consumers to shop whenever, wherever they want.

 to learn what consumers are looking for—and how retailers are streamlining the buying experience. Let’s get started.

Not so long ago, online shopping looked a lot different. You’d crack open your laptop, head to your fave search engine, and type in “blue couch.” The results? Not great. Well, the rise of search-to-purchase functionality changed things in a big way.

Think about the way you pay for a rideshare. It’s seamless and simple: No exchanging money or swiping your card, the app automatically charges your account once you reach your destination.

Search-to-purchase uses those same principles to simplify the checkout experience. If you find an item you like on Instagram, TikTok, or Google, you can add it to cart and pay without ever leaving the site. For young shoppers, it’s a no-brainer.

“Gen Zers are constantly scrolling on Instagram and TikTok, so they’re going to search and buy there versus going to a search engine,” Gilbert Bailey, president of retail POS at Global Payments, said.

“If you can make [their] decision to buy instantaneous, it just gets the sale. You don’t have to go someplace else. You stay in the zone.”

Search-to-purchase also helps level the playing field for small businesses.

“A creator can shoot pictures of their pottery, then quickly get links for Instagram and Facebook and places where you could click a link and buy the item,” Bailey said. “It processes the payment, the creator gets the shipping information, and ships it out.”

With the rise of search-to-purchase on platforms like TikTok and Instagram comes the rise of live commerce. Live commerce is a digital-first way for retailers to connect directly with consumers. And it’s already gaining traction after its success in China.

 explores TikTok Shop’s first $1m shopping livestream in 2024. Hosted with Canvas Beauty, the six-hour event’s viewership peaked at 10k users.

And major retailers around the world are following suit. After their own successful run of live shopping broadcasts in China, Zara announced that it would expand its live commerce strategy into the UK, Europe, and the US.

Dyson is another brand making live commerce their own, producing virtual shopping events with a regular schedule showcasing vacuum cleaners and other appliances.

But to complete the buying experience, the payment process must be seamless. Consumers want to continue scrolling and interacting with the platform without leaving to complete their purchases.

You might be asking: Well, if shoppers can interact with retailers live online, is IRL shopping dead? Nope. Live commerce can be a valuable extension of physical stores, but it won’t replace them.

We can’t overstate the importance (and convenience) that e-commerce, search-to-purchase, and live commerce bring to the retail space. But Global Payments’ Report found physical stores are still the No. 1 priority for midmarket businesses (95%) and SMBs (85%).

Even enterprise businesses are prioritizing physical locations (55%), just barely ranking behind e-commerce (60%), mobile (68%), and social media (61%).

There’s just something special about the in-person shopping experience that online experiences can’t replicate. And no, not the fluorescent lighting.

Consumers create connections with brands they love, and many want the tactile, physical experience of shopping in the store. Retailers want in-person and digital shopping experiences to complement each other, not compete with one another.

Let’s look at the numbers. 95% of midmarket businesses and 85% of SMBs said they’re prioritizing physical stores, but only about a third of each are prioritizing mobile (31%, 33%) and social media (34%, 30%). That gap widens for live commerce, suggesting midmarket and SMBs may wait for the costs and risks of selling on a new channel to come down before diving in.

As new platforms and shopping channels emerge, retailers still focus on creating a balanced, smooth buying experience—and that means not neglecting the power of physical stores.

Whether customers are browsing for couches, vacuums, or a new weekend ’fit, a seamless buying experience starts with seamless payments. Global Payments helps retailers streamline commerce experiences across channels, from online transactions to the checkout counter.

See the data and get the full story in the 

And give your brand’s buying experience a boost when you partner with 

, Global Payments’ POS solution that adapts to the unique workflows of small independent businesses while scaling effortlessly to meet the complex demands of high volume enterprises.

person shopping in clothing store holding jacket

Global Payments Q2 2025 Branded Article Native Ad #1 

Retailers can improve the buying experience for consumers

With more places to shop than ever, consumers want a streamlined journey.

Ready to shop: Your consumers want a seamless buying experience 

We don’t have to tell you that acing today’s retail game is tough stuff. But if you wanna stay at the top of your class, leveraging every tool at your disposal is 

. That’s where the Internet of Things (IoT) comes into play. IoT is revolutionizing the way retailers crush their goals by providing business owners data-rich environments that improve decision-making, boost customer satisfaction, and increase profits. But how can you put it into practice? That part can feel tricky.

Luckily for you, T-Mobile has put together 

Unleash IoT in retail to accelerate growth

a tell-all that breaks down how IoT is transforming retail organizations today and in the future. You’ll get must-know info on how to unlock the benefits of IoT in inventory management, personalized customer engagement, efficient workforce connectivity, and so much more.

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