Independent retailers continue to defy industry expectations -- and gain market share -- even as economic pressures reshape the home appliance, furniture and bedding industries.
That was the message from Chad Evans, Executive Vice President of Merchandising at AVB Inc., during an Industry Update and Town Hall session at the Annual Spring AVB BrandSource Summit. Evans opened the discussion with a timely analogy.

Walmart is currently rolling out digital price tags to replace the old paper ones -- the plan is to roll them out in all stores across the U.S. by the end of the year. Walmart isn't alone. Grocery giant Kroger has also begun experimenting with the technology.

The TWICE Powerful Women in Consumer Electronics program is a tribute to the women who are not just succeeding, but shaping, leading, and transforming the consumer technology industry. These are the trailblazers and mentors, the quiet powerhouses and bold changemakers who lead with purpose, lift others as they climb, and leave the industry better than they found it.

SwitchBot has launched what it describes as the world's first local home AI agent supporting OpenClaw, an open-source autonomous AI agent framework. The SwitchBot AI Hub combines AI computing, Vision-Language Models (VLM), and unified smart home control in a single hub.