The most overused word at CES 2025 was AI. AI was in seemingly every product—from AI backpacks to AI barbecue grills—on the CES shop floor, whether it needed to be or not.

For retailers, CES was all about decoding emerging technologies, and getting a glimpse into the future. Retail executives at CES echoed the whimsical sentiment of almost living in the future. While big names, including Walmart, were missing in action, Pinterest hosted a keynote on visual search with CTO Matt Madrigal, and Amazon launched a new ad product for retailers.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Advertising launched Curate for Commerce, a product leveraging first-party retail data to offer brands scalable access to retailer supply and data off-site, with Kohl’s as an early partner. Microsoft also introduced Sponsored Promotions by Brands, which allows brands to reach shoppers across Microsoft’s retail environments like Bing Shopping on a cost-per-sale basis.

Here are some of Retail Brew’s key takeaways from the tech show.

Keep reading here.—VC

Here we are in the throes of Returnuary, when the torrent of returned items requires 1 out of 3 retailers to hire seasonal staff just to process them. And here comes another potential headache: Customers learning an item they’re attempting to return was a final sale or that the return window has closed, and, in their Karen-esque fury, screaming at customer service associates and taking their business elsewhere.

Now Poshmark, the resale marketplace, and Loop, the commerce platform focused on reverse logistics like returns and exchanges, have joined forces to help turn customers’ return failures tinto resale triumphs.

Keep reading here.—AAN

A recommendation from Consumer Reports or Wirecutter can be a game-changer for brands, and many leverage the reviews through marketing and licensing deals with the publications, as we reported over the summer.

But if the product reviewers giveth, so too do they taketh away. Exhibit 1: Consumer Reports’ annual roundup of its worst-rated products.

Behold the gleeful snark emanating from the usually more measured tone of this august publication, here channeling a parent who just grounded Tyler for two months.

“To be clear,” the article explained, “We’re not mad, we’re just disappointed.”

Keep reading here.—AAN