Baker Retail Rundown

How Black Friday Became A Retail Letdown: 'To Sustain the Ride, They Started to Dilute It'

Black Friday has shifted from a single day of exceptional, in-store deals to a weeks-long promotional season with fewer standout discounts. Foot traffic has flattened while online shopping continues to grow, and consumers are spending less over the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber-Monday period. Experts say the event has lost its “integrity” as retailers diluted its impact by extending sales earlier and across more products. Operational challenges and changing consumer habits have also pushed retailers to spread promotions throughout the season rather than concentrate them on one day. As a result, shoppers have become more skeptical of Black Friday deals, often viewing them as routine discounts rather than once-a-year bargains.

Is Fashion’s AI Boom Solving A Real Problem?

AI powered styling and shopping platforms are driving personalization and tackling different friction points. OneOff matches celebrities outfits to items with over 1 million products through retailer partners like Mytheresa and creators including Emma Chamberlain. Alta plans outfits based on one’s personal wardrobe and has raised $11 million in seed funding. Daydream shopping chatbot streamlines the search process across 2 million products and 8,000 brands. DressX creates an AI twin for virtual try-ons, buying directly from partner brands such as Diesel. All platforms aim to convert discovery into purchase and retail partners are buying into these platforms. 

Kroger acknowledges that its bet on robotics went too far 

Kroger is closing three of its robotic fulfillment centers, signaling a major shift from its earlier confidence in automation. The move follows multiple signs that its Ocado-powered network wasn’t meeting performance expectations, including paused development and earlier closures of related facilities. Leadership changes and ongoing benchmarks revealed the automated model wasn’t delivering the profitability Kroger hoped for. By late 2025, the company acknowledged that relying heavily on automation for grocery delivery wasn’t sustainable. Kroger now plans to refocus its e-commerce strategy around its 2,700+ stores, which offer faster, less capital-intensive ways to serve customers.

‘Buy now, pay later’ is expanding fast, and that should worry everyone

Nigel Morris, co-founder of Capital One and an investor in BNPL firms, warns that rising use of buy now, pay later services — especially for essentials like groceries — signals growing consumer financial stress. Data shows BNPL usage and late payments are climbing, while most loans remain invisible to credit bureaus, creating “phantom debt” that masks true borrower risk. Regulatory reversals have further reduced oversight, leaving a rapidly expanding and increasingly embedded BNPL industry largely unchecked. Morris sees troubling parallels to pre-2008 conditions, with rising unemployment, student loan pressures, and expanding BNPL lending — including to businesses — creating potential systemic risks. While not predicting an immediate crisis, he argues that the combination of hidden debt and economic strain warrants urgent attention from regulators.