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Former President Donald Trump took aim at Walmart on social media, demanding the retail giant absorb the costs of his administration’s tariffs instead of passing them on to consumers. The backlash came after Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned during an earnings call that prices on essential items—from bananas to car seats—would increase due to the rising cost of imported goods, especially from China.
Trump, who had long claimed tariffs would be paid by foreign producers, insisted that “Walmart and China should... EAT THE TARIFFS” and not pass costs to “valued customers.” His comments echo those of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who recently claimed businesses, not consumers, bear the brunt of trade penalties. However, economists widely disagree, warning that tariffs raise costs for consumers, particularly lower- and middle-income Americans—Walmart’s core customer base.
Walmart said it would continue to keep prices low “as long as possible,” but acknowledged that its narrow retail margins make it impossible to absorb all tariff-related cost increases. The company expects notable price hikes by late May and more substantial ones in June, particularly due to tariffs on Chinese goods, which had surged to 145% before a recent truce temporarily lowered them to 30%.
The tariff dispute is part of Trump’s broader trade war, which has hurt consumer sentiment, with the University of Michigan reporting a 2.7% drop between April and May. Retailers like Walmart are caught in the middle as they try to balance political pressure, rising costs, and customer loyalty.
Two recent reports shed light on how consumers are spending and which companies are winning the battle for relevance, trust, and market value. The April 2025 CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor and the 2025 Kantar BrandZ Global Top 100 offer data-backed insights into how retail sales are performing and which brands are capturing the world’s attention—and wallets.
April 2025 Retail Sales: Consumers Buy Early Amid Tariff Fears
The CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor, powered by Affinity Solutions, reported solid growth in U.S. retail sales for April 2025. Key takeaways:
Total retail sales (excluding auto and gas) rose 0.72% month-over-month and 6.76% year-over-year.
Core retail sales (excluding auto, gas, and restaurants) climbed 0.9% month-over-month and 7.11% year-over-year.
Categories like electronics, appliances, and grocery and beverage stores saw particularly strong gains.
This uptick was driven in part by consumers accelerating purchases in anticipation of upcoming tariffs, which are expected to increase prices on a wide range of imported goods. The strategy is clear: buy now, save later.
Despite ongoing concerns about inflation and economic uncertainty, consumer spending continues to show resilience, buoyed by a strong labor market and steady income growth. This data—gathered from anonymized credit and debit card transactions—offers a more timely and revision-free look at retail trends compared to traditional surveys.
“Consumers are still spending, but they’re getting smarter about timing purchases,” says the NRF. “April’s growth reflects both necessity and strategy.”
Celebrating its 20th year, the Kantar BrandZ 2025 Global Top 100 Most Valuable Brands offers a long-term perspective on the power of brand equity. This year’s rankings reflect more than just financial success—they reveal how consumer trust, relevance, and innovation shape market leadership.
The Top 10 Most Valuable Brands in 2025
Apple – $1.3 trillion
Google – $944.1 billion
Microsoft – $884.8 billion
Amazon – $866.1 billion
NVIDIA – $509.4 billion
Facebook – $300.7 billion
Instagram – $228.9 billion
McDonald’s – $221.1 billion
Oracle – $215.4 billion
Visa – $213.3 billion
Apple holds the top spot once again, but the biggest mover this year is NVIDIA, which jumped 18 spots and increased its brand value by an astonishing 178%, fueled by the global boom in artificial intelligence and enterprise computing.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT, OpenAI’s generative AI platform, made a notable debut at #60, surpassing long-established players like Stripe and Chipotle. The rise of AI as a consumer-recognizable brand is one of the year’s most significant developments.
Also of note: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) entered the Top 50 for the first time, signaling the growing influence of Indian technology companies on the global stage.
Over the past 20 years, U.S.-based brands have massively increased their dominance, now representing 82% of total brand value, compared to just 63% in 2006. Europe’s share has fallen sharply—from 26% to just 7%. Chinese brands have doubled in value, now accounting for 6% of the top 100, but overall, brand power is increasingly concentrated in American hands.
Why Brand Value Matters
According to Kantar, brands that consistently invest in their image, customer experience, and innovation significantly outperform stock market indices. The report shows that brand equity isn’t just a marketing asset—it’s a financial one.
“Brands that resonate with consumers, deliver consistency, and adapt to change are the ones that thrive over time,” Kantar notes. “In a volatile world, trusted brands offer stability.”
Key Takeaways for Retailers and Marketers
Early spending is rising: Consumers are reacting strategically to price signals and macroeconomic uncertainty.
AI is becoming brand mainstream: Companies like NVIDIA and ChatGPT are no longer just tech stories—they’re household names.
U.S. brands continue to outpace the rest of the world, thanks to bold innovation and aggressive brand investment.
Trust and adaptability remain the most powerful ingredients in building lasting brand value.
According to a new report from Square, 93% of retailers have implemented automation in at least one area of their business. This includes AI-powered product recommendations, automated inventory tracking, and self-checkout systems. Retailers are also increasingly relying on data analytics, with 70% using it to guide purchasing decisions. The report highlights that personalization, driven by data and automation, is becoming a cornerstone of customer retention strategies. Retailers are advised to start small with automation—focusing on time-consuming tasks—and scale strategically.
Harry’s, the men’s grooming company that helped disrupt the razor market with a direct-to-consumer model, has unveiled a new razor line. The company is expanding beyond its original minimalist designs to appeal to a broader demographic and better compete with premium and drugstore brands.
The new line focuses on elevated design, enhanced performance, and skin-sensitive technology, continuing Harry’s mission to blend function and affordability. The brand’s expansion comes amid increased competition in men’s grooming and a shift toward more personalized and high-quality products, even in budget-conscious segments.
Solo Stove, known for its smokeless fire pits, is branching out into seasonal products with the launch of the Solo WindChill, a new outdoor cooling device. The portable air-cooling product is designed for use in backyards, patios, and campsites — aligning with Solo’s outdoorsy, lifestyle-oriented brand identity.
The move reflects a broader strategy to diversify its product offerings and turn Solo Stove into a year-round brand, not just a fall and winter favorite. The WindChill’s debut is a signal that Solo Brands, its parent company, is looking for ways to capitalize on warmer weather trends and offset slower seasonal demand for its core fire pit business.
Kohl’s is planning to refinance part of its debt with a $360 million offering of new senior secured notes due in 2030, according to a recent SEC filing. To back the offering, the department store retailer will use 11 of its distribution and e-commerce fulfillment centers as collateral, placing them in a newly formed holding company.
The net proceeds from the offering will be used to repay outstanding borrowings under Kohl’s revolving credit facility. Kohl’s also expects to draw from that facility to pay off its 4.25% notes due in 2025, signaling a strategic move to extend its debt timeline and improve financial flexibility amid ongoing operational pressures.
This refinancing comes during a tumultuous period for Kohl’s: the company recently fired its CEO following a conflict of interest, and shortly after, a board member resigned over internal disagreements. These changes highlight growing tensions at the leadership level as the retailer attempts to stabilize its financial footing and refresh its business strategy.
Fidji Simo, the CEO and Chair of Instacart, is set to join OpenAI later this year as the company's first-ever CEO of Applications. In this newly created role, she will oversee product development, operations, and finance, reporting directly to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. This appointment allows Altman to concentrate more on research, compute, and safety initiatives, areas critical to OpenAI's mission as it advances toward artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Simo has been a member of OpenAI's board since March 2024, contributing significantly to the company's strategic direction. Her transition from Instacart will occur over the next few months, during which she will remain as Chair of Instacart's board to support the leadership transition. Instacart has indicated that her departure is not due to operational issues, noting that the company recently projected second-quarter core profits above Wall Street expectations.
Online resale platform ThredUp is overhauling its Resale-as-a-Service (RaaS) offering in a bold attempt to make circular retail more scalable—and more profitable—for brands. The company is eliminating branded resale fees and offering open-source technology and infrastructure, a major shift aimed at easing the operational burden on retail partners.
ThredUp envisions a future where resale isn’t an afterthought but a core retail capability, akin to how AWS powers cloud computing or Shopify enables small business e-commerce. CEO James Reinhart framed the announcement as a way to build a “universal recommerce layer” for the industry, enabling brands to manage resale programs with the same ease they manage traditional retail.
This move also responds to growing scrutiny in the resale space, where “resale” can sometimes mean new overstock or returned goods. By offering infrastructure that supports authentic circularity, ThredUp aims to create a more transparent and sustainable resale ecosystem.
A growing labor action is unfolding at Starbucks, where over 2,000 baristas across 120 U.S. stores have gone on strike since Sunday. The protest targets a new dress code that requires solid black shirts and khaki, black, or blue denim pants—replacing a previous policy that allowed for more colorful and patterned options.
The company says the stricter code enhances brand consistency and customer familiarity by highlighting the iconic green apron. But unionized workers, represented by Starbucks Workers United, say the change was imposed unilaterally and violates principles of collective bargaining.
The dress code isn’t just about fashion—it reflects broader tensions between Starbucks and its workforce. Baristas criticized the company for selling now-prohibited apparel on its internal site, and for prioritizing aesthetic changes while stores remain understaffed and under pressure.
So far, Starbucks says the strikes have had minimal operational impact, with some stores closing briefly or not at all. But the dispute underscores the growing push among Starbucks workers for greater say in workplace decisions, and could mark another flashpoint in the brand’s ongoing union battles.
Live shopping continues to attract viewers in the U.S., but conversion remains a challenge. A recent Savings.com survey found that 60% of U.S. adults watch live shopping, yet only 33% actually make purchases.
Despite the conversion gap, TikTok Live has emerged as the top live shopping platform, surpassing QVC, HSN, and even Facebook Live in consumer engagement. Gen Z leads the trend, with 15% tuning in weekly, indicating a growing, loyal audience segment with spending potential.
While platforms continue to refine their strategies to drive purchases—through influencer partnerships, time-limited deals, and gamified interactions—the future of live commerce in the U.S. likely depends on how well these platforms can translate entertainment into transactions.
For brands, TikTok remains a key arena to test video-first commerce strategies, especially for products with strong visual appeal and storytelling potential.
Sysco, the world’s largest foodservice distributor, is taking a surprising new step: retail. Last week, the company opened its first Sysco To Go location in Houston, occupying a former Bed Bath & Beyond. A second location is already planned for later this summer.
Why retail—and why now? Sysco says the new storefront model eliminates the most expensive leg of the supply chain: last-mile delivery. These 40,000-square-foot locations allow foodservice customers—and now potentially everyday consumers—to buy in bulk directly, bridging the gap between wholesale and retail.
This move comes as consumer spending on food away from home continues to soar, with more than $95 billion spent in July alone—up 40% since the pandemic began. Restaurant prices rose modestly in April (+0.4%), while grocery store prices declined (-0.4%), indicating continued interest in convenience even amid inflation.
Sysco’s experiment could signal the start of a hybrid retail-wholesale model in food distribution, potentially disrupting both grocery retail and traditional restaurant supply chains.
Direct-to-consumer travel brand Away is undergoing a leadership change as it embraces broader distribution strategies. Co-founder Jen Rubio is stepping down as CEO and transitioning into an executive chair role. Her replacement, Jessica Schinazi, brings operational expertise to steer the brand through its next phase of growth.
The move coincides with a major shift in Away’s go-to-market approach. After nearly a decade of strictly controlling its sales through e-commerce and a curated selection of standalone stores, Away is now expanding into Amazon and Nordstrom. This pivot addresses two challenges: accessibility and competition. Most shoppers don’t live near an Away store and want to see luggage in person before buying. Additionally, the brand was losing out to Amazon-savvy competitors who leveraged keywords like “away” to intercept its traffic and sales.