Donate today and get a Marketplace mug -- perfect for all your liquid assets! Donate now

Delta variant starting to alter consumer spending – except among unvaccinated

Aug 17, 2021
Many Americans who’ve gotten the shot are feeling anxious, but not so with the unvaccinated.  
People spend time at an ice skating rink in The Galleria mall on Aug. 03, 2021 in Houston, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Is shopping by livestream the next chapter of e-commerce?

Apr 15, 2021
A lot of stores, brands and internet titans expect livestreaming to soar this year. And they’re investing accordingly.
Many businesses are able to use livestreaming as an inexpensive and direct way to reach customers.
hobo_018 via Getty Images

Full retail recovery hinges on women getting back to work

Mar 5, 2021
Whether or not women recover economically from this pandemic is everybody’s problem.
More than half of the jobs lost during the pandemic have been lost by women.
Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images

Consumers may be ready to release their pent-up demand

Feb 25, 2021
As the pandemic retreats, Americans who can afford to spend on things they've been deprived of may start spending.
After months of shopping online, many Americans look forward to visiting brick-and-mortar stores.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Grocery shoppers are faster and more focused during the pandemic

Jan 5, 2021
Stores and manufacturers are slimming down product selection in response to shopper behavior.
Grocery shopping has become a get-in, get-out mission during COVID-19.
Karen Ducey/Getty Images

Retail sales fell 1.1% in November, biggest drop in 7 months

Dec 16, 2020
It's a sign Americans held back on spending during the start of the holiday shopping season.
Customers wear face masks while waiting in line to shop inside a Best Buy store on Black Friday in Hawthorne, Calif., on Nov. 27, 2020.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Retailers' holiday sales strategy this year? Fewer, smaller sales

Dec 7, 2020
They're trying to make a profit selling less stuff, but holding the line on prices.
A pedestrian walks past a store advertising a Black Friday sale in New York.
Jeenah Moon/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

U.S. was top seller to China during Singles Day

Nov 12, 2020
But overall retail sales in China for the year are still down significantly due to the pandemic.
Workers sort packages for delivery at a warehouse of China Post Group in Hengyang, in central China's Hunan province on Nov. 12, 2020, a day after the end of the Singles Day shopping festival.
STR/AFP via Getty Images

How are retail sales numbers higher than they were last year?

Aug 14, 2020
People are still shopping — just for different stuff.
A Florida man puts newly purchased wood into his truck. Sales at home and garden stores in July were up almost 15% over July of last year.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Long lines at London stores mark reopenings after COVID-19 lockdown

Jun 15, 2020
Nonessential businesses across England are opening their doors to shoppers for the first time since March.
With nonessential stores reopening in England on Monday, people will have to get used to shopping in the age of the coronavirus.
Matthew Chattle/Barcroft Media via Getty Images