BFCM = Big Freaking Cumulative Multiplication

Costco Takes a Swing at Trump Tariffs. The wholesale club that everybody loves has sued the Trump administration and is seeking a “full refund” of all duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In the filing, Costco called the tariffs “unlawful” because the IEEPA doesn’t authorize the President to set tariffs. 

Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip noted in a Costco earnings call that about a third of the company’s US sales come from imported products; however, the company didn’t publicly disclose in the suit how much money it has paid since the new tariffs were implemented.

Our Take: This isn’t the first stand that the price club has pushed back against the administration. In our Future Commerce DEI tracker, we noted that it was the only brand among the 25 we tracked in 2025 that planned to expand its diversity investments.

‍Apple Goes Analog. The tech giant has departed from its AI-first messaging with a wholesome holiday ad spot that features puppets of woodland creatures singing a song inspired by Flight of the Conchords’ “Friends.” The entire ad was shot using an iPhone 17 Pro. The ad is the creative pivot (and audience win) Apple desperately needed after the pushback from its “Crush” ad. 

👖 Outrage Pays? Do American Eagle’s Q3 results indicate that its outrage marketing strategy is paying off, or is the company misguided? Total quarterly revenue increased 6% YOY, a new record of $1.4B. But digging deeper into comparable sales, they were up a mere 1% for American Eagle and 11% for Aerie. 

While American Eagle leaned heavily into celebrity-stacked marketing campaigns (including the Sydney Sweeney spot), Aerie leaned into its ethos. The brand went viral after an Instagram post that rejected AI and promised to use “real people only.” It quickly became the account’s most-liked content (despite some saying it was rating poorly). AEO expects this holiday season to be a big one and is using 8%-9% growth as the guidepost. We’ll see if Martha Stewart will bring in the green. 

Some other notable Q3 results: 

🛍️ Macy’s. The department store retailer raised its full-year sales and earnings outlook after reporting $4.7B in net sales and a comparable sales increase of 2.5%. Its initiative to reimagine 125 stores (aptly called “Macy’s Reimagine 125”) drove comparable sales growth of 2.3% on an owned basis and 2.7% growth on an owned-plus-licensed basis. For Bloomingdale’s, sales were up 8.8% YOY. These were the strongest results Macy’s Inc. has seen in 13 quarters. Still, we may see even more positive results during the holiday season after it sent the social sphere buzzing with its Millennial-friendly Thanksgiving Day Parade. Lil Jon and Geoffrey the Giraffe on a Toys “R” Us float? We were sold.

💲 Dollar Tree. A multi-price strategy helped the retailer see significant momentum, especially during the Halloween season. Same-store net sales were up 4.2% YOY, while overall sales for the quarter and gross profit increased 9.4% and 10.8% respectively. Banking on its position as a holiday destination, the retailer has raised its full-year guidance.

‍The House That Dupes Built. Williams-Sonoma is taking dupes to court. The company is suing Quince, the eTailer many know as a “dupe company” for using its brands in deceptive advertising. According to the complaint, Quince has promoted its beds, cookware, duvet covers, rugs, and other products as “Like Williams-Sonoma, but half the price” or “Pottery Barn quality for half the price.” The kicker, though, is that Williams-Sonoma claims that it has never sold the products Quince featured. The retailer is also challenging “Beyond Compare” charts that illustrate how much shoppers save by choosing Quince, noting that the company used incorrect pricing to inflate the savings. Williams-Sonoma described the marketing moves as “brand-washing”: creating a false impression of brand values or qualities to attract customers. 

Our Take: According to WARC research, nearly a third of adults (31%) have intentionally purchased a dupe product, and that number goes even higher (49%) when we look at Gen Z. They’re looking for products that are comparable in design, function, effectiveness, and aesthetic, but with greater financial value. It’s a ratio that fluctuates by category, but the expectations for home goods and furniture might be higher. After all, you’re building your home, your safe space, using these products. You don’t always want cheap, though it certainly helps. 

Comparing your products to those found in Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma, brands that emphasize quality and craft, weaves a powerfully convincing narrative. But when your marketing statements are not just misleading, but flat-out wrong, you’re a dupe company that’s trying to dupe its customers. 

Scent-ual Commerce. Jo Malone London and the Estée Lauder Companies have launched Scent Advisor, an AI-powered digital experience that helps shoppers find the perfect fragrance without having to sniff a sample. Developed using Google’s Gemini and Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform, the intuitive chat journey maps scents based on Jo Malone London’s olfactory data attributes. The experience is available to US and UK shoppers, helping the brand scale the expert guidance one would get in-store into the digital realm.

‍The New AI Shopping Cart. Albertsons Companies, Inc., is adding to its Ask AI tool with a new AI-powered shopping assistant. The web browser experience will be truly agentic, taking on consumers’ complex grocery tasks so they can go about their days. Beyond a basic restock function for weekly groceries, the tool can provide recipes based on what is in consumers’ fridges and pantries, and even craft curated product ideas based on event themes and holidays. The tool is available across all Albertsons Cos. banner websites, including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and Jewel-Osco. 

AI-Powered Holiday. Klaviyo’s BFCM report found that brands were having a very merry AI holiday: 45% more brands used AI-driven product recommendations in email, and 68% more messages were powered by AI recommendations. The result? A 71% revenue increase across those recommendation-powered messages. Overall, consumers found these experiences to be more enticing than batch-and-blast discounts. Because the average discount rate fell this year (as we noted in our holiday recap) curated and personalized experiences were the real win for both brands and consumers.