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What You Need to Know This Week in B2B

This week we’re going to the mall! Interesting data on what’s going on in America’s shopping centers was just released in a survey conducted by investment bank UBS. The main takeaway is that people are increasingly going to the mall to eat instead of shop. UBS reported that the percentage of people who went to…

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This week we’re going to the mall! Interesting data on what’s going on in America’s shopping centers was just released in a survey conducted by investment bank UBS.

The main takeaway is that people are increasingly going to the mall to eat instead of shop. UBS reported that the percentage of people who went to a mall to eat rose from 4 percent to 7 this year, while those who went to shop decreased from 25 percent to 20.

Mall owners may be catching on to these trends as well. The brand-new ‘American Dream’ mega-mall in New Jersey will be composed of just 45 percent retail space, with the rest devoted to eateries and experience-activities.

We turn now from UBS to UPS. The package handler is issuing a warning to retailers ahead of the holiday shopping rush. UPS said Monday it expects a record-breaking year in item returns this winter.

This year’s peak, expected on January second, could come close to 2 million returns, which would be a 26-percent increase from last year’s high, according to the company. It is anticipated that close to one million packages will be returned per day in the month of December.

And finally, in Japan, Toshiba announced this week its plans to launch a new Internet-of-Things consortium in 2020.

Around 100 companies are expected to partner up with Toshiba, with the idea that they would be able to share best practices and technological updates through Toshiba’s service.

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More Retail Insights

Deloitte: Holiday e-commerce to reach up to $319B in 2026–27

Deloitte: Holiday e-commerce to reach up to $319B in 2026–27

Deloitte forecasts U.S. holiday e-commerce of $316.1 billion to $318.9 billion for November 2026 through January 2027, up 7.5% to 8.4%. Total retail is projected to grow 4% to 4.8% to about $1.7 trillion. The faster online growth rate is a planning input for fulfillment staffing and site readiness.

  • 01Last season's total holiday sales grew 4.1% by Census Bureau count, above the 2.9% to 3.4% range Deloitte had forecast in fall 2025.
  • 02Deloitte's 2025 survey found 33% of U.S. consumers expected to use generative AI somewhere in their holiday shopping; product data quality now matters for machine readers as well as human ones.
  • 03Adobe's and Salesforce's holiday projections landed in late September and October last year, so the next two to six weeks should bring corroborating or conflicting numbers to plan against.

Sep 18, 2026

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Circana reports U.S. private-label sales reached $330 billion, with store brands holding 24% unit share and 23% dollar share of CPG. Club stores drove nearly half of the growth. Circana expects share gains to continue through 2026 at a slower pace as national brands sharpen pricing and innovation.

  • 01Club channels account for nearly half of all U.S. private-brand growth, so a store-brand program benchmarked only against supermarket peers is missing where the volume is actually moving.
  • 02A one-point gap between store-brand unit share (24%) and dollar share (23%) suggests private label is no longer priced far below the market average, which changes the margin math for premium-tier extensions.
  • 03The EU's 50% private-label unit share is more than double the U.S. figure, a reference point for how much headroom exists even as Circana expects the U.S. pace to moderate through 2026.

Sep 17, 2026

Modern Retail: Meta Lab footprint set to nearly double

Modern Retail: Meta Lab footprint set to nearly double

Meta is nearly doubling the store footprint of Meta Lab, its retail concept for Ray-Ban AI glasses, according to Modern Retail. In November 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on pop-up stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Burlingame and New York City. The stores are built for lingering and selfies. That design brief matters for any brand selling a wearable people must try on.

  • 01Meta designed its Meta Lab pop-ups around dwell time and photo-taking, with coffee stations and full-length mirrors; its creative director told The Wall Street Journal the company wants visitors to bring friends and stay a while rather than move through quickly.
  • 02For brands launching a wearable that shoppers need to see on their own face, Meta’s planned store expansion is a real-world reference point for solving the try-on problem.
  • 03The signal to watch is whether the new Meta Lab locations keep the pop-up format the Journal described or shift toward longer-term leases.

Sep 17, 2026

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