2025 will include sharp increases in consumer mistrust of brands as people navigate the choppy waters of the higher prices they now confront. Consumers attribute constant and unpredictable price changes to gouging and brand opportunism.

Moms make over 70% of all household purchases. Mothers in the US spend over twice as much time on Facebook and Facebook Messenger than they do on TikTok, that according to September ComScore data, 93.3% of US mothers are on social media. Those of us who are in business and are focused on making sales better be focused on getting the attention of moms.

As reported by Axios Detroit, Michigan's outdoor recreation industry pumped $13.9B into the state's economy last year. In addition to the tourism activities associated w/ the state's recreational sector, it's the production, the warehousing, the shipping of outdoor recreation specific goods, the jobs in those businesses, for example, from the manufacturing of boats, outdoor apparel, and even fly lines for fly fishing.

While we scramble to make those last minute purchases, retailers will be ringing those cash registers as an estimated 157 million consumers plan to still shop on the last Saturday before Christmas according to the annual survey released this week by the National Retail Federation.

The Snowflake Startup Challenge, for early stage startups that are building innovative applications and products, is open. Powered by Snowflake's AI Data Cloud, the winner and finalists receive up to a million dollars in investments from Snowflake and mentorship from industry leaders at New York Stock Exchange. Deadline to apply is March 1st, 2025. Go to snowflake.com/challenge

AI is playing a major role this year as Salesforce reports that AI will influence as much as $200 billion in sales as retailers have increased their use of generative AI and chatbot agents, and that's a 23% week over week increase just since Cyber Monday.

Latest workforce trend known as revenge quitting, when workers who feel particularly burned out or frustrated may be more likely to quit w/ little regard to whether they leave on good terms w/ their employee or not. A recent report on workplace trends for 2025 by Glassdoor noted that a wave of revenge quitting is on the horizon. What's an employer to do? Take extra care to ensure a strong company culture in which employees feel appreciated, wanted, and heard.

Ryan Goff, Executive VP Chief Marketing Officer and Social Media Marketing Director at MGH said, content creators and businesses alike should take note of the opportunity the TikTok platform presents. The impact of compelling content and reviews have on purchasing decisions as we dive head first into the competitive holiday season. So if you're a merchant looking for a way to create awareness and drive direct sales, look to social media platforms like TikTok and others to do just that this holiday season

Adobe Analytics measured the impact of marketing investments this season. Consumers spent an overall $6.1 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, up 8.8% year over year. Mobile shopping hit highs on Thanksgiving Day, reaching 59.5% of all online sales, which represents $3.6 billion in online spending via mobile, up 10.5% year over year. The process of optimizing your site on mobile has never been easier as an endless array of tools and resources at your fingertips these days to do just that.

New data from E-marketer highlights the total return value to reach $931 billion this year. That's a 2% increase over 2023 and 81% of US digital shoppers review return policies before making a purchase with a merchant for the first time, and 73% agree that a poor returns experience impacts their decision to shop with a merchant in the future.