What's driving these trends? Largely, it's uncertainty. Uncertainty, driving concern over where we are headed and what the future holds for the average consumer, is having a real-world impact on the economy and won't resolve favorably until consumer sentiment improves.

The contest is intended to pick the most promising new brick and mortar business concept. The businesses competing in this competition are doing so to win a hundred thousand dollars from Comerica Bank to take their concept to reality and actually open a physical store in either Detroit, Hamtramck, or Highland Park. 10 small businesses are competing as semi-finalists and the public will vote on their favorite until May 23rd. Go to hatchdetroit.com to have your voice be a factor in this.

The total digital ad spend is estimated to grow 3.9% and about 4% annually through 2028. Digital media is expected to gain share at the expense of print, broadcast and cable media. Search display banner streaming and connected TV dominated the local digital budgets last year with BLL Associates estimating that combined sectors will hold 78% of digital and 57% of total local advertising within three years.

top import categories in which states will be most effective by the dynamic changes going on today in those industry sectors. So first, the second biggest category of imports to the US relate to computers and electronics. Those imports are the top related import in nine states.The top import in the country, cars [00:01:00] and auto equipment. That industry sector has the highest value import in 14 states.

And this category includes fully finished cars as well as those partly assembled auto parts and even airline parts. And of course, Michigan leads the country and dollar value of auto-related imports at $108 billion. Given this reality, one, can't help but wonder and ask what will the significance of the Trump tariffs ultimately be here on the state of Michigan, since we depend so heavily on imports related to our top industry, time will tell, of course, new tariffs going into effect here in the month of May, and others threaten some being pulled back.

2025 rankings reveal a shift taking place across corporate America in which corporations are increasingly untethered from traditional urban economic hubs. Companies are migrating towards states offering a powerful trifecta that is a business-friendly environment, a skilled workforce, in a more affordable, higher quality of life.

If there's ever been a time to buy generic, it's now many consumers are turning to private label products, including Kirkland Signature to save money. Creating demand for items, better purchase now, rather than waiting when prices will be higher. And in other cases where consumers are already pulling back on certain purchases, one thing is for sure, consumers today are a lot more conservative with their spending moving away from significant purchases and non-essential purchases as well.

Where will small business advertisers turn should TikTok be banned? Well, it looks like Instagram reels followed by YouTube shorts are the two most popular alternatives to advertising on TikTok.

Spending on this year's Mother's Day hit $34.1 billion, total spending amount is up from last year's $33.5 billion. A deeper look into the spending reveals that, consistent with previous years, 84% of adults celebrated the holiday, and on average, it's estimated that those who did celebrate spent $259 on average on Mother's Day gifts and other things relating to celebrations. That's about $5 more than they spent in 2024. Where did all the spending take place? Online, where 36% of all shoppers did their buying.

The good news when it comes to AI, more than three in five consumers are comfortable or very comfortable with chatbots or AI support when contacting brands. Julie Geller, principal Research Director at Infotech Research Group, says "the key with AI and customer service applications is to design for customer outcomes rather than company convenience".

According to a new user testing survey released last month, more than 2/3 of consumers in the US, Australia, and the UK are willing to pay an average of 25% more for their purchases made from their favorite brands. The average person remains loyal to as many as six brands with the most loyalty being associated with grocery, food, clothing, footwear, phone, and electronics brands.