News Briefs

Mexico’s largest department store chain is taking a big step in artificial intelligence.

El Puerto de Liverpool will implement the Commercetools agentic AI platform, including AI Hub and Agent Gateway and supporting services, to connect product and promotional pricing data to AI shopping channels such as ChatGPT via the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) open standard.

Liverpool intends to leverage Commercetools technology to securely test, measure, and scale AI-enabled shopping experiences across its digital channels and store network, regardless of customers start on an app, website or through a conversational AI platform and without changing its core commerce stack.

“Our customers are shifting from search and scroll to asking specific questions and expecting faster decisions,” said Antonino Guichard, chief digital officer, Liverpool. “We’re focused on meeting customers where they are and creating seamless journeys, not fragmented experiences.”

Liverpool will enable research and, where supported, checkout inside AI assistants such as ChatGPT via ACP with accurate pricing and availability, helping reduce the time between discovery and purchase. 

[READ MORE: How awareness is becoming the point of sale]

The retailer will also be able to offer consistent experiences across channels because Commercetools’ agentic commerce offering applies the same brand rules and policies to AI interactions that customers experience on Liverpool’s web, app, and in stores. 

Walmart and Sam’s Club recently began enabling shoppers to complete purchases directly within ChatGPT. Other retailers offering ChatGPT-enabled shopping include e-commerce platform Shopify and online retailer Etsy. PayPal will allow its users to make purchases directly within ChatGPT beginning in 2026.

"The era of agentic commerce has arrived, and a significant part of AI searches is related to product recommendations and shopping," said Dirk Hoerig, founder of Commercetools. "Retailers need to prepare data, governance, and checkout for AI-led journeys to stay ahead."

The mood of consumers darkened in November.

The University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index fell to 50.3 in a preliminary reading for November, down from 53.6 in the prior month and down 29.9% year over year. The November reading is at its lowest level since June 2022, which was the lowest level on record.

The drop in sentiment was led by a 17% decrease in current personal finances and a 11% decline in year-ahead expected business conditions. In other readings, the index measuring current economic conditions fell 10.8% to 52.3, and the index measuring consumer expectations fell 2.6% to 49.0.

“With the federal government shutdown dragging on for over a month, consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative consequences for the economy,” said Joanne Hsu, surveys of consumers director, University of Michigan. “This month’s decline in sentiment was widespread throughout the population, seen across age, income, and political affiliation.”

The decline was widespread throughout the population, Hsu added, with one key exception. Consumers with the largest portion of stock holdings posted a notable 11% increase in sentiment.

Inflation

Year-ahead inflation expectations inched up from 4.6% last month to 4.7% this month. They remained well below readings in May in the wake of the initial announcements of major tariff changes.

Long-run inflation expectations declined from 3.9% last month to 3.6% in November. These expectations are now below the midpoint between the readings seen a year ago and the 2025 peak reading from April.

Costco Wholesale Corp. maintained its momentum in October, reporting another monthly sales gain.

Net sales increased 8.3% to $48.33 billion in October, or the four weeks ending Nov. 2. Total comparable sales rose 6.6%. Digitally-enabled comps were up 16.6%. U.S. comp sales increased 6.6%, and Canada comps rose 6.3%. Other international comps rose 7.2%. 

Total comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange increased 6.8%. U.S. comps rose 6.7%, and Canada comps rose 8.8%. Other international comps rose 5.1%. 

The company noted that last year’s total and comparable sales were negatively affected by a little more than one percent in the U.S. and slightly less than one percent worldwide due to pull forward activity associated with Hurricane Helene and port strikes in September.

[READ MORE: Costco Q4 tops Street, to open 35 new warehouses; holiday mix to look ‘different’]

Costco currently operates 918 warehouses, including 632 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 111 in Canada, 42 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, two in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland, and New Zealand. The company also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

As of Nov. 6, Starbucks is officially in holiday mode.

The coffee giant has launched its holiday menu, which include seasonal beverages and bakery items, along with special merchandise. Starbucks has also rolled out its annual holiday cup line, with this year’s designs feature a cheerful color palette with warm coffeehouse textures and flowing ribbons. On the back of each cup is a little tag for writing a message

The motif used for the cups continues throughout the chain’s cafes, with boughs of evergreen garland and velvet ribbons.

“We’ve dipped the stores in rich textures and a deep coffee cherry red, and Starbucks green” said Starbucks creative director Kristy Cameron. “We hope our coffeehouses feel warm and festive, a place where you want to come and sit with us a little while and enjoy the holidays together.” 

In addition, Starbucks unveiled new festive drinkware and gifts set to arrive in stores in early November. Each item in the lineup, which includes cold cups and tumblers, features joyful designs and wintry textures, the company said. 

Also in time for the holidays, Starbucks and Hello Kitty have teamed up to launch a “super cute” merchandise collection. The exclusive collection features an array of items and collectibles, including a Hello Kitty plush dressed in the iconic Starbucks green apron (and her signature red bow), alongside her teddy bear, Tiny Chu.

A newer form of payment continues has jumped in popularity during the past year.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans have overtaken store credit cards in popularity, according to LendingTree’s 2025 Store Credit Card Report. More than half (53%) of surveyed consumers prefer BNPL over store credit cards as a payment option, up from 42% last year. 

Also, nearly three-in-four parents of young children prefer BNPL, as do 70% of millennials, 64% of Gen Zers and 60% of men.

The growing popularity of BNPL doesn’t mean shoppers are completely abandoning store cards. Forty-three percent of Americans are likely to apply for a store credit card this holiday season — up 14 points from last year and the highest since 2020 (44%). 

In other findings, the average interest rate on a new store credit card is 30.58%. That’s down from 30.78% a year ago, but it is still the second-highest since we began tracking in 2018. And more than half (57%) of store cardholders say store cards are their most used credit card, up from 46% a year ago.

LendingTree commissioned QuestionPro to conduct an online survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 78 from Oct. 2 to 6, 2025. To read the full Lending Tree report, click here.

The offering follows Amazon’s January 2025 release of a generative AI-based natural language interface that lets advertisers on the Amazon Ads retail media platform generate SQL queries for their desired audience use case in the Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC); as well as the October 2024 rollout of a range of new AI-equipped solutions and insight-based features for advertisers on Amazon Ads

[READ MORE: Amazon launches AI tools, new capabilities for advertisers]