News Briefs

Supermarket cooperative Allegiance Retail Services has debuted its newest grocery banner.

Developed to meet the expectations of today’s busy shopper, the new small-format Pathmark Daily offers a curated assortment of high-quality fresh foods and essential grocery items to support a healthy lifestyle, all anchored in affordability and everyday value, the company said. Allegiance acquired the Pathmark name and all intellectual property in 2016 after parent company A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015. 

The inaugural Pathmark Daily is located in East Meadow, N.Y. The location spans 28,000 square feet across two floors, with a 15,000-sq.-ft. main shopping level 

“Pathmark Daily answers the need of consumers who want a fast, hassle-free shopping experience emphasizing strong value and quality,” said Joseph Fantozzi, COO, president, Allegiance Retail Services. “Our customers rely on Pathmark for savings and Pathmark Daily will continue that promise by offering Best Yet products, weekly promotions, and a meaningful rewards program, with neighborhoods in mind.”

Allegiance supports independent supermarkets (including Foodtown, Freshtown, D’Agostino, Gristedes, Pathmark, LaBella Marketplace, Brooklyn Harvest, Market Fresh, Big Deal Food Market, Green Way Markets and Shop n Bag) by providing them with marketing, advertising, technological and merchandising support.

Consumers are starting to ramp up their online gift buying for the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday.

In an email to Chain Store Age, an Adobe spokesperson said during the week of April 26-29, online sales were up 35% in fragrances (compared to average daily sales in 2026). Sales were up 25% during the same period in 2025. Adobe expects fragrance sales the weekend of May 2-3 to be up 65%.

[READ MORE: NRF: Mother’s Day spending expected to hit new record]

In purses & handbags, online sales were up 37%, compared to 30% in the same period in 2025, and are expected to be up 55% over the May 2-3 weekend. And in jewelry, online sales were up 21% compared to 29% the prior year and are expected to be up 50% during the May 2-3 weekend. 

In jewelry, watches have been trending, up 80% so far the week of April 26-29, followed by necklaces (up 51%) and earrings (up 44%). 

Looking ahead, Adobe expects a major uptick coming up for flower sales online, spiking May 9-10 (Mother’s Day occurs Sunday, May 10) in the range of a 550 to 600% increase. 

While Adobe expects deals to be more modest leading up to Mother’s Day (in the range of 3% to 4% off listed price), it predicts consumers will see the best last-minute discounts in the electronics and home & garden categories on Friday, May 8 and in the appliance and personal care products categories on Saturday, May 9.

Mother’s Day budgets are expected to shrink this year as high prices pinch consumers.

According to new data from coupon platform RetailMeNot, 72% of U.S. consumers plan to shop for the May 10 holiday this year, up from 65% last year. Average planned spend has dropped to $93 per person, down from $360 last year.

To cope with higher prices, 24% of those surveyed are shopping sales for Mother’s Day, while 18% are setting lower budgets and 11% are using promo codes or cash back. Ten percent are splitting costs with family, while another 10% are choosing experiences instead of physical gifts. More than a quarter (27%) say they’re not changing their spending at all.

According to a recent estimate from the National Retail Federation, consumer spending on Mother’s Day is expected to reach a record $38 billion this year. The amount tops last year’s total spending of $34.1 billion.

Shoppers are most likely to spend on flowers (45%, up from 38% last year), food and treats (38%), gift cards (32%) and jewelry (21%) for Mother’s Day gifts this year. When asked what the most underrated Mother’s Day gift is, consumers’ answers weren’t products. These included quality time with family over a nice meal (21%), a day to relax with no responsibilities (19%), household help like cleaning, chores, or errands taken care of (12%), and restaurant meals she didn’t have to cook or plan (11%).

[READ MORE: Study: The top drivers of Mother’s Day purchases are…]

“From Easter to Mother’s Day, the same consumer keeps showing up,” noted Stephanie Carls, retail insights expert at RetailMeNot. “High intent to celebrate. More selective about spending. Clear preference for meaning over price tag.”

RetailMeNot’s Mother’s Day survey included 1,023 consumers, and was fielded on March 24, 2026.

A leading home improvement retailer is extending the earning potential of the rewards program for its professional (pro) customers.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. is expanding an existing partnership with financial services company Synchrony to issue an American Express credit card for members of its MyLowe’s Pro Rewards program aimed at home improvement industry professionals.

[READ MORE: Lowe’s introduces loyalty program for home improvement professionals]

The new card, the MyLowe’s Pro Rewards American Express card, complements the existing MyLowe’s Pro Rewards Credit Card, which can be used only in Lowe’s stores. The new card can be used anywhere American Express is accepted. Lowe’s says this will help extend the purchasing power and rewards earning potential of the loyalty offering beyond its stores.

Pro customers can now apply for the MyLowe’s Pro Rewards American Express Card in-store or on the retailer’s e-commerce site. The card offers MyLowe’s Pro rewards pointson eligible purchases and a variety of other benefits, including no annual fee.

American Express will continue serving as the payment network for the MyLowe’s Pro Rewards American Express Card program.

“By expanding our card-issuing relationship with Synchrony and leveraging the American Express network for this card, we’re continuing to strengthen our offering for small-to-medium Pros and deliver value through MyLowe’s Pro Rewards,” said Brandon J. Sink, Lowe’s CFO. “We’re making it faster and easier for Pros to shop and keep their businesses running smoothly, with flexible financing tailored to their project needs.”

Based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s Companies Inc. operates over 1,750 home improvement stores, 540 branches and 120 distribution centers. 

Albertsons is enabling participants in its retail media network to reach shoppers via YouTube.

The grocery conglomerate’s Albertsons Media Collective retail media arm is now allowing brand partners to deliver ads through and obtain measurement from YouTube using the Google Display & Video 360 marketing platform.

As a result, advertisers can gain visibility into SKU-level performance by audience, media channel, and inventory type, as well as on-demand optimization insights to help obtain deeper understanding of shopper behavior to assist development of future campaigns. 

SKU-level performance analysis is seamlessly provided by LiveRamp, with no additional action required by brands. Through seamless Google workflows, advertisers can maintain full control over budget, creativity, targeting, and optimization.

“Our 36 million weekly shoppers are at the heart of every partnership we build at Albertsons Media Collective,” said Evan Hovorka, VP product innovation, Albertsons Media Collective. “Our collaboration with Google extends the power of real, purchase-based insights by bringing our first-party data into YouTube and DV360. This enables brands to seamlessly reach our shoppers where they’re already streaming and engaging—creating a more relevant, connected, and impactful online shopping experience. A true win-win for brands and customers alike."  

Other Albertsons Media Collective advertising collaborations include a partnership with ad technology provider Perion Network Ltd. to give brands the ability to activate against Albertsons’ purchase-based first-party audiences across Perion's display and digital out-of-home (DOOH) formats.    

[READ MORE: Albertsons extends retail media network via new partnership]

Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Albertsons Companies operates more than 2,200 stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under more than 20 banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci's Food Lovers Market.

The granddaddy of online sales events is shifting its timing.

Confirming earlier media speculation, Amazon announced it will move its annual Amazon Prime Day sales extravaganza, which requires membership in its Prime subscription service to participate, from its traditional mid-July setting to unspecified dates in June.  The news came as the company released its first-quarter results, which included a 17% increase in net sales.

Prime Day 2026 will take place in June in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the U.K. and the U.S. The event will occur later this summer in Australia, Brazil, India and Japan.

The only other two times Prime Day occurred outside of July were 2020, when it was pushed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021 when Amazon hosted the event in June as the economy was still in recovery from the pandemic.

According to previous media reports, major motivations for the change reportedly include having Prime Day occur in the second quarter of Amazon’s fiscal year rather than the third quarter, as well as capturing more back-to-school sales.

In July 2025, Amazon expanded Prime Day from two days to four days and exceeded projections with $24.1 billion in sales. 

[READ MORE: Three signals from a four-day Amazon Prime Day]

While the July timing of Prime Day has made it the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season, the retailer also now hosts an annual two-day October sales event called Prime Big Deal Days, as well as several other early holiday promotions in October and November and a major Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales effort.

Numerous retailers, including top Amazon competitors such as Walmart and Target, host their own annual July sales events timed to overlap Prime Day. It remains to be seen if those promotions would also shift to late June.