News Briefs

Elliott Investment Management is making its voice heard following the news that Lululemon Athletica CEO Calvin McDonald plans to step down at the end of January. 

The activist investor, which has built a stake of more than $1 billion in the struggling athleisure brand, is bringing a potential CEO candidate to the company, reported The Wall Street Journal. Elliott has been working with retail veteran Jane Nielsen as a potential candidate, according to the report. Nielsen spent nearly nine years at Ralph Lauren, joining as CFO in 2016 and adding the role COO in 2019, She left the company in April 2025.

Prior to Ralph Lauren, Nielsen was at Coach, serving as CFO from 2011 to 2016. Before, that, she spent nearly 17 years at PepsiCo. In a statement to the Journal, Nielsen said she would “welcome the chance to discuss this opportunity with the Lululemon board.”

In the release announcing McDonald’s upcoming exit, Lululemon said its board was conducting “a comprehensive search process in partnership with a leading executive search firm to identify the company’s next CEO."

[READ MORE: Lululemon founder wants board changes to help with CEO search]

Elliott Investment's stake in Lululemon was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Sweetgreen Inc. is losing one of its longest-serving executives.

The healthy-eating fast-casual restaurant brand said that co-founder Nathaniel Ru will retire as chief brand officer, effective Jan. 1. Zipporah Allen, who joined as chief commercial officer in September, has assumed Ru’s responsibilities.  Ru, who spent 20 years building Sweetgreen, will continue to serve as a member of the board.

Ru is one of the three individuals who developed the concept while students at Georgetown University. Their goal was to create a place where healthy, sustainable food was accessible to all. 

“Since writing our first business plan in 2006 while in college, to now over 280 locations around the country, Nate has been there every step, shaping Sweetgreen into the national brand it is today. I have immense gratitude for Nate’s tireless work, support, and friendship,” said Jonathan Neman, co-founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. “I know how rare it is to build a company with a partner for this many years and he’s remained steadfast in Sweetgreen’s mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food.”

Sweetgreen, similar to some other fast-casual brands, is coming off a difficult year. Its third-quarter same-store sales fell 9.5% amid a 11.7% traffic decline. Its comp-sales also were down in the first two quarters.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have brought this dream to life alongside some of the brightest, hardest-working people I’ve ever known,” stated Ru. “We've partnered with hundreds of farmers across the United States to source some of the most delicious ingredients. We’ve collaborated with the world's best chefs, athletes, and musicians. We’ve helped underserved communities and classrooms gain access to healthy food.”

Holiday return rates have dramatically risen since the pre-pandemic area.

Close to one-in-five (17%) holiday purchases will be returned, and total returns for purchases made during the 2025 holiday season are expected to amount to approximately $160 billion. New analysis emailed to Chain Store Age from business-to-business resale platform B-Stock also indicates there will be a slightly higher return rate of 19% for online holiday purchases, totaling roughly $50 to $60 billion dollars. 

B-Stock data further reveals that holiday return rates have more than doubled since 2019, which was the last holiday season before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other findings include that the return percentage for online holiday apparel purchases is closer to 30%, and that processing a return can cost a retailer around 30% of the item’s original price, or higher for low-cost products. 

In addition, about seven-in-10 (71%) consumers say they are less likely to shop with a retailer again after a poor returns experience. B-stock also provided some holiday returns statistics based on the experience of its top retail clients:  

• The most frequently items returned post-holiday are women’s trendy apparel, toys, specialty kitchen items, and tools.
• During the typical first quarter of a new year, there is a 20-30% increase in inventory being sold across the B-Stock business-to-business resale platform.
• Approximately 60% of returned holiday merchandise is customer returns with 40% resulting from excess inventory or shelf pulls.
• The number of truckloads of returned merchandise doubles from January to March of a typical year. 

Recent Adobe Analytics data is more bullish on holiday returns. Adobe found that from Nov. 1 to Dec. 12), returns were down 2.5% compared to the comparable period in 2024. 

[READ MORE: Adobe: Holiday returns follow promising trend]

Two home improvement retail giants are maintaining their leads in the category.

The Home Depot and Lowe’s captured 29% and 17% respectively of consumer spending in the home improvement category as of the third quarter of this year, according to Numerator’s Home Improvement Tracker. Amazon rose to the #2 spot in the ranking briefly in December, January and February.

Consumers told Numerator that the top reasons for purchasing from a specific retailer included a convenient location (50.1%), better prices (44%), and more product options/availability (33.4%)

Most home improvement categories have held steady in the past year, with relatively stable household penetration, buy rate, purchase frequency and spend per trip, according to Numerator. The categories with the highest household penetration are household cleaners & cleaning tools (98.8% of U.S. households purchased), lawn & garden (90.4%), painting supplies & wall treatments (66%) and hand tools (54.3%). Home improvement categories that saw the most growth in household penetration over the last 12 months were power tools (41.2%) and outdoor power equipment (39%).

[READ MORE: Home Depot gives cautious guidance for 2026; offers ‘market recovery’ outlook]

Most home improvement categories are still dominated by name brand products, while private label brands show steady share across categories. Hand tools have the largest private label share (42.9% private label, 57.1% name brand) followed by lawn and garden supplies (22.5% private label, 77.5% name brand).

Consumers that purchased home improvement items in the third quarter of 2025 told Numerator that they purchased items simply because they wanted them (31.8%) or they needed supplies for a small DIY project (19.6%).

A regional East Coast grocer is deploying headset-enabled voice technology across its stores.

Weis Markets will provide associates in stores across Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and Virginia with VoCoVo Series 5 Pro Headsets, call points, and keypads to enable seamless, real-time communication.

Leveraging VoCoVo technology, Weis Markets seeks to allow store associates to connect instantly to improve responsiveness and customer service. Associates will be able to make and receive calls directly from their headsets, while call points and keypads will serve to streamline communication at service counters and registers.

"Our store teams are looking forward to using VoCoVo's technology, which will help them enhance customer experience,” said Greg Zeh, Weis Markets CIO/senior VP. "This investment helps our teams collaborate in real time, which makes our stores more efficient, connected, and responsive to customer needs."

Weis Markets also recently deployed the Elera security suite from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions across self-checkout lanes in all its 199 stores, with plans to extend the technology to dual-use and cashier lanes. 

[READ MORE: Weis Markets uses edge AI to enhance security at self-checkout]

Leveraging edge AI capabilities, the Elera solution enables Weis Markets to perform real-time, on-device processing at self-checkout stations to automatically identify produce items and detect and respond to loss-related behaviors as they occur. 

"We're thrilled to support Weis Markets' mission of operational excellence and superior customer service," said Martin Smethurst, chief customer officer at VoCoVo. "Our technology is designed to empower frontline teams with instant, seamless communication, and we're proud to help Weis create smarter, safer, and more connected stores across the region."

Founded in 1912, Weis Markets Inc. is a regional food retailer operating 201 stores across Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, and West Virginia.

DoorDash wants to use artificial intelligence to help customers find the perfect restaurant.

In a post on X (the social network formerly known as Twitter), DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang announced that the online delivery platform is launching Zesty, a new food discovery app, in the San Francisco Bay area and New York and collecting user feedback.

"Today, we’re excited to launch Zesty, a new food discovery app to help you find the best local places," Fang said in the post, dated Dec. 15, 2025. "Powered by AI to help you search how you want and ask questions like a concierge; and aggregating info across DoorDash, Google Maps, TikTok, etc. to curate the best suggestions from the web."

According to Digital Trends, Zesty provides an AI chatbot that lets customers use natural language prompts to search for and receive personalized recommendations of local restaurants to order food from or visit for table service. The chatbot will also provide pre-made search prompts and will track and learn from customer searches to gradually refine its personalization capabilities.

The app reportedly displays recommendations on a map of the user’s area. Users can tap recommended locations to obtain information such as hours of operation, physical address, and most popular menu items. Customers can also bookmark their personalized recommendations, as well as share them with friends.

[READ MORE: DoorDash integrates alcoholic beverage catalog into product listings]

The U.S. Zesty website simply features a large, rainbow-colored logo, a button for visitors currently living in the San Francisco Bay area and New York download the beta version onto Apple devices, and a small DoorDash logo.

Image source: Andy Fang X account.