Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM)

Three of the biggest trends in retail today

Shoptalk is one of the largest annual retail conferences and Yahoo Finance was there this year to bring you all the latest news and trends. 2023’s event in Las Vegas was bigger than ever, a full takeover of the Mandalay Bay with close to 300 senior company leaders and thousands of guests. All the big retail names were there including the tech giants Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), and PayPal (PYPL), as well as giants of main street such as Foot Locker (FL) and Walmart (WMT). First, AI - artificial intelligence - is having its moment. It’s the ultimate buzzword in the field of investing, and AI was definitely on display at Shoptalk 2023. Tech companies are working with retailers to monetize a lot of the big data they’re collecting in real time. “I think as we see this next generation of AI it’s really powerful. And I think one of the most important questions out there is what are people going to ask it to do?” Pinterest CEO Bill Ready told us. The second major trend at Shoptalk was shipping. Retailers are battling to get all those products you buy online to your doorstep even faster. Shipt, which is owned by Target (TGT), is one of the big players. Twenty two billion packages are shipped every year in the United States according to a recent study by Pitney Bowes (PBI). The size of the package delivery market in the U.S. is expected to hit $157B this year, helping to explain the focus at Shoptalk on delivery solutions. The third big trend at Shoptalk was buy now, pay later. Companies like Affirm (AFRM) and Klarna are among the leaders. According to a recent survey, more than half of all consumers in the U.S. said they were currently using a buy now, pay later service. Key video moments: 00:00:20 three trends in retail today 00:00:40 how AI is changing shopping 00:02:05 buy now, pay later