This episode of Retaili$tic explores the impact of AI on retail, consumer sentiment amid economic challenges, and innovative tech solutions for business growth. Featuring insights from Deborah Weinswig, it offers a comprehensive look at current retail trends and future opportunities.
Key topics
AI Impact Framework in retail
Consumer sentiment and spending behavior
Tech innovations for business agility
Chapters
00:00 Understanding the Changing Consumer Landscape
04:59 Consumer Sentiment and Spending Trends
07:40 Innovations in Technology and Consumer Engagement
Philip Moore (00:00)
Welcome to Retaili$tic, the official podcast of Coresight Research for May 5, 2026. This week, Coresight Research CEO Deborah Wineswig takes a deep dive our ongoing research on consumer sentiment the implications for consumer spending for the rest of the But before we get to Deborah's insights on how the consumer is reacting to the conflict in the Middle East and the new tariff landscape,
Dana is here to share about some of the exciting research publishing on Coresight.com this week.
Dana (00:31)
Thanks, Philip. From Hershey's strategic outlook to the latest store tracker data, this week at CoreSight is packed. What is AI's real impact on retail at scale and how can businesses measure it? Our report of the week introduces the AI Impact Framework, a new lens for evaluating how artificial intelligence is transforming retail operations. We're also diving into fresh U.S. consumer survey insights, energy and inflation's effect on retail heading into holiday, and our premium subscriber call covers the trackers you need.
US and UK store performance for April. Plus, Seven and I Holdings takes the analyst stage. Whether you're tracking consumer sentiment, store level execution, or the AI investment shaping the next era of retail, this week has the intelligence you need.
Philip Moore (01:16)
Thanks, Dana. Now here's Deb.
Deborah Weinswig (01:18)
Hello and welcome to another episode of Retailistic. This week we are going to take a look at the changing consumer picture. So at Coresight we started in early 2020, I think really like the first week of January, to survey consumers both in the US and China. And the idea was at the time to see kind of where there were similarities and differences and any leading indicator that might be
as far as economic growth or something else. And what we've seen is that understanding consumer habits, whether they're picking up an extra cup of coffee or if they're buying more groceries versus restaurants, how are all of these macro factors kind of showing up in actual spending? And...
One thing, if we look at the data from the most recent week, is that we actually saw financial sentiment fall to a record low. And that was driven by a sharp decline across income groups. And it's really the first time we've seen that. And so certainly, think the Middle East conflict and a lot of concern over gas prices. And I think that is
across all demographics. And we're starting to hear it show up in more and more conversations, whether it's supply chain or healthcare or financial services. Certainly there are concerns as we think about holiday 2026, not only in terms of consumers open to buy, but also in terms of whether it's the tariffs or the, let's call it fuel surcharge. I think those are some significant concerns right now.
And what I found to be interesting is that, once again, all demographics saw a with the largest decline really being on that kind of $50,000 under household income. And if you think about it, if you're living paycheck to paycheck, now gas prices, depending on where you are, they're up kind of across the board.
And so that's literally eating into your ability to consume on a weekly basis. And so I think there are concerns there. mean, the good thing is that there are some safety nets. But as we look at how much attention, right, we were just kind of trying to think about the impact, whether it was social media or traditional news outlets, et cetera. But.
Certainly what's changed, I would say, over the last few weeks is that the consumer, least from a mindshare perspective, they are more focused on what's happening. that could, in part, just because they're thinking about it so much, that could change how they're spending or how they're thinking about spending.
we ask many different questions. One is kind of like, where do you spend? And we've seen the most significant by far in restaurants, movies, food or beverages more generally. And that I think is, even people kind of like putting money into their savings account. So things for, I would say that help us understand kind of short.
but also longer term financial health of the consumer. so the change I think has been more rapid than we would have expected. But also once again, you just can't seem to escape this conversation or this topic. And no matter how much one of us may try, because you do feel quite helpless I think as a consumer. Because in many cases, there's something that you can do. I mean, I guess.
theoretically you could walk or ride your bike, but ultimately it's also showing up not only just at the pump for one's self, but also in terms of higher prices kind of across the board. And I think that the consumer doesn't appear to be changing where they shop significantly. It's really more just about what they're buying or what they're doing. And so, you know,
It's really the leisure activities that are taking the hit. again, restaurants and movies or shows. And so the consumer doesn't have that outlet. They're more concerned about spending on a daily basis with, in some cases, concerns over job stability, et cetera. And so I think we have a very stressed consumer right now, probably the most stressed we've seen in quite some time.
I do think that could have an impact as we think about how this kind of prelude into the summer, what back to school might look like, and then even holiday. And so we would really suggest that across the board, retailers and brands start to think about a contingency strategy. And as
We potentially have higher tariffs revisiting us soon. And everyone's waiting for the tariff refunds. So we're in this almost wait and see. So from a consumer perspective, they're feeling very stressed. From a retailer brand perspective, there's a lot of unknowns. And that in and of itself could
lead to, which would not be the worst thing in the world, but let's just say order cuts going into holiday. I think we're seeing very exaggerated decay or like the core site hourglass. That's really playing out in a very significant way. so luxury brands, smart luxury, however you want to look at it, brands that, or retailers that have
you know, kind of the club model where the consumer feels like they're getting a great deal, but they're having to spend a lot more at once, you know, at one time that, you know, we're still seeing strength there. And so I think ultimately that if your customer is in, let's say middle, upper, upper middle, you know, is looking at smart luxury or luxury.
That customer is still spending. And in fact, we were at a panel two weeks ago with some of the top luxury names and they were like, you know, there is no price point that is kind of too high right now, right? The consumer is continuing to spend that upper high net worth individual. But when they sit right there, their loyal customers becoming even more loyal.
but they said they weren't necessarily seeing a lot of newer customers. And so that is, think, where I'm gonna stop for this week. It's a different approach we took, right, looking at some of our research. And so this is our weekly kind of consumer survey insights, right. We're gonna leave most of the numbers for our subscribers, and we would love for you to subscribe. Please reach out. And then also, we'd love to hear your feedback on, if you would like a mix of, you know,
us interviewing our analysts, reviewing research, having guests on, and even just kind of, you know, some of the topics, right? We've talked a lot about AI and a lot of new companies that have either are, you know, AI native or companies that were seeing strength and then started to kind of take another leg up. I'm going I'm going leave you with this thought. So I'm in Montreal this week and I was with somebody I've known for years.
And he founded a company in the tech space. And I was always, to be honest, quite impressed by what he had done. But we had both talked about some of the challenges of managing talent and your teams, and especially with global teams. And we would just share best practices and what we'd learned and how we could support each other. What was really interesting is we grabbed lunch.
together yesterday and he was like really excited because I think we're gonna have him on our next AI council meeting call. He started this company and they are able to join your calls as an, it's an agent, right? As almost a coach. And at the end of the call, everyone will get a rating, like very specific reviews on what you could have said better, how you could have performed better. But he said that,
This has been not only like he's at think 100 subscribers already in like a month, but that right, it's an agentic build, he built it all himself. I don't think he has any employees. Maybe he's got one person, but it's really himself. He said because he knows like the whole tech stack, he knows what he needs to do to grow. He is very clear on who the buyer is.
that lot of that stress that many of us feel sometimes, right, it's if you're building right, Gen.A.I. native companies, it's a completely different ball game. And so as we all think about kind of like what the future might hold, there's an opportunity to, you he's still keeping his kind of, you know, let's call it 2018, which has done quite well, that company in play.
but then working on something new that may just have a completely different build because sometimes the website, we're like, we'd love to do this, but it's gonna take us three months, six months, and cost us an arm and a leg. And so this ability to think about something and to be able to do it right away as opposed to having this growing to-do list, I think more and more, and we'll come up with some snazzy word for that or whatever, but it truly is this ability to own your own destiny.
in a way that I don't think many of us were able to do before just because of the amount of work all those things took. Now it's about being able to think about what exactly you want and articulate it and then kind of make changes in real time. So now we have a wrap. And once again, thanks for joining us for another episode of Retailistic. Let us know if you like this format or what you find most valuable and please like or subscribe on your channel of choice. Thanks so much.
Philip Moore (10:55)
Thanks, Deborah, and thank you for joining us this week. Core Site Research serves the retail community with time-sensitive research on consumer shopping behavior, retail technology innovation, financial outlooks for industry leaders, and trends across every retail vertical. We also facilitate leadership communities, conduct seminars and conferences, provide strategic consulting, conduct technology assessments, and develop deep proprietary data resources.
Visit us at coresite.com to learn about all the ways we can support your success. Have a wonderful week.