Breaking news, industry updates, and the latest developments shaping global retail, e-commerce, and commerce technology.
The FTC has settled its first Robinson-Patman Act case in a generation, imposing six years of monitored pricing limits on Southern Glazer’s across 26 states. Chairman Ferguson disclosed that discovery put total annual harm at roughly $15.7m, far below the 2024 complaint’s framing.
Walmart raised fiscal 2027 capital spending to approximately 4.0% of net sales on 20 August 2026, five months after its CFO called the peak, and Costco has now attached the same forward promise to a 17% increase. The signals point to a fiscal 2028 guide of 3.5% or higher when Walmart reports in the second half of February 2027.
A Reuters analysis found more than 700 of roughly 770 internet security camera listings on Amazon India and Flipkart were for models absent from the Bureau of Indian Standards approved register. Both platforms have begun removing products six months after India’s April 1 certification mandate took full effect.
The Senate cleared the Common Cents Act by unanimous consent on September 28, giving US merchants a single federal framework for rounding cash transactions to the nearest nickel. The bill also writes the end of penny production into statute and now awaits President Trump’s signature.
Britain’s Competition Appeal Tribunal certified an opt-out class action against Apple and Amazon covering Apple and Beats products bought on Amazon’s UK marketplace, a claim the claimant values at £289m to £306m including interest. It refused to certify the larger portion covering purchases from Apple directly and from other retailers.
Shein posted its first results as a listed company on September 28, reporting USD 11.08bn of net revenue and a 13.9% drop in Europe after the EU scrapped its EUR 150 customs duty exemption. The company blamed pre-emptive price rises and advertising cuts, with a further per-parcel handling fee due November 1.
Nike releases fiscal 2027 first quarter results on Thursday, October 1, 2026, with consensus near $11.3 billion of revenue and $0.44 in diluted EPS. The print lands with the stock at a 12-year low, tariff costs running at $1.5 billion annualized, and Bank of America newly at Underperform.
The FTC’s public comment record on personalized pricing closed on September 25, 2026, with advertising and technology trade groups calling the proposed disclosure duty unworkably vague and a litigation group framing it as compelled speech. Walmart used the same day to pledge it will never price the person instead of the product.
New York City’s click-to-cancel rule takes effect on October 1, 2026, the first municipal subscription-cancellation rule in the United States. It lands while the federal equivalent remains vacated, with DCWP penalties of $525 to $3,500 per violation.
Three regulatory signals from September 2026 point to US retailers keeping a record share of shareholder proposals off their 2027 ballots, plausibly above 25 percent of submissions. The call should be scoreable by September 30, 2027.