Allison Smith

Member Exclusive// January 8, 2026 Marketplace Briefing: Amazon skips its Black Friday and Cyber Monday recap for the first time since 2016 This is the latest installment of the Marketplace Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing ... See more

The Amazon Effect// January 6, 2026 Brands are upset that ‘Buy For Me’ is featuring their products on Amazon without permission Angie Chua has avoided selling on Amazon since she founded her Palm Springs, California-based stationery brand Bobo Design Stud... See more

The Marketplace Boom// January 6, 2026 Why the AI shopping agent wars will heat up in 2026 Julie Bornstein has been thinking about the future of shopping search since 2000, when she worked at Nordstrom as a senior e-commerce executive and watched customer... See more

Store of the Future// January 5, 2026 Why 2025 was Shopify’s best year yet Shopify is ending 2025 in a far stronger position than it was just a few years ago. The Canadian e-commerce company’s stock surpassed its 2021 peak and made a new high at the end o... See more

The story was first published by Digiday sibling ModernRetail When LaToya Stirrup’s brand Kazmaleje first landed on Target’s shelves in 2022, it felt like a dream come true. The Miami-based founder had spent years building her hair-tool brand — which she ... See more