Imports decline after summer surge; trade outlook for rest of year not ‘optimistic’

Question #1: WHAT ARE DIGITAL COOKIES? Digital cookies are text files with small pieces of data used to identify your computer when you visit a website. This data is labeled with an ID unique to you and your computer. Cookies let websites remember you, your website logins, shopping carts and preferences. They can also be used to serve you ads after you leave the website. Question #2: WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH COOKIES? Online privacy has been a widely debated topic in recent years. Overall, consumers want increased privacy and control over how their data is used. In response to these privacy demands, Google announced it would stop supporting the use of third-party cookies by 2023. Safari and Firefox have already blocked third-party cookies. Question #3: WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MARKETERS? In short, marketers will need to find new sources of data or new targeting methods.

We spend a good deal of our marketing efforts incenting customers to be loyal to us; to be our brand advocates. But doesn’t loyalty go both ways? Don’t we, in turn, need to demonstrate our commitment to our customers? It’s a two-way street, after all—a dialogue. One way to display your commitment—or loyalty—to your customers is to show them you know them: who they are, where they are, what they buy, and what they want. We all experience this kind of dialogue daily online: ads served up to us reflect our searches from 5 minutes ago; recommender engines tell us what else we’d like based on what is in our baskets. These days, it’s expected. Ubiquitous, almost. But what about in print? I’d posit that sending a targeted, relevant print mail piece audience conveys a more authentic investment to your customer. The real impact comes from using data and understanding your customers’ behavior. Variable data printing allows us to create powerful, relevant direct mail that speaks to individuals on a truly 1:1 basis. Personalization allows us to move beyond mass mailings and “spray-and-pray” direct mail. Instead, we can create messages and offers based on customers’ demographics, preferences, and histories… and show them we know them. Let’s revisit a few ways to consider showing your customers you know them in print. I’ve written about them before: they are the Three Ps. read more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/show-them-you-know-them/

Beyond Inc., which owns Overstock, Buy Buy Baby and Bed Bath & Beyond, is changing its formal company name, rebranding to Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. The move comes two years after Overstock.com Inc. paid $21.5 million for some of the previous iteration of Bed Bath & Beyond’s assets and intellectual property. Shortly after the acquisition, Overstock.com Inc. rebranded to Beyond Inc. With the new rebranding decision, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. will begin trading under the ticker symbol BBBY on the New York Stock Exchange, effective Aug. 29, according to the company. Beyond Inc. reported in July that it had grown revenue in its fiscal Q2 compared to Q1 in 2025. However, its Q2 revenue still decreased year over year. President and chief financial officer Adrianne Lee attributed Beyond’s improvement over Q1 to seasonal average order value (AOV) improvement and the number of orders it delivered. AOV increased $25, while delivered orders grew 8%.