Print Sales Rose 5.8% in Christmas Week (publishersweekly.com)

Walgreens announced this week that it has joined a groundbreaking consortium that aims to reinvent the single-use plastic retail bag. Teaming up with other major retailers and with non-profit organizations in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, Walgreens is committed to being part of the solution to the waste and recycling issues associated with the use of more than 100 billion retail plastic bags every year in the U.S. The goal of the Beyond the Bag initiative is to identify, test and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Current alternatives to the plastic retail bag have yet to garner industry-wide support or widespread use by the public and many still have significant environmental impacts.

After years of financial pressure and uneven performance, Wayfair may be turning a corner. The home furnishings retailer just reported its strongest sales growth and profitability since 2021, and announced plans to open a new 140,000-square-foot store in Denver—its third new large-format location this year—as it continues experimenting with physical retail. Second-quarter sales climbed 5% to $3.3 billion. Excluding the impact of last year’s exit from the German market, revenue increased by 6%. Net income reached $15 million, compared to a net loss of $40 million in the same period last year. “The second quarter was a resounding success, defined by accelerating sales and share gain, in tandem with expanding profitability,” said Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman. “As we have discussed over the last few years, we can and will grow profitably, while taking significant share in the market. Two decades of this approach have taught us that building great things takes time, but when done with thought, care and prudence, can have a payoff well worth the wait.”

As support for Two Sides’ consumer-focused Love Paper campaign continues to grow, we are pleased to announced that the Love Paper logo is now available for on-product use! Any company that uses print, paper and paper-based packaging, including brands, retailers, marketing agencies, printers, and paper and paper-based packaging manufacturers, can use the Love Paper® on-product logo to enhance their own sustainability messages. The Love Paper® logo is a simple, eye-catching way to tell customers that you care about the environment and use products from an inherently sustainable industry. The logo’s subtle design and color variations are an effective yet unintrusive addition to any paper product, from printed catalogs and books to direct mail and product packaging.