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Whether youre sitting at your desk at work or shopping at the grocery store, you can feel it: the shared sense of uncertainty in the air. Economic indicators are shifting; tariffs have impacted trade flows, and experts predict the nations growth rate may be cut in half. Combined with broad geopolitical instability, this sense of economic uneasiness has seen consumer sentiment dip to its second-lowest point since 1952. In this challenging climate, even industry giants like Target, Walmart, and Apple are forecasting declines in profits and sales. Yet, history shows that periods of uncertainty often spark innovation and resilience. Brands that can adapt, communicate clearly, and build trust with their customers are well positioned not just to endure, but to lead. So, what can business leaders facing such turbulence do to persevere? Return to the compass that always points to a way to growth: delivering for the consumer. Showing up consistently, adapting with purpose, and becoming the steady heartbeat in their customers increasingly chaotic world. The Power of Purpose in Uncertain Times As a counterbalance to all the bad news, resilient brands can become a source of strength and reassurance by understanding their consumers and delivering positive impact. In times of uncertainty, brands can improve their customers day-to-day by bringing moments of joy and meaning into their lives. Whats more, they can also deepen those consumer connections by demonstrating alignment with customer values and aspirations for the future. New research supports this call to action: 86% of consumers say brands play an important role in delivering a positive human future. But only 15% of companies are actively investing in efforts aligned to that purpose, a gap that speaks volumes. Consumers are quite willing to reward brands they see as positive difference-makers. Theyre nearly three times more likely to pay a premium, try new products and services, and even forgive mistakes from brands they think are working towards a better world. This is especially true among Gen Z consumers and younger generations, who prioritize brands that align with their ethical and social principles. So, what does it really mean to deliver a positive human future, and how can brands demonstrate the commitment consumers are seeking? It doesnt mean you have to solve every global issueyou just have to show consumers that you understand their challenges and respond in ways that align to their values. When a single headline can shake markets and communities, consumers are looking for something steady to latch onto, and brands have the opportunity to hold strong. Think Big with Small Gestures For brands, this doesnt require a complete overhaul of business strategy or major new investments. It can start with a simple challenge: how can you show up in small, meaningful ways to brighten consumers days and give them something to look forward to? Consumers today are seeking more than transactions; they want relationships. Nearly 50% of U.S. consumers are willing to pay more for brands that understand and respond to their needsbrands that listen, learn, and use what they hear to deliver amazing experiences. Take Little Spoon, for example. The baby food company didnt build trust by making grand gestures, but instead took the time to collaborate with parents and scientists to ensure parents have a voice in their childs health. They put their money where their mouth is to provide consistent engagement with parents through its Is This Normal community platform. They created a winning product that reflects real needs and values, showing up consistently for their customers when and where they needed them. Theyve successfully become more than a packaged goodtheyre a partner in parenting, building ardent fans through shared values. To follow in similar footsteps, there are several actions brands can take, starting with active listening and reliability. By using customer insights to understand what matters most, brands can reflect those priorities in their messaging and offerings and then communicate those priorities regularly and consistently. This requires ongoing dialogue and genuine responsiveness to customer feedback and changing needs. By ensuring consumers feel seen and heard, brands will not only build a customer base but also a community. This alignment becomes particularly powerful when economic pressures mount, and consumers are making more deliberate choices about where to spend their money. Above all, its those small moments of joy that will make all the difference. Positive experiences dont require massive budgets, but they do require intentionality. Whether it’s unexpected customer service excellence, community-building initiatives, or simply consistent, reliable communication, these moments transform into lasting relationships. Building Tomorrows Resilient Brands The businesses that struggle during volatile times often share common characteristics: They become reactive rather than proactive, focus inward rather than on customer needs, or stop innovating to avoid risk. Its more important to show up for customers during times of turbulence than when the waters are calm. Every interaction becomes an opportunity to build trust. Every product decision becomes a chance to show values alignment. Every communication becomes a moment to provide clarity and reassurance. In a world where headlines shift by the hour, brands can emerge as a steady beacon. The brands that thrive arent necessarily the biggest or the loudest, but those that prioritize real connection with their consumers; those that are able to deliver impact in their day-to-day, and in the world they inhabit. When purse strings tighten, brands that build real relationships, spark joy in the uncertainty, and support a positive human future will build the kind of consumer loyalty that pays dividends through good times and bad.
Category:
E-Commerce
Federal funding cuts have claimed their latest victim. On Friday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that it will wind down operations in light of a fatal federal funding shortfall. The Trump administration asked for the targeted cuts in a rescissions request coupled with a major pullback in spending on foreign aid earlier this year. Congress ultimately complied and in July voted to slash $1.1 billion in federal funding from the CPB. The Republican-led measure was split along party lines, with no Democrats voting in its favor. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private nonprofit, was authorized by Congress in 1967 to manage funding for public media in the U.S. as part of President Lyndon Johnsons sweeping domestic policy agenda. Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection to every corner of the country, CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said. We are deeply grateful to our partners across the system for their resilience, leadership, and unwavering dedication to serving the American people. The organization funds the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio, and 1,500 local TV and radio stations. Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, two icons of American public television, were made possible with funding through the CPB. While PBS and NPR rely less heavily on government funds, federal money is crucial to member stations in rural areas. Those outlets face an existential threat from the cutsthe latest death knell for local news in the U.S.
Category:
E-Commerce
Ford is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles over concerns that problems with the power brake assist system could lead to a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued the safety notice, noting that the issue could extend stopping distances for a vehicle in motion. The affected vehicles are 2025 versions of Fords Lincoln Navigator SUV, F-150 and Ranger trucks, and Expedition, Bronco, and Ranger SUVs. According to the NHTSA, the vehicles might also experience malfunctions in the electronic brake booster (EBB) module when using the advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) feature, which could similarly interfere with the power brake assist system and cause an accident. For affected vehicles, the EBB issue can be resolved with an over-the-air software update or at a dealership for free. The new recall is the latest in a spate of recent recalls for the automaker. In July, Ford recalled almost 700,000 vehicles over a fuel leak problem that could cause a fire under the hood. That recall, which impacted some Bronco Sport and Ford Escape models, was the result of a yearlong investigation into ongoing problems with the vehicles fuel injectors. Just prior to that, an even wider recall was issued over worries about the low-pressure fuel pump on more than 850,000 Ford vehicles. Car recalls are on the rise broadly, but Fords issues stand out. The manufacturer tops the list for the most vehicle recalls in the U.S., though the companys leadership hopes to nip future issues in the bud by holding new vehicles for an extra phase of quality checks. What were going to see long term is fewer recalls and lower warranty costs because of this new process, Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an earnings call last year.
Category:
E-Commerce
If a new experiment pans out, Medicaid and Medicare could begin covering the costly weight-loss drugs that price out many Americans who might want to try them. After killing a Biden-era plan with the same goal, the Trump administration is working on a five-year pilot program that would allow state Medicaid programs and Medicares prescription plan to opt into covering drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound, and Mounjaro for weight management, The Washington Post reports. During its final months, the Biden administration proposed expanding Medicaid and Medicare coverage for popular weight-loss drugs, extending it to roughly 7.5 million people enrolled in those programs. In April, the Trump administration tossed that plana move that was somewhat expected, given Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s vocal opposition to the weight-loss drugs that have taken America by storm. Now, something very similar appears to be back on the table. Differences of opinion Kennedys view is at odds with other members of the Trump administration, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Oz, a former surgeon best known as a daytime television personality prior to joining the federal government, has long boosted weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. Ill respect you no matter what your weight might be, but for those who want to lose a few pounds, Ozempic and other semaglutide medications can be a big help, Oz said in a social media post in 2023. We need to make it as easy as possible for people to meet their health goals, period. Oz has been paid to promote the drugs in the past. In 2019, Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk sponsored a nine-minute-long infomercial on Ozs daytime talk show praising the benefits of using Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes. On the other side of the coin, Kennedy at HHS is staunchly opposed to weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and has made misleading claims about the class of drugs in the past. Theyre counting on selling it to Americans because were so stupid and so addicted to drugs, Kennedy said in an interview he shared on Instagram last year. Kennedy, a prominent figure in anti-vaccine circles before joining the Trump administration, has a long track record of elevating health conspiracy theories, even while promoting other commonsense ideas around health and wellness. Kennedy, who opposes the use of many prescription medications, believes that the prominence of processed foods in the American diet is a root cause of many of the countrys health woes. What is the status now? While Medicaid and Medicare dont evenly cover GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic for weight loss, 13 state Medicaid programs do offer coverage to treat obesity. For people on Medicaid and Medicare, coverage is much more widely available when GLP-1 drugs are prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. The Washington Post reports that the trial program is slated to start in April 2026 for Medicaid and in January 2027 for Medicare. The program is connected to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which experiments with new ways to lower costs and deliver coverage for people enrolled in those subsidized insurance programs. According to documents viewed by The Post, the program has yet to be finalized. Whether it goes into effect or not, the experimental plan to extend coverage shows that the anti-Ozempic faction of the Trump administration might find itself overruled when it comes to the weight-loss drug.
Category:
E-Commerce
If youre interested in understanding the current state of the U.S. economy and corporate America, and what the rest of the year might look like (and who isnt?), this was the week for youwith five days packed full of earnings reports, policy announcements, and economic data. And although the picture that emerged from all that information was arguably more fuzzy than sharp, a couple of things do seem clear: The economy is limping, not booming, and the impact of tariffs is finally being felt. The most important data point of the week came on Friday morning, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy created just 73,000 jobs in July. More importantly, the BLS also said that the jobs numbers for May and June had been revised dramatically downward: The May number went from an estimated 144,000 jobs created to just 19,000 jobs, while the estimate of jobs created in June fell from 147,000 jobs to just 14,000. Even assuming that the July number is correct (and that it wont eventually be revised downward as well), that means that the U.S. economy created just 35,000 jobs a month, on average, over the past three months, compared with 168,000 jobs a month last year. Employers pump the brakes on hiring The current jobs numbers are not quite as terrible as that comparison suggests, since a drop in immigration and the continued aging of the population mean that the economy needs to create fewer jobs in order to stay at full employment. (Unemployment in Fridays report was still just 4.2%.) But the jobs number does suggest that, at the very least, businesses are being far more cautious about adding jobs. And thats only confirmed when you look at the details of the jobs report: The U.S. lost manufacturing jobs in each of the past three months, while essentially all of the private-sector job growth since May has come in healthcare and social services. Not all the news this week was bad: On Wednesday, gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter came in at a solid 3%. That was a big jump from the negative number we got in the first quarter, even if it still means GDP grew in the first half of the year at a below-average 1.2%. Average hourly earnings are up 3.9% year over year. And earnings reports gave us blowout earnings numbers from Microsoft and Meta, good numbers from Apple and Amazon and, perhaps most interestingly, excellent numbers from Mastercard, which suggests consumers are continuing to spend. Still, there were reasons for concern, particularly with that 3% GDP number. Private purchaseswhich are generally thought of as a good measure of domestic demandwere up just 1.2% year over year. Consumption rose 1.4%, which is respectable but not impressive. Business investmentparticularly investment in everything other than computer equipmentactually fell. And spending on imports tumbled sharply. The AI boom is fueling massive investment in technology and computer equipment, which is boosting overall GDP. But while Big Tech is roaring, much of the rest of the economy seems to be drifting in the doldrums. Normally, that would have made a strong case for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its meeting this week (it didn’t), just as President Donald Trump has been berating Fed chair Jerome Powell to do. The problem for the Fed is that even as the economy seems to be stalling, or at least slowing down, inflation has shown no sign of going away and, in fact, it may be picking up. In addition to all the other data this week, we heard news about the personal consumption expenditures price indexthe Fed’s preferred measure of inflationwhich jumped 0.3% in July and is now up 2.6% year over year, well ahead of the Feds 2% inflation target. So the Fed is looking at a weak job market and stubbornly high inflation: not a great place to be in. The elephant in the room The big complicating factor in all this, of course, is the tariffs that Trump has imposed, paused, rolled back, and now is preparing to impose again. To begin with, the tariffsand how businesses have responded to themhave a lot to do with those big swings in GDP growth we saw in the first half of the year. Imports spiked in the first quarter as businesses loaded up on inventory before the tariffs hit, helping shrink the GDP. Then they plummeted in the second quarter as businesses worked through that inventory, giving GDP an artificial boost. The tariffs are also eating into company profits. This week, Black & Decker, Ford, and Procter & Gamble all said that tariffs had hurt their earnings. And theyre starting to feed into inflation: Adidas said this week that it may hike prices to deal with higher costs, and P&G said it would be raising prices on 25% of its products. The impact of tariffs could also be seen in this weeks economic reports: Goods prices (the prices that tariffs would have the most direct impact on) were up 3% year over year. The uncertainty surrounding Trumps tariff policyand where rates are going to end uphas also made it difficult for companies to plan and to invest. And theyve made consumersalready unhappy with inflationmore cautious, which you can see in consumer sentiment numbers. The current University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, which was released on Friday, shows that consumer sentiment, while better than it was in April, is still broadly negative, down 7% from a year ago. And consumer expectations of the future are even worse, down 16% year over year. All of this arguably helps explain why so many businesses seem to have been in a holding pattern: Caution is a logical response to uncertainty. Trump removed some of that uncertainty Thursday night when he issued a new executive order imposing new tariff rates on almost every country in the worldrates that are scheduled to go into effect on August 7. The rates are in most cases 15%, and often higher. (A few countries got a 10% rate.) Thats better than the original tariff rates that Trump had imposed on what he called Liberation Day back in April. But they still represent a massive hike in import costs from last year. To be sure, nothing we saw this week says that the economy is headed for disaster. But, at the very least, this weeks numbers make it very hard to be bullish (except, of course, about Big Tech). The U.S. is stuck in neutral, and neither the Trump administration nor the Federal Reserve is doing much to get it back in gear.
Category:
E-Commerce
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