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stord.com · newsletter
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May 6, 2026
Billions in refunds are moving, Gen X is having its moment, and the Walmart vs. Amazon bout is very much still on. You know what they say, it’s gonna be May. Welcome to Commerce Unboxed!
Weekly News Roundup
Keep The Change
Full Throttle
Retail Rumble
Late Bloomers
TARIFFS
Keep The Change
Keep The Change
Remember when everyone said spend your money because it will come back anyway? Well, it is coming back. Just not necessarily to you, not quite yet.
Ford just booked a $1.3 billion windfall on its Q1 earnings from IEEPA tariffs the Supreme Court struck down in February. GM is expecting $500 million back. Stellantis already logged $467 million. That’s over $2 billion back to three automakers alone, from a total $166 billion pool courts have ordered returned to importers. FedEx and UPS pledged to pass their share back to customers too, which is genuinely good news. CBP says valid refunds take 60 to 90 days from filing, so the first checks land around mid-July.
The catch is that consumers cannot file directly. Only the importer of record qualifies, which means the $1,751 average household tariff burden comes back only if brands voluntarily pass it along. Some are already facing class action lawsuits from customers who paid higher prices and are now watching refunds flow upward.
The money came back. Whether the trust does depends entirely on what brands do with the check. Read More ➜
ECONOMY
Full Throttle
Full Throttle
Gas prices are doing the electric vehicle (EV) industry’s marketing for free. With oil surging past $112 a barrel following the Iran conflict, more than half of car buyers are now actively eyeing EVs or hybrids. Used EV sales jumped 27.7% in March alone, and a wave of off-lease vehicles hitting dealer lots this year means 44% of used EVs are now priced under $25,000.
Meanwhile, Beijing’s Auto Show just closed after drawing 1.28 million visitors across 17 halls and 1,451 vehicles, making it the largest auto show in the world by a wide margin. In a single hall, there were more EV models on display than exist in the entire US market. BYD sold a $2.9 million electric supercar at the show, limited to 30 units globally, while CATL unveiled battery tech that charges 10 to 98% in 6.5 minutes.
The US is still finding its line, but the throttle is opening. New EVs still cost $5,000 to $7,000 more than a gas car, the tax credit is gone, and range anxiety is real. But 300,000 EVs are coming off lease this year, used prices are dropping fast, and surging gas costs are making the decision for people who were still on the fence. Consumers shift when the math shifts. Brands that don’t will find themselves watching from the rearview.
Read More ➜
E-COMMERCE
Retail Rumble
Retail Rumble
Retail’s longest-running rivalry landed some heavy punches this week. Walmart came out swinging with $715.9 billion in revenue, 24% global e-commerce growth to $150.4 billion, and an AI shopping assistant called Sparky driving baskets 35% higher than non-AI sessions. Walmart's chatbot is outselling most humans on the floor. CEO John Furner called it a pivotal moment for the industry, and the Supercenter comeback quietly sealed the combination, with physical stores doubling as fulfillment hubs feeding the whole digital operation
Amazon answered the bell on May 4 with Amazon Supply Chain Services, opening its entire logistics network to any business that wants it. Eighty thousand trailers, 100 aircraft, AI inventory forecasting, seven-day delivery, all of it. The comparison Amazon reached for was AWS, which turned an internal tool into a $100 billion business. If the parallel holds, the logistics industry just changed shape.
These two have been trading blows for decades. This week they both landed one. Read More ➜
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Late Bloomers
Late Bloomers
The forgotten generation just sent the beauty industry a reminder. Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, has been the most consistently overlooked cohort in every marketing plan for two decades. Turns out they were just waiting with their wallets open. Gen X households accounted for 44% of total dollars spent on beauty in the past year, with skincare leading the category. They are also on track to surpass $20 trillion in global spending power through 2033 and the Gen X beauty market is projected to grow 1.3 times its current size in the next five years.
What they want is different from what brands have been selling. 82% say anti-aging benefits are important in their skincare routines, they are not chasing trends or viral moments, and they have zero patience for hollow marketing. High brand loyalty, high spend per product, and they stick hard to what works. Yet 39% of Gen X still do not feel beauty brands cater to them, which means the gap between what they want and what they are being sold is still wide open.
Ulta said serving older shoppers is a key part of the retailer’s strategy. Sephora is widening its Gen X range with brands including YSE Beauty by Molly Sims, Sarah Creal, and U Beauty. Bluemercury has campaigns celebrating women over 40. The brands that spent the last decade chasing twentysomethings are now doing the math on a generation that has been there all along, spending consistently, and waiting for someone to actually talk to them. Read More ➜
New Money
1.48%
Business investment outpaced consumer spending as the biggest driver of US GDP growth in Q1 2026 for the first time in recent memory, contributing 1.48 percentage points to the economy’s 2% expansion while consumer spending contributed just 1.08. AI gets the credit as companies race to build data centers and infrastructure. Read More ➜
TOTB_full-1
Every headline in this week’s newsletter has a fulfillment thread running through it. Tariff refunds are flowing back to importers even as brands scramble to justify pricing. A Maersk vessel sits stalled in the Persian Gulf. Amazon is opening its logistics network to competitors. Walmart is betting that stores plus AI will define the next decade.
The common thread isn’t the headlines, but how brands are equipped to respond to them. The ones that built operational certainty before the disruption hits have options. The ones that didn’t are stuck reacting, managing chaos instead of running their business.
Volatility is not a 2026 condition. It is the permanent condition. The Iran conflict, the tariff regime, the carrier surcharges, the Supreme Court ruling. None of these were on anyone’s Q1 plan. They never are. What separates the brands absorbing these shocks from the ones being defined by them is not luck or timing. It is infrastructure. Specifically, whether they built a fulfillment operation designed to bend without breaking, with real-time visibility, diversified carrier access, and the kind of routing intelligence that makes decisions in minutes rather than in war rooms.
Jessica Perry, Stord’s Program Manager of Quality, lays out exactly what that infrastructure looks like in practice. The brands in the know are the ones that will have fewer fires to fight later.
TOP READS
Press Play: Spotify dropped 1,400 Peloton classes into its Premium subscription, no bike, no separate app, no excuse not to work out.
Uber Everything: Rides, hotels, vacation rentals, dinner, Uber added it all to one app this week because apparently one thing was never the plan.
That Ship Has Sailed: A Maersk vessel stranded since February finally cleared the Strait of Hormuz under US military escort, dozens more remain and the ceasefire is fragile.
UPCOMING E-COMMERCE EVENTS
ABC Kids Expo, May 13-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
North America’s premier B2B trade show for the juvenile products industry, where manufacturers, retailers, and distributors come together to discover the latest innovations in baby gear, toys, apparel, and more.
Accelerate 26, May 21-22 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The global ecommerce acceleration summit built for what’s next: AI-driven growth, agentic shopping, and the future of consumer behavior. Connect with brand leaders, decision-makers, and operators shaping global commerce.
Home Delivery World, May 20-21 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The world’s most important e-commerce logistics event, covering every step of the supply chain journey, from freight and fulfillment to last-mile delivery and returns. Join 3,000+ attendees and 200+ speakers driving the future of retail logistics.
Cosmoprof North America, July 13-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The leading B2B beauty trade show in the Americas, connecting beauty brands, retailers, distributors, and suppliers across finished products and supply chain innovation.
Hemp Beverage Expo, June 17-18 in Austin, Texas. The only executive-level trade event focused exclusively on the hemp beverage industry, bringing together retailers, brands, and buyers to explore the nation's fastest-growing beverage category.
See you next week for more commerce news and updates.
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