WJR Business Beat

How to Support Small Business Saturday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Half of consumers worldwide today used a smartphone in their most recent retail purchase. 48% of consumers use mobile smartphones as part of their most recent purchase journey, that whether to compare prices, check inventory, or make purchases. And given all this action that continues to mount on the mobile platform ranging across the purchase journey, your e-commerce initiatives are mobile optimi...

The Main Street America Organization is a proud supporter of Small Business Saturday. And they're teaming up with American Express to help you support small businesses on your main street. As a neighborhood champion, all Main Street America members are pre-qualified to serve as neighborhood champions on a first-come first serve basis. Applications will remain open through mid-November or until spo...

What is it? As explained by Performance Marketing Insider, Agentic Commerce uses artificial intelligence and conversations to predict, plan, and learn what customers want. It turns ChatGPT into a personalized shopping assistant that no doubt is the future President and CEO of Walmart. Doug McMillan views the shift to Agentic Commerce as a move that will eventually end the use of search bars for pr...

Gallup reports trust in media has sunk to an all time low. Only 28% of Americans in a recent Gallup poll say that they now have confidence in media, and that's forcing them to choose other sources than quality journalistic media sources. The trust rating is down from 31% last year and 40%, 5 years ago. 34% say they have no trust at all in the media these days, Gallup began measuring confidence in...

33% of men indicated increase of their online shopping activity this year, versus only 26% of women. Most of us would've guessed at the demographic driving the acceleration is women, especially because women do most of the household purchasing. However, the new insights from the Wonder Kind study make clear, at least when it comes to online shopping, not only are more men than women expanding thei...

Forbes Research polled 1,075 C-suite executives at large global companies in August and September, uncovered new challenges that are less about figuring out the basics of AI and more about using it more strategically. Just over half of executives indicated that they're using AI across the enterprise to try to figure out where it fits best. While the remainder are using it for specific initiatives,...

As reported in Forbes, international travel to the US is significantly down in the first half of 2025. 1 million fewer people traveled to the US compared to the same period in 2024 a drop of about 3% year over year according to the International Trade Administration. By the end of this year, the US is on track to see 13 million fewer annual international visitors, and in 2025, the US share of glob...

A new study just released by the Motley Fool. A private financial and investing advice company indicates that Michigan is now the 10th ranked state for the highest legal gross sports betting revenues from both in-person and online gambling. The revenues total 1.9 billion here in the Great Lake State since online gambling was legalized in 2020. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://...

Adobe predicts that US online shoppers will spend 9 billion over the two day period this year with discounts peaking at 17% off list prices. Adobe also is predicting a major role for Buy Now Pay Later during the event with these services driving a total of $723 million in sales, that's an 8.1% year over year increase mobile shopping, also kicking in to make the action go and go big. Mobile shoppin...

Desire to do more by big business with small businesses shows that companies currently only allocate an average of just 7% of total spend to small suppliers today. According to supplier.io, what prevents the giving are factors that encumber the intent. Such as internal hurdles and information gaps specifically noted as follows: Most organizations admit they lack the systems and intelligence to sca...

BNPL has become more mainstream, Klarna Affirm and other top providers are now integrated into the checkout of some of the main e-commerce platforms, with recent surveys indicating 14 to 30% of US consumers have used the method to make purchases in 2023 through 2025. Number expected to grow substantially yet even more as we head into this holiday season. Highest usage is among millennials and Gen...

Data shows almost three quarters, 72% to be exact claim to have used social media regularly in the past month. Video content in the form of streaming gets 69% of US consuming it while live TV gets about 63% of us. Listening to music from a streaming service such as Spotify is as common these days as listening to the radio. Each get around 58% of the audience consuming media in those categories. An...

New MIT study reveals 95% of corporate led AI pilots are failing these days, potentially wasting billions in AI investments made by those companies. While only a rare 5% are said to be succeeding in the market. As reported in Forbes, the companies innovating new AI models and those using those innovations are largely failing to make it all work. Here are some insights and tips for entrepreneurs lo...

Report presented by Quad as reported by e-marketer, underscores the case within the in-person shopping experience lies the opportunity for brands to lean into tactile, immersive experiences that drive better recall and deeper loyalty, ultimately higher ROI. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advert...

Data shows 13% of local ad buyers under the age of 35 say they plan to steer more ad dollars into radio this year that compares to ad buyers between 35 and 44 years old, among which 11% say they are looking to increase their radio spending as well. And ad buyers 45 and older are the least likely to be planning radio budget increases. With 7% of marketers in that age bracket expecting larger radio...

BrightEdge, CEO. Jim Yu makes an important distinction that AI search functions as a research channel, not a conversion channel. Growth and business impact are different. He points out, while AI search captures headlines with its explosive growth rates, BrightEdge data reveals that organic search remains the primary driver and deliver significantly stronger conversions. So what to do? Well, you su...

Deloitte expects holiday sales to grow 2.9% to 3.4% overall from November through early January, well below last year's 4.2%. Pace E-commerce sales, however, are seeing climbing 7 to 9% roughly in line with last year's 8% gain. Now Bain forecasts a 4% increase in the final two months of the year during holiday shopping season with non-store sales, which includes e-commerce and mail orders slowing...

7 in 10, 69% to be exact of all US consumers already live paycheck to paycheck. As of last month, the current economic clouds have prompted those struggling consumers to either begin taking on side work or increasing their frequency of already doing so. Higher earners have jumped on board as well. Surprisingly, three and four hustlers hold a full-time or part-time job that allows them to live comf...

Media Ocean report based on surveying 464 marketing professionals on key trends for the second half of this year found that 72% of those surveys cite generative AI as the most important consumer trend that they're focused on. Up from 63% in the previous edition of the report, and 55% in the prior report. The next most cited was connected TV, CTV and streaming, which was noted by around half of res...

Simply Business LLC, the leading digital insurance marketplace for small businesses just released the Power of One 2025 Solopreneur Report offering insights into America's one person business owners and their sentiments. Flexibility and autonomy remain key motivators, yet personal sacrifices are common. 42% say they've given up time with family and friends, and over one third, 34% have considered...

If you're someone who is passionate about helping small businesses thrive in your community, or if you're a business owner and you make a meaningful contribution to your local community, we've got an award opportunity that you need to check out. The Credibly Small Business Awards celebrates entrepreneurs who are making such an impact. Prestige of winning, of course, is always gratifying, but this...

How the world does digital study researched 67,000 consumers across 11 countries were polled to find out if and specifically how consumers were engaging digitally. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you wanna reach and target the Gen Z demographic, focus on podcasting, especially at this time of year. New data shows that podcast consumption amongst Gen Zs during the back to school season increases significantly. Spotify has just released a report on how back to school routines impact the Gen Z users of its app. Showing that mornings become high attention listening windows for podcast and s...

NRF data makes clear that online is the top shopping destination for K through 12 and college students as well. According to a recent report from Yahoo DSP, 40% of Back to School shoppers plan to shop more with online retailers in 2025. Now, online search is the top inspiration source for back to college shopping with over 50% of adults using it to guide their purchases. Hosted by Simplecast, an A...