It can be hard not to say the word “sale” after Memorial Day, so ubiquitous are the discounts on the long weekend across virtually all retail sectors. But just as Presidents’ Day has become known for car sales, Memorial Day is especially popular for mattress sales. There are many reasons why and, unlike beds, we don’t have to make them up.

Decoration Day: Note, as our subject is home decor, that the holiday, which began during the Civil War, was originally called Decoration Day. Survivors of both Union and Confederate soldiers dedicated a day to decorating the graves of the fallen, and while several places have claimed to have started the custom, Congress declared in a proclamation in 1966 that Waterloo, New York, was the progenitor.

After World War I, the holiday grew to encompass Americans who had died in all wars, and to be called Memorial Day.

• It had been observed on May 30, but, beginning in 1971, that shifted to the last Monday of May, in keeping with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, whose purpose was to give more three-day weekends to federal employees.

And long weekends lend themselves to sales, especially for big purchases like cars and mattresses, where multiple members of the household may weigh in, comparison shopping is common, and impulse buys are verboten. When it comes to buying a mattress, people want, naturally, to sleep on it.

Changing beds: June is often the month when many mattress companies introduce new products. And—duh!—mattresses are big, so to make room for the latest models, retailers have to clear last year’s pillowtops out of their warehouses and showrooms.

That’s why the general consensus in mattress shopping guides is that the best month to get a deal on mattresses is May. And a particularly opportune time for retailers to move inventory to make room for new product is May’s long weekend known for sales: Memorial Day weekend.

Is it called memory foam because so much of it is sold on Memorial Day? Nope. Memory foam wasn’t developed for mattresses, but rather by NASA (and its contract with Stencel Aero Engineering Corporation) in 1966, to improve airplane seats for both crash protection and comfort. But that means your Nectar mattress may also be a flotation device.

Click here to read more snooze you can use.—AAN

There are more than 1 billion shopping sessions on Google a day, but the company is thinking about IRL retail. In its own way, at least.

“People are starting to behave more online like they did in the physical world where you were shopping for exploration, not just to get to a purchase,” Bill Ready, president of commerce at Google, told Retail Brew.

• About two-thirds of shoppers say they first start doing so online, he noted—no matter if they end up buying that Adidas bucket hat in store or off a website.

While e-comm has long solved “the buying part of the journey,” Ready sees its next phase focused on the experience of shopping—think about those trips to the mall where you just wandered from window to window.

It’s also where he thinks Google, with its commerce ambitions, can provide “more opportunity for inspiration.”

Imagine that: This week, the company built on that mission by announcing it’s adding its 3D and AR experience to search. Merchants that have those images will soon be able to surface them right at the start.

• Google first tested the try-on feature in beauty and has now extended it to home and garden.

“3D and AR will become the next indispensable staple,” Ready said, “and how shoppers will interact with brands and products digitally in the future.”

Google is also trying to ensure that retailers can quickly capture a sale once a shopper is inspired to buy.

• The company announced a new checkout pilot to drive shoppers right to a retailer’s website—no steps in between. (Ready has long said that Google doesn’t want to be the retailer…)

+1: Searches for “near me in stock” are up more than 90% YoY, according to Google, so consumers have to be as fast as ever when they Add to Cart.—GT

If you’re looking for some beach reading this weekend, Retail Brew has got you covered like SPF 70. But so do our our fellow Brews:

Screen time: The unofficial start of summer means beaches, barbecues, and blockbuster movies—and advertisers seem most excited about the latter. “The companies that manage in-theater ad inventory are betting that brands will be eager to market to popcorn-munching moviegoers,” writes Marketing Brew’s Kelsey Sutton.

• “We’re here. We’re back,” said Screenvision Media CEO John Partilla.

Teach a machine to learn…While Emerging Tech Brew’s Hayden Field teaches us some new lingo: MLOps. Wait, what? Think of it like air-traffic control for machine learning, she notes: “It provides the support and safety zones—and connects all the different teams working to make sure the plane, well, doesn’t crash.” And that’s just the start of her primer on the growing field.

Hire power: Applicant tracking systems (ATSs) might seem like “the Wizard of Oz” to recruiters, says HR Brew’s Sam Blum, ”an all-knowing oracle who grants interviews to the most qualified Dorothys, scarecrows, tin men, and cowardly lions.” But these processes are not perfect.

• “I’ve never heard anyone say, ‘We love our ATS.’ That could happen…but they’re a necessary evil. Without them, you’d be really in trouble,” explained Charles Handler, president of the assessment platform, Sova Assessment.

Basic instinct: We all know what a pain things like multi-factor authentication can be (those six-digit codes go faster than a Yeezy drop), but the feds don’t really seem to care. “A joint advisory issued by the international intelligence alliance and their partners at the FBI, NSA, and CISA basically pleads with businesses” to adopt basic security measures, notes Tom McKay of our newest publication, IT Brew.—GT

Today’s top retail reads.

Inside the big-box: Asian Americans make up 7% of the US population, but almost 12% of Costco shoppers. How did the retailer capture the demographic? (CNBC)

Feather in your cap: As prices rise across product categories, rotisserie chickens have remained consistent, revealing retailers’ strategies for attracting consumers amid inflation. (CNN)

Inside scoop: While ice-cream flavor options are endless, when it comes to cones, one company—Joy Baking Group—controls the market. “Imagine if Coca-Cola was the only company that made soda,” Kristine Tonkonow, owner of Brooklyn’s The Konery, said. “It really is the way that the waffle-cone industry is.” (the New York Times)

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Three of the stories below are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake?

1. Beyond Meat has tapped Kim Kardashian to be its “chief taste consultant.”
2. Casper extended its partnership with John Legend, naming the musician its new chief sleep officer.
3. Carter’s, the kids-clothing company, brought on Hilary Duff as its first-ever chief mom officer.
4. Crate & Barrel built a new role this month: SVP of the metaverse.

Keep reading for the answer.

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• How Chipotle is experimenting with BeReal, Gen Z’s new favorite social platform
• Bold Metrics, which helps online shoppers order the right size, scores $8 million in funding
• Fashionphile’s new authentication center (and showroom)