The holiday shopping season is still a few weeks out, but behind the scenes retailers are already scrambling to get inventory placed and ready for shipping. Retail Brew is digging into this process as it plays out in real-time to see how companies are hitting the sweet spot between ordering too much and too little so they can avoid both shortages and gluts.

Earlier this month, Amazon issued a warning to sellers who use its fulfillment services: Get your Black Friday inventory into warehouses by Oct. 26 or risk capacity issues come November.

The reason for the warning has to do with how Amazon prepares for the annual influx of holiday goods. Throughout the month of October, the company’s warehousing operations will focus almost entirely on receiving products rather than shipping them out.

Keep reading here.—AV

Fashion brands were early adopters of creator strategies, and they haven’t looked back since. Why? Because these partnerships help brands expand their reach and accelerate growth.

And as creator strategies evolve and consumer expectations shift, your brand needs to stay current on the latest trends and best practices. Get all that and more at LTK’s upcoming webinar, Fashion’s Runway to Success.

You’ll hear why there are more opportunities for creator partnerships than ever before and learn how to find creators that align with your brand. Plus, you’ll leave with tangible tips on how to maximize your creator marketing strategy as a whole.

Block your cal for Oct. 18 and get ready to level up your creator strategy. Register for the LTK webinar here.

Shrinkflation, when brands make products slightly smaller, often imperceptibly so, rather than raising prices, strikes many consumers as a particularly mustache-twirling practice. A 2022 report by Morning Consult found that when consumers notice a product has been shrinkflated, almost half (48%) choose a different brand.

Now the German government wants to make shrinkflation verboten. Steffi Lemke, Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection (and winner of the Longest Official Title contest), is speaking out against shrinkflation, and is sponsoring legislation to ban the practice.

Lemke, a member of the Green party, is concerned not just that shoppers may be deceived, but also that shrinking the contents but keeping the package the same size is an environmental no-no.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Happy spooky season, everyone. In that spirit, there’s some spooky news for those of you who use the Google Play Movies & TV App—it’s getting the ax on Thursday. It’s just further incentive to keep that last Blockbuster store alive.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In sales: Yes, the now twice-yearly cat and mouse game between Amazon and all its competitors is happening now, because Prime Day is coming next week. Yesterday marked the beginning of Target’s Circle Week, which is set to run through Saturday.

Keep reading here.—KM