Telephone landlines are rapidly becoming technological relics. Just ask AT&T. The telecommunications giant earlier this year applied for permission to stop servicing landlines in California, and it previously committed to cutting its footprint of copper wires in half and replacing them with fiber optic and ethernet connections by 2025.

For the majority of Americans who have fully switched over to cellular service at this point, the death of landlines might not seem like a big deal. But for retailers with brick-and-mortar stores, those buried copper wires, known as “plain old telephone system” (POTS) lines, still provide the infrastructure for crucial safety and monitoring systems such as fire and burglary alarms, public safety phones, and access control systems.

Max Silber, VP of mobility and IoT at MetTel, which is in the business of helping retailers replace these old wires, told Retail Brew there are 35 million of these lines left in the US, and 14 million of them are used by commercial businesses such as retailers, many of which rely on them to connect their buildings to essential emergency services.

Keep reading here.—AV

You’re already reading the newsletter, but did you know you can also listen to and/or watch the wittiest and smartest takes on business news?

Morning Brew Daily hosts Neal Freyman and Toby Howell have you covered on everything you need to know before your cup of coffee, from the latest headlines on the economy to explanations of viral TikTok trends.

New episodes are released every weekday at 7am ET. Check ’em out on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

When we noted in June that Spirit Halloween was advertising to hire 50,000 seasonal employees, what seemed newsworthy was its staffing up four months before the holiday. We had no inkling, however, that a summer variant of the holiday was right around the coroner corner.

Enter Summerween.

On TikTok, videos on how to put a summertime twist on the October holiday have proliferated, including one from @sheri_wilson_ about her essentials for a Summerween party on June 22 that garnered 5.6 million views.

The video includes elements of the newly minted tradition that are turning up in other TikTok videos, including grilled cheeseburgers with sliced cheese in the shape of jack-o-lanterns, a pumpkin-colored float with orange soda and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and the coup de grâce, a watermelon carved into a jackomelon.

Retailers have been quick to capitalize.

Keep reading here.—AAN

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Mikko Kärkkäinen is co-founder and CEO at RELEX Solutions, an AI-based supply chain and retail planning platform that works with retailers like Lowe’s, PetSmart, and Whole Foods.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I try to help our organization provide services that enable retailers to serve their customers better and with lower cost and waste.

One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? I spend an inordinate time reading about ways to improve process efficiency and operational decision making in retail and how those can be helped with technology.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? Many projects from the early days of RELEX where I had the opportunity to do hands-on work on many roles including solution design, training, and change management. The biggest joy for me is to see the new ways of working providing better results in practice.

Keep reading here.—EC

Add to cart. Online shopping numbers are regaining their buzz. E-commerce saw 1.4% growth in 2023, a solid rebound from a slight dip in 2022. Want the full scoop? SimilarWeb’s State of Ecommerce 2024 report is jam-packed with stats, performance numbers, and must-know info for crushing the retail game. See for yourself.