Price-sensitive consumers are still prioritizing and saving for spending on family and loved ones during holiday season, retail analysts say.

The union called on retailers and lawmakers to strengthen worker protections, and for shoppers to “treat workers with dignity and respect every day of the year.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened investigations into Shein, as well as rival online retailers AliExpress, Temu and Wish, over the sale of the sex dolls.

The holiday season now rewards precision over speed. The brands that plan early, communicate clearly, and set prices honestly will win loyalty long after the presents are opened. 

Beyond hunkering down in firefighting mode, it’s just as important that companies take a longer view of things.

Whirlpool, which manufactures almost 80% of its major product lines for the U.S. market domestically, could eventually benefit from tariffs if import-driven competition eases.

The results were buoyed by the enduring strength of consumer spending online, despite tariffs and an uneven economy, and by a resurgence in cloud computing.

Although the layoffs represent a small portion of Amazon’s global workforce of 1.55 million employees, the figure represents a significant part of its roughly 350,000 corporate employees.

The very notion of a big selling period that’s treated as a once-a-year phenomenon is out of date, says Greg Dyer, chief commercial officer of Randstad USA.

Leader roles were affected at a higher rate than individual workers, a company spokesman said, and no roles in stores or the supply chain were impacted.