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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 20 U.S. states have sued Dollar General, accusing the discount retailer of repeatedly charging customers more at checkout than the prices displayed on shelves, price tags, and advertisements.

The lawsuit alleges that the practice has affected thousands of stores, costing consumers millions of dollars through unlawful overcharges. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The case now moves to court, where the allegations will be examined.

Let’s dive into today’s edition.

Walmart and warehouse robotics company Symbotic have expanded their commercial agreement, committing approximately $6 billion to deploy additional automation capabilities across 25 U.S. regional distribution centers over several years. The agreement also supports potential expansion across Walmart's global supply chain network.

Key Details: The expanded deployment will focus on improving how Walmart stores, picks, and moves inventory through its distribution network. It includes capabilities for upstream e-commerce inventory management, greater storage capacity, and faster product movement through regional distribution centers.

The two companies have worked together for more than a decade, gradually expanding their collaboration from a single product into a broader automation partnership.

Big Picture: For Walmart, the investment is part of a broader effort to increase distribution capacity as it serves customers through stores, curbside pickup and home delivery. The retailer expects the additional automation to help expand product assortment, improve replenishment reliability and speed, simplify work for warehouse associates and lower operating costs.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ordered nine major companies, including Delta, United, JetBlue, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Walmart, to disclose how they use consumer data and algorithms to determine prices and worker compensation.

Key Details: The inquiry will examine whether companies charge different customers different prices for the same product or service based on personal information, browsing activity, loyalty-program participation, or other data analyzed by AI-powered systems.

The investigation also extends to gig-worker pay. The FTC wants to understand whether ride-hailing and food-delivery platforms use drivers' personal data, including phone usage and their history of accepting or rejecting offers, to determine how much they are paid.

What’s Next: The orders require the nine companies to provide details on the data, tools, and methodologies used to set prices and compensation. They have 45 days from receiving the orders to respond. The inquiry builds on the FTC's earlier work on surveillance pricing.

The European Union's new charges on low-value e-commerce parcels, largely targeting Chinese platforms such as Shein and Temu, could generate €6 billion annually for its budget between 2028 and 2034, according to Reuters.

Key Details: The bloc received 5.8 billion parcels valued below €150 last year, a 26% increase from 2024, with most shipments originating in China. The EU estimates that many of these parcels were undervalued to avoid customs duties.

What’s Happening: The new measures include an additional €2 fee on low-value parcels from November 1, on top of a €3 charge introduced in July. The charges follow the EU's broader effort to curb the influx of inexpensive imports and address concerns over unfair competition and non-compliant products.

The Commission expects parcel volumes to decline as retailers adjust to the higher costs, but estimates that 90% of the revenue collected will go to the EU budget, with the remaining 10% distributed to member states.

AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites is becoming a more valuable source of customers ahead of the holiday shopping season. Adobe Analytics found that visitors arriving through AI platforms generated 83% more revenue per visit than other traffic sources in September 2026.

Key Details: AI-referred traffic also converted into purchases at a 90% higher rate, spent 73% more time on retailer websites and viewed 25% more pages per visit.

AI traffic to U.S. retail websites grew 71% year over year in September. Adobe expects it to increase 159% on Thanksgiving, 95% on Black Friday and 88% on Cyber Monday. The findings draw on more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, covering 100 million products across 18 categories, alongside a survey of more than 5,000 consumers.

Big Picture: The shift is changing how retailers compete for online shoppers. Consumers increasingly use AI tools to research products and compare options before visiting retailer websites, so many arrive further along in their purchase decisions.

DoorDash has agreed to acquire grocery delivery platform Instacart in a $17 billion deal, bringing together two of the largest players in the U.S. delivery market.

What’s Next: The acquisition will expand DoorDash's grocery business by combining its delivery network and logistics capabilities with Instacart's established relationships with grocery retailers. Instacart's brand and app will remain in place, and retailers will retain the option to work with either platform. Instacart customers will also gain access to an additional 50,000 stores covered by DoorDash.

Key Details: The deal brings together two sizeable delivery networks. Instacart's 600,000 independent shoppers completed 338 million orders last year, while DoorDash handled more than 3 billion orders across 40 countries through a network of 9 million independent delivery workers.

Big Picture: The acquisition comes as DoorDash has steadily gained ground in grocery and convenience delivery, while Instacart has lost market share. According to Consumer Edge, Instacart's share of spending on U.S. delivery platforms fell from 26% to 18% over five years, while DoorDash's rose from 44% to 59%.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says investors may be overlooking the progress of the company's retail business.

Key Details: In Q3, online store sales grew 2% year over year to $68.5 billion, while physical store sales also increased 2% to $5.7 billion. Jassy pointed to the scale of Amazon's retail operations, saying the business generates hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue and is growing while maintaining double-digit operating margins, including advertising.

Growth Story: Fresh groceries and everyday essentials are emerging as important growth drivers. According to Amazon, these categories grew three times faster than the rest of Amazon's store business. Customers who purchase perishables through same-day delivery also buy nearly seven times more essential units than those who don’t.

Adidas expects its European business to return to growth in the fourth quarter of 2026, following a 4% decline in currency-neutral sales to €2.24 billion in Q3.

Key Details: The region accounts for nearly a third of the company's revenue, but heavy retail discounting and elevated inventories have weighed on sales. CEO Bjørn Gulden said Adidas has a strong order book, with delayed shipments shifting into the fourth quarter and higher wholesale sales expected to support a recovery. The company is forecasting high single-digit growth in Europe for the final three months of the year.

Big Picture: Meanwhile, Adidas continues to gain ground in China, where quarterly sales grew 13%, compared with 12% growth in North America. The company said it was outperforming Nike, which has seen sales decline in China for nearly two years.

U.S. consumer confidence rose 7.5 points to 91.7 in October, marking its first increase in four months and the highest reading since June, according to the Conference Board.

Key Details: The improvement comes as easing gasoline prices offered some relief to household budgets and perceptions of the labor market strengthened. The share of Americans who consider jobs plentiful reached a six-month high. However, consumers remain concerned about persistent inflation, wage growth lagging behind prices, and rising borrowing costs, which continue to make major purchases such as homes and vehicles less affordable.

Consumer spending has remained resilient despite weak sentiment, with economists pointing to a relatively supportive labor market.