Target has named an insider as its next chief executive officer. The announced on Wednesday comes as the discount retailer tries to reverse a persistent sales malaise and to revive its reputation as the place to go for affordable but stylish products. Minneapolis-based Target said CEO Brian Cornell, who has led the company for 11 years, would step down on Feb. 1. The board of directors chose COO Michael Fiddelke to succeed him. Target has struggled to find its footing since inflation caused pinched shoppers to curtail their spending. Customers have complained of messy stores with merchandise that didn't reflect the expensive-looking but budget-priced niche that earned the retailer the nickname "Tarzhay."

Amazon's annual Prime Day sales are here again. The e-commerce giant is making the now-misnamed Prime Day a four-day event for the first time. Its promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members started at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday and runs until early Friday. The company launched the event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019. Amazon executives declined to comment on the potential impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on Prime Day deals. Some retail analysts expect U.S. consumers to make purchases this week out of fear that high taxes on foreign imports will make items they want more expensive later.

Americans have one more reason to celebrate this Fourth of July. A market research company's preliminary data shows that getting all the gear needed to host a pool party costs less than it has in years. Consumer data provider Numerator said in an analysis prepared for The Associated Press that the total price to buy beach towels, a beverage cooler, bathing suits and other accoutrements of summer fun averaged $858 in June. That was the lowest amount for the month since 2020. The finding from the firm's seasonal snapshot comports with broader economic measures indicating that U.S. consumers so far haven't seen major impacts from President Donald Trump's vigorous application of tariffs on foreign goods.

New data shows holiday sales rose this year even as Americans wrestled with still high prices in many grocery necessities and other financial worries. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, holiday sales from the beginning of November through Christmas Eve climbed 3.8%, a faster pace than the 3.1% increase from a year earlier. The measure tracks all kinds of payments including cash and debit cards. This year, retailers were even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there were five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mastercard SpendingPulse says the last five days of the season accounted for 10% of the spending. Sales of clothing, electronics and Jewelry rose.

It's one of the most under-publicized policies of some of the biggest U.S. retailers: sometimes they give customers full refunds and let them keep unwanted items too. Returnless refunds are a tool that more retailers are using to keep online shoppers happy and to reduce shipping fees, processing time and other ballooning from mountains of returned products. Companies such as Amazon, Walmart and Target have decided some items are not worth the cost or hassle of getting back. Think a $20 T-shirt that might cost $30 in shipping and handling to recover. While the practice is not exactly a trade secret, the way it works is shrouded in mystery.