Nostalgia is trending and it’s about to tax your holiday budgetConsumer Affairs 12/16/2025Nostalgia and viral trends are influencing purchases. RetailMeNot surveyed 1,169 U.S. adults and found that 40% of shoppers say nostalgic or viral holiday trends are helping to shape their buying decisions this year. This change in shopping behavior shows this is more than just some clever inspiration on your feeds, consumers are actually starting to buy this stuff in record numbers. 58% of Millennials have purchased (or plan to purchase) based on these cozy nostalgic trends. Among Gen Z, RetailMeNot found 37% are buying based on these trends, while 35% are simply saving ideas and building dream décor boards. Read Article
Ookla: FWA speeds for the big 3 all went down this yearFierce Network 12/16/2025Fixed wireless access (FWA) speeds for major operators declined across the board during the second and third quarters of 2025, according to a new Ookla report. But how much of that is seasonal or due to network congestion is tough to say. T-Mobile, which boasts the fastest average FWA speed, saw its median downlink dip from 221.65 Mbps in Q1 2025 to 209.06 Mbps in Q3 2025. Still, the latter is roughly double that of AT&T, Ookla noted, as AT&T’s median download speed dropped from 114.34 Mbps to 104.363 Mbps in the same period. Verizon FWA meanwhile declined from 167.30 Mbps to 137.81 Mbps.Read Article
Shoppers Turn to Discounts and Debt, but Not Just for HolidaysNew York Times 12/3/2025“Consumers have faced several years of rising costs, and what we’re seeing now is resilience turning into strategy,” said Magali Darling, the chief commercial officer at RetailMeNot, a company that offers discount coupons and cash-back options on some purchases. “It’s a long-term shift in how consumers approach spending, with a stronger focus on making every dollar work harder.” At RetailMeNot, account registrations this year through November jumped 22 percent from the same period in 2024. Read Article