Continuing a trend that has been building for the past several years, retailers started their Black Friday holiday promotions well before the traditional post-Thanksgiving shopping day this year.

Oscar Casasola ’24 is working toward obtaining his finance, marketing and management degrees, but his career as a social media influencer is already off to the races.

Ava Cyruli ’22 needed an outlet to fill the void left by stepping away from her dancing career, so she turned to weightlifting. Now, she’s sharing what she’s learned along the way with thousands of people online.

Retailers have been working to reduce inventory to make room for holiday season items. Mishaps in planning dating back to last year are haunting them with excess stock of unwanted products, prompting tactics such as price-cutting, order cancellations and pack and hold.

As courses convene for the new academic year, the Smith School is welcoming eight new scholars to its faculty. Sean Cao is joining the accounting department as an associate professor. Cao received a PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

It’s been about five years since Toys R Us filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and began liquidating its 700-plus big box stores in the United States. But a return to brick and mortar is under way – inside more than 400 Macy’s stores. Spaces, from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet, are combining merchandise and interactive experiences.

Jan Oskar Bolin recently traveled from Norway to College Park to audit a PhD Seminar on Marketing Strategy under Maryland Smith’s Roland Rust. “A key takeaway,” he says, “is under the right conditions artificial intelligence (AI)could prompt a seismic shift that reverberates throughout the entire economy. But good decisions will have to be made.”