March 6 – 12, 2023
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| Data was a hot topic throughout various categories this week. From how physical retailers are trying to gather in-store data, to how data analytics teams can better support retailers, to how restaurants can leverage location data. And we have to agree that good data—and knowing how to pay attention to it — is key to making meaningful decisions. But we don’t ignore that this can be confusing, and not necessarily in your core skill-set. This is where partners can be a compounding investment, but finding the right partner can be daunting. Don’t worry – we’re here for you. Matchmaking you + data partners = one of our specialties. Let’s chat.
This week we also saw news on how a luxury retailer is thinking of bringing experiential into their stores in an unexpected way, read about how weather impacts e-commerce sales, and read about Amazon’s evolving physical retail footprint. You know where to find us on social —Twitter or LinkedIn! |
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| US livestream commerce expected to surpass $31B in 2023: report [RetailDive] The livestream e-commerce market will reach $31.7 billion by the end of this year, nearly triple its size in 2021, according to a report. The report projects that the market will reach $67.8 billion by 2026, accounting for over 5% of e-commerce.
Tech companies are racing to make retail stores as measurable as websites [ModernRetail] Retailers are finding that they want more data on how their customers are behaving in stores to make the physical retail experience more compelling and efficient. Additionally, these solutions — particularly in-store advertising displays like Cooler Screens — are helping companies grow their burgeoning retail media businesses. |
| Amazon Go closing 8 locations [GroceryDive] Amazon is permanently closing eight Go convenience stores — two in Seattle, two New York City and four in San Francisco — on April 1. Despite these closures, the company will “continue to open new Amazon Go stores.” Amazon shuttering more than a quarter of its Go stores highlights the company’s ongoing challenges in building its physical retail footprint. Less than a month ago, it paused the rollout of its Fresh grocery stores.
Why data analytics teams must speak retail [RetailWire] A recent university study finds many retailers are still using “very basic tools” rather than advanced analytics partly because the analytics function is “often run by people who do not really understand” the retail business. |
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| Micro & Last Mile Fulfillment |
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| Alex and Ani outsources warehousing and fulfillment [Chain Store Age] Alex and Ani is moving its inventory into third-party warehouses and utilizing a hosted last-mule delivery platform. After handling distribution, fulfillment, and manufacturing in-house since its inception in 2004, the jewelry retailer is recognizing a need to outsource its warehousing and fulfillment, and decided to deploy hosted technology from Stord. |
| Meet UniUni, Shein’s last-mile solution delivered by gig drivers [TechCrunch] When we talk about e-commerce logistics, we think of an industry controlled by entrenched players like Amazon, FedEx and national postal systems. At the start of the pandemic in 2019, a brave startup from Vancouver, British Columbia, decided to take on the incumbents with a new model — last-mile delivery using an Uber-esque network. |
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| Retailers Double Down On Costly Last-Mile Arms Race [Forbes] How soon do you really need that box of instant stuffing or a new head for your electric toothbrush? How about an hour from now, or maybe even 30 minutes? By land or drone, the retail industry is waging big money on just such last-mile delivery timelines, although the prospect of a return on investment seems murky at best. |
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| Restaurants & Ghost Kitchens |
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| How Restaurants Can Use Location Data to Boost Efficiency [QSR] Quick-service restaurants can use location data to improve site selection, analyze rivals and boost their competitive advantage, and streamline marketing. Let’s dive into how location data can save quick-service restaurants money on each of these fronts while enabling them to grow—even during a downturn.
Uber Eats officially partners with first US airport [RestaurantDive] Uber Eats partnered with Tampa International Airport to offer online ordering from its concessions. TPA is Uber’s first official airport partner in the U.S., but Uber Eats previously tested this program at John Glenn International Airport and Charlotte Douglas International airport and has full operations at the Toronto Pearson Airport. |
| Inside Walmart in Plano, chefs make restaurant food from all over the world [The Dallas Morning News] Walmart shoppers in Plano might not know it, but there’s a gaggle of chefs at a new ghost kitchen right by the front door of the store. Inside, chefs are cooking food from national companies like Nathan’s Hot Dogs and Wow Bao. The kitchen is also a home for local chefs like Plano resident Tiffany Qualls and her mom Jo Denman, small business owners who sell fried pies at Northeast Texas festivals and fairs but have found new customers at Walmart.
Subway’s App Rockets Up the Charts [QSR] The top 10 quick-service restaurant apps in the U.S. were downloaded 10.5 million times in February, 4.2 percent more than those the month prior and up 33.7% year over year. |
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| Why retailers are embracing fixed CAM costs [Chain Store Age] Both landlords and tenants are increasingly gravitating toward fixed common area maintenance (CAM) payments to resolve what has become a complex, burdensome, and generally frustrating piece of the property management and ownership puzzle: how to calculate a tenant’s share of annual maintenance costs. |
| A Saks Casino: Gauging the Impact to the Luxury Brand [WWD] It’s not such a wild idea, but would a casino inside Saks Fifth Avenue really work? When Richard Baker, chairman of Saks Fifth Avenue’s owner HBC, proposed creating a casino on the top three floors of the retailer’s flagship, many in the industry were skeptical, some even aghast, seeing it as a poor fit with the luxury department store. |
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| Study: Weather is a bigger e-commerce driver than Cyber Monday [Chain Store Age] Weather events are expected to add billions of dollars to U.S. e-commerce sales this year. According to new analysis of weather data from The Weather Company, an IBM business, by Adobe Analytics, weather events will add an additional $13.5 billion to U.S. e-commerce in 2023, after driving a $13.1 billion increase in 2022. That is more than the record-setting $11.3 billion Adobe estimates U.S. consumers spent online during Cyber Monday 2022. |
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