| We’re coming to you today with a slight delay in the delivery of our weekly newsletter as we observed the national Juneteenth holiday here in the U.S.
We’ve had some exciting opportunities recently! First, we just got back from Peru where David had a chance to speak about the role of the shopping center in supporting retailers’ omnichannel efforts. Second, we had the pleasure of speaking with Carol Tallon, host of the PropTech Hot Seat Podcast recently and our conversation is now live for your listening pleasure. We got to share details about what NextRivet helps clients achieve, and how we do it, plus lots more. We hope you’ll give it a listen and let us know your thoughts, over on Twitter or LinkedIn of course.
This week we also caught up on some sad news about our old stomping ground, the evolving role of NFC technology, and some data around delivery speeds that harkens back to some of our recent thoughts. |
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| Bridging The Gap Digital And Physical Processes [PropTech Hot Seat Podcast] NextRivet Co-Founders Kyle Spencer and David Blumenfeld spoke to Carol Tallon about how to find the right balance between physical and digital in real estate innovation. It was a great discussion about the typical problems mall operators and retailers are running into, how to be more open to innovation, and the difficulties of creating an effective centralized fulfillment plan.
J. Crew opens virtual store [RetailDive] Adding another brand to the virtual store trend, J. Crew launched a virtual store through a collaboration with experiential e-commerce company Obsess. |
| Ikea embraces remote interior design as AI transforms sales tactics [Retail Gazette] Ikea is training call center workers to become interior design advisers as it hands off everyday customer inquiries to AI. Asked if the increased use of AI was likely to lead to a reduction in headcount, the furniture giant said: “That’s not what we’re seeing right now”
Fashion brands evolve NFC tag strategies to provide more value, exclusivity [Glossy] NFC tag technology for fashion has come a long way since its initial implementation by Adidas in its sneakers in 2014. In 2023, brands are being challenged to build out the digital experience around NFC tag integration to make it worthwhile, or they face a sunk cost. |
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| Micro & Last Mile Fulfillment |
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| Uber Health adds grocery, over-the-counter item delivery [GroceryDive] Uber will soon be able to deliver groceries and other over-the-counter items to patients of its payer and provider clients, in the latest benefits expansion of its Uber Health platform. Uber Health, which already provides non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) and prescription delivery, has been expanding beyond medical transportation. |
| Robots Are Looking to Bring a Human Touch to Warehouses [The Wall Street Journal] Humanoid robots are on their way to warehouses as companies start to move beyond the disembodied arms, moving trays and other machines aimed at speeding up logistics operations. Agility Robotics, Figure AI and Boston Dynamics are among companies designing robots more closely modeled on human beings for use in distribution centers. |
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| Deliveries keep getting faster. Will it last? [RetailDive] Deliveries continue to get faster, but further improvements will be hard to realize in an era of shifting consumer preferences and cost mitigation among shippers. In April, the time between a customer placing an order and final delivery fell to an average of four days, according to Project44’s “State of Last Mile” report released last month, compared to 5.6 days in April 2022. |
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| Restaurants & Ghost Kitchens |
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| Grubhub wants to be the dining option for Homewood Suites guests [Restaurant Business] Guests of Homewood Suites by Hilton will have a streamlined way of ordering delivery through Grubhub under an agreement between the two. The deal is intended to position Grubhub as a preferred meal option for travelers staying at any of the properties, which typically do not sport an on-site restaurant. |
| Grubhub cuts 15% of staff [RestaurantDive] Grubhub is laying off 15% of its workforce, or about 400 positions, Grubhub CEO Howard Migdal said in an email sent to employees on Monday. While the company has “grown since [its] 2019 pre-pandemic levels, [its] operating and staff costs have increased at a higher rate,” Midgal said. |
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| What’s Behind Uber Eats’ Crack Down On Ghost Kitchens? [RetailWire] Uber Eats is purging 5,000 ghost kitchens from its app and setting stricter rules for the remaining ones after finding its platform flooded by virtual restaurants listing similar food options under different names. |
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| Adobe: Online prices fell 2.3% in May, the biggest drop since the pandemic began [Retail Dive] Online prices in May dipped 2.3% year over year, the greatest drop since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Adobe’s Digital Price Index released Monday. May was the ninth consecutive month of year-over-year price decreases, Adobe found.
International apparel retailers are snagging real estate space in the U.S. [ModernRetail] International apparel retailers hoping to win the favor of American shoppers are increasingly building out a fleet of stores in the U.S. Uniqlo said that it plans to open four locations this summer as part of its goal of having over 200 stores in North America by 2027. Spanish fashion retailer Mango is also focusing on a U.S. expansion, with plans to have 40 stores in the country by 2024. |
| Westfield is handing over the keys to San Francisco Centre mall [RetailDive] After more than two decades operating San Francisco Centre, Westfield is handing over the mall’s keys to its lender. “Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward,” according to the statement.
Retail CEOs Signal Rising Alarm as Theft Eats Away Billions in Sales [Bloomberg] Retail executives are sounding the alarm on in-store shoplifting as theft burns a multibillion dollar hole in their balance sheets. While most are vowing to fight back, they’re also expressing fears that they may be largely powerless to stop the problem. |
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