| October 24 – 30, 2022
 Back in May we shared news that Sephora entered into a strategic partnership with Brookfield Properties to provide curbside pickup via the “Cubcierge” offering. At the time we applauded the efforts as a win-win-win for retailer, property owner and customer, and we now have the hard facts that it is indeed an all around win with new reports that the participating stores at malls in Houston have rung up sales five times higher than average. Furthermore, wait times for customers were 40% shorter than the retailer has experienced at other mall locations. We are thrilled to see these types of positive results start to be reported, and hope it encourages more of you to take the plunge on this strategy.
This week we also saw reports of how some small businesses are taking control of their supply chains in response to the disastrous disruptions of the past few years, heard more about ways that DoorDash is working to own more of the dining experience than just take-out, and started to see some predictions around 2023 (how is that possible?!) Are you starting to make 2023 predictions? Share them with us over on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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Digital Meets Physical
Simon teams up with global retail giant for livestream shopping in China [Chain Store Age]
Premium mall owner Simon and Shop Premium Outlets are participating in a global shopping festival. The two companies are teaming up with Tmall Global, the cross-border e-commerce platform of Chinese retail giant Alibaba Group, for a series of livestream shopping events leading up to the 14th annual Alibaba Global Shopping Festival. The annual shopping extravaganza is known colloquially as “11.11” or “Singles Day.” |
Warby Parker, once online-only eyeglasses retailer, plans hundreds of more stores [CNBC]
Warby Parker, the eyewear brand founded to lower costs, was among the first retail startups to use a direct-to-consumer business model. Warby Parker has expanded its eyeglass business to include a brand of contact lenses, vision exams and almost 200 bricks-and-mortar locations. The company is looking to open hundreds of stores in the next few years, according to co-CEO David Gilboa, but also sees a future tied to telemedicine. |
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Retailers recalibrate physical stores to meet demands of the digital shopper [Supply Chain Quarterly]
Retailers in regions worldwide are hustling to “recalibrate” their sales and fulfillment strategies to keep up with a hybrid marketplace where the line between physical and digital commerce is becoming increasingly complicated, according to a study from logistics software vendor Manhattan Associates. |
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Micro & Last Mile Fulfillment
BOPIS substitution processes need work [RetailWire]
A new study exploring BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in-store) finds consumers are more likely to be satisfied with substitutions for out-of-stocks when the item is a staple, like ketchup or paper towels, rather than a “pleasure-loving” item like coffee or perfume.Sephora sees 500% rise in curbside pickups in pilot with Brookfield Properties [Chain Store Age]
Sephora’s involvement in the pilot program of Brookfield Properties’ app-powered Curbcierge service at four malls in Houston has rung up sales five times higher than average. And wait times for customers were 40% shorter than the nation’s leading beauty retailer has experienced at other mall locations. |
Weary of Snarls, Small Businesses Build Their Own Supply Chains [The New York Times]
The pandemic forced companies to reckon with the cost of producing and shipping goods overseas. ObVus joins other small businesses that are following multinational counterparts, like Ford Motor, First Solar, Intel and Lego, that have recently announced new U.S. plants as a solution to global snarls that left them without access to key components and empty shelves when consumer demand seemed insatiable.The Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding [Bloomberg]
Gopuff was supposed to crack Silicon Valley’s longtime obsession with one-hour delivery. Instead, the startup valued at $15 billion risks becoming the next Kozmo.com-size flameout. |
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Restaurants & Ghost Kitchens
How far will Marc Lore’s mobile ghost kitchen concept go? [RetailWire]
Wonder, the latest venture from serial entrepreneur Marc Lore, supplies customers with chef-designed meals cooked from vans parked outside the their home. The founder of Jet.com and Walmart’s former e-commerce chief tells Yahoo Finance that Wonder balances the value propositions of price, quality and speed around meal delivery. |
Restaurant operating hours are still shorter compared to 2019, report finds [CNBC]
Restaurants have trimmed their weekly operating hours by 7.5%, or 6.4 hours, compared with pre-pandemic schedules, according to a new report from Datassential. Operators chalk up the scaled-back hours to staffing shortages, which have improved but are still putting pressure on eateries. Independent restaurants have been hit harder, losing 7.5 weekly hours on average. |
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DoorDash is testing in-app reservations [RestaurantDive]
DoorDash is piloting in-app reservations. The “Reservations” button appears in the app for New York and Chicago consumers, but a Restaurant Dive reporter was also able to book a restaurant reservation through the app in Los Angeles. |
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Mall Talk
Zara, eBay and Lee Launch Programs to Bolster Resale in the UK and the U.S. [Retail Touchpoints]
Zara and eBay are advancing resale in the UK with two new initiatives: the launch of Zara Pre-Owned, and partnership with the British Fashion Council to launch the Circular Fashion Innovator’s Fund, respectively. Additionally, Lee is launching the Lee Archives in the U.S. to promote and sell vintage clothing from its older lines, with an emphasis on its iconic American look.Survey: Shoppers want easy returns, mobile and self-checkout [Chain Store Age]
Most (76%) consumers want to get in and out of a brick-and-mortar store as quickly as possible, according to the 15th Annual Global Shopper Study. Forty-three percent of respondents prefer paying with a mobile device/smartphone (up 23 percentage points since Zebra’s 2019 edition of the survey) and half prefer self-checkout (up 19 percentage points since 2019). |
Department store foot traffic is down, but recovering: report [RetailDive]
Inflation woes are not affecting department stores equally. Placer.ai analysis found that, based on the four months studied, visits to Dillard’s declined the most between June and September year-over-year compared to Kohl’s, Macy’s and Belk. Dillard’s saw the most significant drop in June at -20.9%, followed by July (-19.9%), August (-14.5%) and September (-12.4%).Stark and dark: Tulsa Promenade mall, once a former retail fixture, remains shell of former self [Tulsa World]
A recent Tulsa World trip to Promenade, 4107 S. Yale Ave., revealed only about a dozen permanent, first-floor business outlets, excluding anchor store Dillard’s. The entrance to that department store on the mall interior is locked on the second floor, which on the day the newspaper visited, looked entirely vacant. |
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Forrester: Five retail predictions for 2023 [Chain Store Age]
Online-only brands are in for a reckoning in 2023: Develop a physical presence of some kind or stumble. The importance of having an omnichannel presence is one of five trends detailed in Forrester’s “Predictions 2023: Retail” report. The report forecasts that in 2023, total U.S. retail sales will hit $4.7 trillion, of which online sales will top $1.1 trillion. |
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