| October 31 – November 6, 2022
 An article in Insider Retail this week evangelized the importance of phyigial retail, and we must say, they are preaching to the choir. They make the point that while this is not only important to a customer— who sees a brand as a brand, regardless if they show up online, in-store, on social, or wherever else—there are also major financial benefits of combining online and offline. And this is true for mall operators as well! Not sure exactly what we mean? First, check out our Twitter or LinkedIn feeds, and then, let’s chat!
This week we also saw reports of how an e-commerce platform is setting up physical experiences as a way to drive business leads, why a legacy retailer purchased a DTC competitor, and what the future of ghost kitchens is expected to look like.
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Digital Meets Physical
Tesco Keeps Some Traditional Cashiers in New Amazon-Style Stores [Bloomberg]
Tesco Plc is expanding its experiment with stores where customers can walk straight out with their shopping instead of visiting a checkout counter. The only catch is, this time there will be traditional cashiers on offer as well. Three new GetGo stores in London and Birmingham will follow a “hybrid format” designed to avoid alienating customers who have been put off by cashierless technology.Harrods returns to profit after using digital to adapt to Covid-19 pandemic shopping patterns [Internet Retailing]
Harrods has reported a return to profit after a year in which it used digital to adapt to the changing way shoppers wanted to buy during the Covid-19 pandemic, while also investing in physical retail. It says it is now confident of returning to long-term sustainable growth as it maintains that momentum. |
Why You Should Care About Phygital Retail [Insider Retail]
Phygital retail matters because anything else is frustrating for the customer.People don’t see retailers’ different channels as separate. To them, whether it’s the store, the website, social media, the app, it’s all just the brand or retailer. So when retailers treat their stores like their own entity that is separate from their website which is then separate from their social media etc, it doesn’t meet the customer’s expectations.Victoria’s Secret to Buy Lingerie Brand Adore Me for $400 Million [The Wall Street Journal]
Chief Executive Martin Waters said Victoria’s Secret plans to use those online shopping features with its other brands. “They’re significantly further advanced in the way that they use technology at the forefront of everything that they do,” Mr. Waters said. He expects the deal will also bring in more cost-conscious consumers. |
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Micro & Last Mile Fulfillment
What are the biggest emerging threats facing online delivery? [RetailWire]
The “Annual State of Shipping Study,” finds porch piracy, fraud and climate-related issues to be the top emerging threats facing online delivery. The impacts of delivery incidents, according to merchants, included extra time spent with customers resolving their damaged or lost packages and making them whole, cited by 53 percent; financial loss due to sending a second unit, 50 percent; and negative reviews adversely affecting their business’s reputation, 37 percent.Save Mart teams up with Amazon to fulfill grocery orders [Chain Store Age]
Save Mart is expanding the reach of its online delivery program in a new partnership with Amazon. The subsidiary of The Save Mart Companies, is offering two-hour grocery delivery from stores in Lathrop and Ceres, Calif., with more cities in California’s Central Valley to be added soon.Customers can order their Save Mart grocery delivery through the Amazon app or a dedicated page of the Amazon e-commerce site, starting at $4.99 per order for Amazon Prime members. |
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. adds alternate pickup locations for online shoppers [Chain Store Age]
Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has expanded its fulfillment capabilities by adding alternate pickup locations as an additional e-commerce delivery option for its U.S. customers. Customers across all of Abercrombie & Fitch brands can now choose to pick up their order at an alternate location including FedEx, Office Depot and Walgreens sites.Truckers Expect Softer Holiday Shipping on Waning Retailer Demand [The Wall Street Journal]
Freight companies are preparing for what executives are calling a muted peak season, as dimming shipping demand from overstocked retailers ripples across U.S. shipping markets. Several big operators say they are seeing freight demand drop off rather than pick up heading into what is typically their busiest period of the year. The downshift in business is sending rates in trucking’s volatile spot market downward and the weakness is starting to filter into the contract business that makes up the largest share of trucking volumes. |
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Restaurants & Ghost Kitchens
The next generation of ghost kitchens is stepping out from the shadows [Nations Restaurant News]
Ghost kitchens and virtual brands in a post-pandemic world will favor more flexible, transparent business models from industry veterans like Reef and Nextbite, to newcomers like Oomi and Meal OutpostWhen Robots Replace Restaurant Workers, We All Lose [Eater]
As QR codes, app-based service, and robotic servers become more and more common, that makes the job tougher for the humans working alongside them. |
Survey: 59% of Retailers and Restaurant Chains Plan to Increase Investment in Location Tech [StreetFight]
Customer demand for hybrid shopping experiences is undeniable, but many retail and restaurant brands are still struggling to keep up. In an effort to learn why that is, and what needs to change for retail and restaurant brands to deliver more personalized experiences across channels, Forrester Consulting and the geofencing startup Radar recently partnered on a survey of customer experience leaders at regional and national retailers and restaurants across the U.S. |
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Mall Talk
Mall Do’s and Don’ts: Merge your malls with omnichannel [Chain Store Age]
Do make your place more relevant to omnichannel. Increase the levels of service. For years developers have been fighting online shopping. Now we know that omnichannel is the ultimate channel. All the major online retailers need brick and-mortar stores. Provide in-store pick-up, curbside delivery, home delivery. Use technology to give shoppers access to your property and its merchants online.Walmart Is Now Offering Small Businesses Short-Term Rental Leases at Its Stores [FootwearNews]
Small businesses can now rent retail space in Walmart stores across the country.Through a new partnership with pop-up shop marketplace platform Popable, Walmart is now offering short-term leases to small businesses that don’t want to commit to longer contracts. Here’s how it works: After a company lists its offering on Popable’s website, small businesses can then be paired with their local participating Walmart to connect and enter into an agreeable temporary leasing agreement. |
How the Pandemic Changed E-Commerce—and Where It Goes Now [The Wall Street Journal]
The world of online retail is facing a stark reality: During the pandemic, when many people were stuck at home, they went shopping online. Now that things are returning to normal, e-commerce sales are slowing or falling. What are online sellers going to do? For insight into the issue, The Wall Street Journal’s Preetika Rana spoke with Kirsten Green, founder and managing partner of venture-capital firm Forerunner, and Lydia Jett, managing partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers.Spotify Supports Medellín’s Music Industry With A Pop-Up Education And Events Centre [FrameWeb]
Dubbed Casa Medallo, the project is an effort by Spotify to provide a meeting point, tools and educational resources for urban music stars, emerging artists, producers, composers and creators of podcasts in Medellín. Mia Nygren, general manager of Spotify in Latin America, explains that Casa Medallo aims to give these creatives a place develop their careers and ‘live from their art’. |
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A resale ‘revolution’: Affluent shoppers embrace secondhand shopping [CNBC]
The resale business is projected to grow by 80% over the next five years. High-income shoppers are increasingly turning to the secondhand market as a means to secure hard-to-find luxury items. |
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