| November 7 – 13, 2022
 An article in Globe St. discussed ways in which Simon Malls are working to reduce their carbon footprint. One of the ways is through a partnership with Happy Returns, which provides immediate, in-person returns for items purchased at participating retailers. We love this example because it really is a Retail-as-a-Service (RaaS) offering that has many benefits. It helps retailer’s reduce their carbon footprints by reducing the number of packages being shipped, it serves customers by providing options for their shopping journey, and it provides a value-prop for property owners to offer retailers in addition to an additional revenue stream. As you know, we love an all around win! Have you explored services like this for your properties?
This week we also saw reports about which direct-to-consumer brands are starting to turn back toward “traditional” retail, a new report about drone delivery testing in Australia, and it seems young holiday shoppers are turning towards a new channel to find their gifts this season. As we head into the last few months of the year, find us over on Twitter or LinkedIn to let us know what you’re thinking about and starting to plan for 2023.
|
|
Digital Meets Physical
Rakuten to open its first brick-and-mortar experience [Chain Store Age]
Rakuten will operate “Sleigh Your Shopping, a pop-up shop located in New York City’s NoHo neighborhood, from Saturday, Nov. 12 to Sunday, Nov. 13. The online platform’s physical store offering will feature its partner brands, including Favorite Daughter, Ugg, Naadam and others. |
12 digital natives that have learned to love old-fashioned retail [RetailDive]
By avoiding stores and cutting out the middleman, digitally native brands promised a superior customer experience and investor return. But many are struggling to be profitable or reach scale, and have now turned to the very business conventions they purported to reject. |
|
Consumer-facing companies are increasingly joining tech forces [Chain Store Age]
Retailers and consumer-facing brands are discovering the advantages of sharing technological capabilities. For retailers and other consumer-facing companies (such as shopping centers and airlines), technology is typically a competitive differentiator. If a solution works, the last thing they want to do is share its functionality with a potential rival. |
|
Micro & Last Mile Fulfillment
Wing brings drone delivery options to DoorDash customers in Logan, Australia [TechCrunch]
DoorDash is teaming up with Alphabet’s Wing to offer customers an easier way to arrange for goods to be delivered via drone. Beginning this week, a small number of DoorDash users in Logan, Australia will be able to order certain convenience and grocery items through the DoorDash app and have them delivered by a Wing drone, typically in 15 minutes or less, Wing says.Sacramento beta of Luxer One’s public Harbor smart locker network to go nationwide [SacramentoInno]
Harbor Lockers, a subsidiary of Sacramento smart locker manufacturer Luxer One, plans to deploy 25,000 of its public lockers nationwide, and let other companies and developers decide how to use them. Over 15 years, Luxer One has deployed more than 8,500 private lockers in apartment buildings, offices and Home Depot (NYSE: HD) stores for remote pickup. |
Why Walmart Could Win Hyperlocal Delivery In The US [Forbes]
Stores also serve as nodes across a complex distribution network, enabling both delivery and even collection options. Walmart reports about one-quarter of e-commerce orders are fulfilled through click and collect, which offsets the more costly delivery model. In the U.S., click-and-collect services continue to outpace the growth of delivery as a fulfillment model, according to Euromonitor.Retailers Turning to Specific-Day Delivery Over Speediest Shipping [The Wall Street Journal]
Retailers this holiday season are focusing on delivering packages to customers on specific dates, rather than competing on speed of delivery. The shift marks an easing in a race for delivery speed in e-commerce in recent years that has pushed goods to shoppers’ homes at an ever-faster pace while narrowing retailers’ profit margins on sales. |
|
Restaurants & Ghost Kitchens
Ghost Kitchens Are Evolving [The Takeout]
Since 2020, we’ve all gained much more familiarity with the concept of ghost kitchens, restaurants with no dining room that operate out of a shared kitchen space and offer only delivery via apps such as DoorDash and Grubhub. Now, though, many ghost kitchens are trying to become more customer-facing, some even hoping to abandon the term “ghost kitchen” altogether, reports Nation’s Restaurant News. |
Check out Sweetgreen’s first digital-only location [Chain Store Age]
Customers can’t buy anything on-site at the new Sweetgreen. The healthy-eating chain has opened its first digital-only location, in Washington, D.C. The new format comes as Sweetgreen’s digital business continues to grow, accounting for 67% of its total revenue in 2021.The space is dedicated to pick-up only, with no interior dining or front-service line. |
|
Panera Bread Goes After City Centers With Digital-Focused Formats [Restaurant Business]
A new smaller urban prototype opens in New York City, and will soon be joined by a no-dine-in Panera To Go. |
|
Mall Talk
Inside Sephora’s plans for growth [Vogue Business]
What’s next for the beauty retail giant? A key focus is a twin expansion of Sephora’s physical stores combined with development of digital sales.Simon Malls’ Customer Returns Services Makes a Dent in Emissions [GlobeSt.]
Simon Property Group is taking action to reduce emissions, including through its Happy Returns program in which shoppers can return items from multiple participating retailers, potentially reducing the number of vehicles needed for this purpose. Other efforts include electric vehicle charging stations and green building certifications, notes Laura Schwartz of Simon Property Group. |
Survey reveals where Gen Z holiday shoppers are heading [Chain Store Age]
A survey of U.S. shoppers younger than 25 from social commerce company SimplicityDX found that 80% of respondents plan to use social media to find holiday gifts this year, with 41% planning to use it for most or all of their holiday shopping.Prague Airport Supports National Brands With A Greener Kind Of Store [Forbes]
Prague’s Václav Havel Airport has just opened a store called Future is Local that—unusually for a European capital city airport—is entirely focused on promoting home-grown brands, in this case from the Czech Republic and neighboring Slovakia. Passengers can learn the stories of the brands via QR codes located near the shelves, hangers, and product showcases. |
|
|
