Retail Roundup - Top Retail Stories - November 2018
It's all about holiday shopping this month.....
Hot Topics
Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Small Business Saturday? Words don’t matter as the holiday selling season is all month long
The hype:
You get free shipping, you get free shipping, EVERYONE GETS FREE SHIPPING – Amazon offers free shipping with no minimum for all shoppers & Target matches. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/05/amazon-drops-free-shipping-minimum-heating-up-fierce-competition-for-holiday-sales.html
High hopes for a $1T+ holiday - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/us-christmas-retail-sales-to-surpass-1-trillion-this-year-emarketer.html
Study predicts over 70% of Americans to shop over holiday weekend - https://www.retaildive.com/news/71-will-shop-thanksgiving-weekend-cyber-monday/542683/
In the first holiday season without Toys R Us, the big question is who is going to win the toy war - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/21/parents-should-shop-for-toys-early-this-holiday-season.html
The reality:
People LOVE Instant Pots as Kohls sells 1 per second on Thanksgiving Day - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/23/kohls-hits-record-sales-day-online-on-thanksgiving.html
Black Friday online sales jumped 23% vs last year - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html
For some retailers, their websites experienced technical difficulties due to increased traffic (I’m looking at you, Lowe’s & J. Crew) –
https://www.newsweek.com/j-crew-black-friday-website-not-working-down-orders-1229068
https://www.newsweek.com/lowes-black-friday-2018-website-not-working-down-1229540
Foot traffic was down, as consumers shifted their spend online - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-thanksgiving-foot-traffic-drops-1-percent-shoppertrak.html
Cyber Monday was a record breaking day, with almost $8B spent online - https://www.retaildive.com/news/cyber-monday-spending-hits-record-79b/543022/
Omnichannel retail is the real Black Friday winner as almost 90M people shopped both in-store and online during the holiday weekend - https://www.retaildive.com/news/omnichannel-thanksgiving-retail-winner/543151/
Small Business Saturday delivered for independent retailers - https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/retail/sd-me-small-biz-saturday-20181124-story.html
Comings and Goings
Lowe’s announces plans to shutter 50+ stores, after the company already closed all Orchard Supply stores earlier this year - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/05/lowes-to-shut-underperforming-stores-in-the-us-and-canada.html
Sears’ plans to close 40 more stores and no, it’s not groundhog’s day - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/sears-to-shut-40-more-stores-early-next-year.html
Gymboree looking at shuttering half of its retail footprint - https://www.retaildive.com/news/reuters-gymboree-could-close-half-its-stores-file-
Gap to close hundreds of stores in the very near future - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/21/gap-to-close-hundreds-of-stores-at-malls-quickly-and-aggressively.html
Burlington plans approx. 50 new stores for next year - https://www.retaildive.com/news/burlington-sales-up-137-as-it-plans-49-new-stores/543121/
Macy’s testing a small format “neighborhood” stores. Extra space to be used to bring in other retailers, open more “Backstage” off price locations or create mini-fulfillment centers.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/13/macys-is-testing-smaller-stores-to-save-money.html
Nike opens new flagship store in NYC, considered a mecca of innovation - https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2018/11/19/nike-debuts-six-story-retail-experience-in-nyc/#2e3278a64764
What story was most impactful this month? What did I miss?
#retail #retailroundup #grandopenings #storeclosings #blackfriday #cyberemoday #smallbusinesssaturday #omnichannel