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Last September, Gap Inc. relaunched its loyalty program in order to encourage people to shop and redeem rewards across all four of its brands -- Banana Republic, Old Navy, Athleta and the namesake Gap brand. Now roughly ten months into the program, Gap is making a greater push to get more people to sign up, by making it easier to redeem points and adding more perks.
Furniture became a hot item in 2020, and resale platform AptDeco was ready for that demand. The company saw sales increase more than 300% last year, and is trying to ride that wave through this year. According to co-founder and CEO Reham Fagiri, who joined the Modern Retail Podcast, the company's emphasis is now on expansion.
Brick-and-mortar retail has transformed over the past decade, with less emphasis on in-store sales and more focus on customer experience. Todd Sachse, the founder of retail construction company Sachse Construction, explains how retailers are rethinking how they build out their physical footprint.
On Tuesday, Chipotle announced that revenues increased 38% year over year in the second quarter of 2021 to $1.9 billion. To court employees this quarter, Chipotle raised its minimum wage, recruited via social media, invested in a mental health app for current employees and subsequently hired 5,000 new employees over the second quarter, up to 102,000 total workers at 2,850 restaurants.
In 2021, consumers are returning to accessory rental, though prioritizing more casual styles than a pre-pandemic past. Moreover, lured by the potential to reach younger consumers after a tough sales year, luxury brands are opening up to the model.
Gender-neutral fashion and apparel is rapidly being embraced by large retailers. While branding is a major factor, some industry experts believe the trend is a long time coming and will only help popularize the category.
Over the years, outdoor furniture brand Yardbird has outgrown its scrappy online marketplace roots. The company has its own website, as well as seven showrooms around the country in cities like Minneapolis, Denver and Washington DC. More are slated to open this year, and co-founder Jay Dillon told the Modern Retail Podcast that business has been consistently doubling year-over-year.
For decades, sales employees have been strictly floor workers: they interacted with customers browsing in stores, showcasing and pitching them items in order to make commissions. But as more and more customers continue to buy online, their mostly commission-based sales associates as not just charismatic employees but also people with social reach who can become potential drivers of site traffic.
Retailers like Walmart and Amazon are increasingly displaying customer reviews from their e-commerce site, on their shelf labels in-store. These new shelf labels are not only deepening the connection between e-commerce and physical retail, but they are also heightening the stakes for brands around customer reviews and search placement.
Nordstrom announced it's purchasing a minority stake in British fashion group Asos, the owner of brands Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT. The deal is the latest attempt by the department store to diversify its apparel assortment and attract younger shoppers.
After a year of heightened e-commerce sales, PepsiCo's focus has shifted back to in-person sales. On Tuesday, PepsiCo announced second quarter net revenues were up 21% year-over-year to $19.2 billion. A return to in-person consumption and buying at bars and restaurants and big box and convenience stores, drove sales.
Health care is shaping up to be the next area of interest for big-box retailers, with companies like Dollar General and Walmart searching for ways to boost their medical credibility. Two recent announcements highlight the new arms race.
On Tuesday, Marriott Bonvoy and Pinterest teamed up for the latest activation in Marriott’s broader “The Power of Travel” campaign, a multi-platform investment across streaming platforms, social platforms and even gaming platforms like Twitch. The hotel chain is adapting to a new travel landscape, moving away from its traditional business-traveler consumers and instead shifting platform spend to appeal to younger and leisure-focused travelers.
Brand and retail employees have mixed feelings about returning to the office full-time. In an April-May 2021 Glossy and Modern Retail survey of brand and retail employees, 28% said they've gone back to work full-time, and 32% said they'd be willing to go back to the office full-time in the next month.
A lot of changes have happened at Asheville, North Carolina-based East Fork Pottery over the last year. For one, its CMO and co-founder Connie Matisse became the brand's CEO earlier this year. What's more, the ceramics company grew during the pandemic -- and became profitable. "We are coming up on 11 months of consistent profitability, which is huge for us," Matisse said on this week's episode of the Modern Retail Podcast.
Every interaction a customer has with a brand is an opportunity to nurture the customer-brand relationship. This report highlights tactics that top brands are using to improve the customer experience.
While other states have had conflicting rulings over Amazon's liability risk -- a court in Texas last month said Amazon wasn’t on the hook for a battery sold by a third party, for instance -- the growing number of legal authorities who are holding Amazon accountable is a concerning sign for the company. The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission lawsuit is only the latest.
Read MoreAt Modern Retail’s Livestream Commerce Trends, we’ll explore how the growth of livestream and video shopping trends are transforming how retailers, brands and marketing teams are engaging with consumers in-stream and live across social and owned-and-operated websites.
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