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Under Armour, like many other brands that have relied historically on wholesalers to sell its product, wants to generate more revenue from its own website and stores. But, its direct-to-consumer business has struggled for a couple of reasons. In order to right the ship, Under Armour is looking to open more full-price stores, continue to highlight the technical innovation in its apparel and performance wear, and build a new e-commerce platform.
As livestreaming shopping videos have become increasingly popular in China, they've also become critically important to brands' strategies for the biggest shopping holiday in the country, Alibaba's Singles Day. Overall, the number of merchants who incorporated livestreaming into their Singles Day campaign was up 200% compared to last year, according to Alibaba.
Fast, reliable delivery options have become table stakes for today's brick-and-mortar retailers, thanks to Amazon. Now, they're also becoming an important part of these retailers' marketing strategies in the run up to big holiday sales days like Black Friday and Christmas. In the lead up to Black Friday, many retailers are dropping the minimum order value needed for customers to get free shipping altogether, or are giving their most loyal customers access to the fastest delivery and fulfillment options for free.
Walgreens is reportedly looking to go private, highlighting just how difficult it is for drug stores to remain relevant as a mix of big-box and online competitors encroach upon their retail business. Drug store chains like Walgreens and CVS generate a large portion of sales not only from medications, but also from sales of snacks, cleaning products, and other consumables -- often referred to as front store sales. But as customers are finding it more convenient and cheaper to buy these products from Amazon or other big-box chains like Target and Walmart, drug store chains have to give shoppers other reasons to buy more than just prescriptions from them.
Starbucks is opening a store only for online orders. It's a way for customers to not have to deal with a long line coffee drinks. It's also a growing trend for retailers, who are looking for cheaper ways to try new services and location concepts.
As legacy retailers struggle with what to do with their large store footprint, there's a growing industry of retail-as-a-service companies that are pitching them on software and services that they say will help them make better use of in-store space.
The DTC weighted blanket brand Bearaby is collaborating with West Elm. The partnership illustrates the millennial-love furniture maker's strategy with smaller brands that complement its selection. More, similar collaborations are likely on the way.
At this fall's Modern Retail Summit in Palm Springs, retailers came together and talked shop. They had some gripes about attribution and customer acquisition. Some had problems, others solutions. Put together you can see the changing retail landscape.
The retail wars continue on many fronts. While many companies are trying to capture more lower-income customers, the leading grocery and online retailers are also setting their sites on higher earners by offering more tailored and white glove services. For now, these experiments are small and isolated. But it's only the beginning.
Dollar stores have been around forever, but discount is seeing stronger growth than most other retail segments. This is because of changing consumer patterns, along with big businesses realizing they can grow cheaply by targeting customers looking for good value.
With the holiday shopping season-fast approaching, big-box retailers like Target and Walmart are trying to drum up publicity with the announcement of new shopping features and exclusive products to win over a greater share of toy shoppers.
Over the last week, there's been a bunch of movement in the online grocery space. Uber bought a grocery delivery service, and FreshDirect is reportedly considering selling itself. The overall space is in the midst of a big transition -- here's where all the players stand right now.
Retail credit card APR has been going up steadily over the last few years. Meanwhile, a bunch of new financing services have been taking the retail industry by storm. Is the store credit card model beginning to wane as it gets more and more predatory?
As retailers are leaning on their stores to do more than ever before without significantly raising labor costs, store associates can get caught in the middle. Over the past few months, big-box retailers, from Target to Home Depot to Kohl's, are encouraging more customers to take advantage of in-store fulfillment options like buy online, pickup in-store or ship-from-store. That in turn requires more investment in their backroom operations. Others, like Kohl's, are now offering more front-facing in-store services.
Uniqlo just announced a new promotion, giving away 100,000 free samples. The retailer's US business has been flagging, and this seems like a way to try to regenerate interest. This latest program seems to borrow from some DTC strategy.
A growing number of health and beauty brands are turning to cloud-based systems that can handle customer, financial and inventory data across all processes, from production to payment.
Payless ShoeSource has come out of its latest bankruptcy proceedings with big plans to relaunch in the U.S. It's provided scant details about what that would look like. But with all of its U.S. locations closed, a large brand and business overhaul will be necessary to keep the retailer alive.
Read MoreAt the Modern Retail Summit, we’ll bring together hundreds of senior retail marketers to discuss the challenges they’re facing and the solutions they’re seeking in the era of smarter retail.
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