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DTC brands are going back to their roots by shifting their focus back to e-commerce.
Nike took a hit to its China business during the third quarter thanks to the coronavirus outbreak there. Now, the company will look at what the outbreak, which is ramping up in the U.S., will do to its retail business, even as the company hopes that its growing DTC business and loyalty programs may mitigate the worst of the impact.
Unlike multi-million square foot warehouses, micro centers are typically located in much-smaller spaces within cities, averaging about 10,000 square feet. Examples include platforms like Fabric, which builds automated micro-fulfillment centers for retail clients, with a focus on grocery chains.
China's online retail market is worth perhaps $1.5 trillion, according to McKinsey. The livestreaming app ShopShops is making it extra accessible to stores and boutiques around the world.
People are staying home, and they are probably drinking too. Alcohol e-commerce is seeing big spikes in business, and some are being forced to delay shipments because of the added strain. These sales were already on the up and up, but this acceleration might bring booze to the e-commerce forefront.
Alex is a 22-year-old social media manager for a startup. Six months ago, while standing in a crowded No. 3 express train on the way to work, he had a panic attack. “I was staring at my phone, trying to simultaneously respond to a Slack message from my boss but also scrolling through Instagram and texting a friend when I thought I was going to die,” says Alex (who didn’t wish to use his last name because he doesn’t want to be known as “the depressed guy” at work). “I literally thought I was being crushed under what felt like a mountain of work, overwhelmed, and messages were coming at me from everywhere, and I just wanted to die.”
Most adults have probably never heard of Loren Gray. But plenty of teens know all about the TikTok celebrity with 38.4 million followers. What exactly makes a creator like Gray soar in popularity is somewhat of a mystery, but those who “understand trends and become early adopters are more likely to gain more traction,” says Ariadna Jacob, CEO of Influences.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., grocery delivery services like Instacart and Amazon Fresh have seen a huge spike in demand. But other food startups are also seeing an increase in sales, as many shoppers stock pile snacks and fresh food while they work from home for the foreseeable future.
QVC may still be a dominant player in interactive shopping, but new entrants include app providers focusing on livestreaming shopping and social media companies building out their commerce capabilities.
Nearly every restaurant and grocery is feeling the effects of the coronavirus. Most are touting their ability to take orders online and facilitate either delivery or pick-up. Analysts for years have said that both will hit the mainstream — the global pandemic may be the accelerant that begins it.
For years, IKEAs differentiator has been its store experience. The Swedish-founded furniture company relied on its maze-like layout, food court and low prices to get shoppers to stay in store longer and subsequently buy more. As the company rolled out digital features, many of them were aimed at supplementing the in-store experience, like an app designed to help shoppers navigate the stores.
It seems like every retailer is relying on their e-commerce business to fuel double-digit sales growth. But there's still one group of brick-and-mortar chains that have largely resisted selling their products online: off-price retailers. Last week, Burlington Stores, Inc. announced that it would shutter its e-commerce business altogether, as it only accounted for 0.5% of its total sales. Here, Modern Retail lays out the case for and against off-price retailers investing in e-commerce.
As the coronavirus spreads, home cleaning brands like Lysol and Clorox have seen a surge in sales. But for organic home cleaning brands, which aren't always effective against the virus, the issue is causing an interesting problem: There are lots more questions about their efficacy, leading in some cases to increased sales. But at the same time, they can't advertise false claims that they can help prevent the spread of the virus. At Blueland, the DTC cleaning supplies brand has seen a surge in sales this past week, particularly with hand soap being purchased in large bulks, said CEO Sarah Paiji Yoo.
During its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday, Kroger reported its biggest increase in operating profit all year, a sign that its cost saving measures are starting to pay off even as it makes costly investments to grow its online business. Kroger reported that fourth quarter identical sales, excluding fuel, were up 2%, while digital sales were up 22%. Total company sales were $28.9 billion, compared to $28.3 billion last year.
Last January, direct-to-consumer furniture brand Article took a step that's still relatively unusual for a startup: it launched an in-house last-mile delivery program. As an online-only startup that has yet to open a single store, Article viewed building its own in-house delivery operation as a necessary customer service investment. The biggest benefit of launching ADT is that it has allowed Article to reduce delivery times. The company is now able to deliver roughly half of its orders in under a week, compared to 30% in 2018
While many channels factor into customer experience, email has by far the most reach. In a new guide for retail marketers, learn the best practices for using email to drive revenue, increase brand awareness and boost traffic.
People don’t think of co-working spaces as operations for physical products, but all our fulfillment is done out of our office, where we have expensive equipment for custom label printing. Our teammate from California was feeling uncomfortable being in New York and went back home, and I wanted to support him on that. The timing also coincided with our other teammate leaving to have surgery, so now it’s just me, our full time head of engineering and a few part time workers.
Read MoreA series of presentations, workshops and talks to help you navigate and survive our current crisis and the acceleration of e-commerce that has come with it.
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