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Second quarter earnings season is almost to a close, and there are already lessons to be learned about what retailers must do to survive. Some companies are thriving in the age of coronavirus, while others continue to falter. The recent round of results may not be terribly surprising, but they do highlight the digital acceleration felt by every company around the world.
No-show socks are typically a big summer seller for DTC sock company Bombas. But with this summer being different thanks to social distancing, it didn't expect a niche style within the category to come out of customer demand. Co-founder Randy Goldberg spoke to Modern Retail about the line of no-show performance socks, aimed at the growing home fitness trend, and how they're helping the company find a new seasonal revenue source.
Grocery delivery growth may be slowing, but grocers are still betting on it being lucrative long-term. Within the past month, grocers have announced a slew of new deals to build micro-fulfillment centers and/or test out new delivery methods. That's because they are betting that a significant number of people who tried grocery delivery for the first time during the pandemic will stick with it. And, they don't want to be caught flat-footed again when faced with a huge surge in demand.
Earlier this week, the social video app announced a partnership with the commerce platform Teespring. While the details haven't been finalized, the two companies will be working together to create an integration that allows TikTok creators to sell their merchandise on the app. It's a small but important step for TikTok, as it tries to find ways to prove to brands that it's more than just a platform where teens share irreverent videos.
Interlace Ventures managing partner Joseph Sartre spoke on the most recent episode of our Modern Retail Talk series about what headless commerce is and why he thinks it's going to be the future for online merchants -- especially now. Modern Retail Talk is our video series where we discuss the latest retail news, as well as dive into issues experts in the space are facing.
As the coronavirus continues to shift more retail spending online, more retailers are looking to remodel stores to double as fulfillment centers for online orders. Best Buy said on its earnings call yesterday that it would be piloting a new ship-from-store model next month, where 250 of its stores would be remodeled as "hubs" in order to ship out more online orders. Other retailers are likely to follow suit, as demand for online shopping will only pick up as the holidays get closer.
As more shopping moves online, some property owners are looking for new uses for dying malls or former department stores. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was in talks with Simon Property Partners to turn some former stores previously occupied by JCPenney and Sears into fulfillment centers for the e-commerce giant. But converting stores into warehouses comes with its own set of challenges.
National distribution has always been a tough cookie to crack for scrappy, independent CPG brands. Without the distribution methods and supply chain of big brands like Coke and Pepsi, beverage startups have had a hard time scaling beyond health food stores and DTC sales. But the coronavirus has changed the playing field.
During the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., e-commerce has become a lifeline for businesses to stay afloat when many non-essential stores were ordered closed in April and May. Now, changes being made to one of the backbones of the e-commerce landscape -- the United States Postal Service -- threatens to create a huge headache for retail and consumer startups .In mid-July, many businesses started reporting packages were taking longer to get to customers, which coincided with new cost-cutting measures that the USPS could implement. Every e-commerce business, from mom-and-pop shops all the way up to Amazon rely on the USPS in some way, and any changes in service or prices could wreck havoc on small e-commerce businesses.
Over the past several years, Kroger has been building out its own Amazon-style flywheel to protect its revenue growth as more grocery shopping moves online. So on Tuesday, it didn't come as much of a surprise when Kroger said it would be launching its own third-party marketplace. The grocer will likely find it challenging to match Amazon's reach online -- but retail analysts still say the marketplace could prove to be a boon if it helps Kroger subsequently grow its marketing business.
Goldbelly hit coronavirus gold. With restaurants closed, many iconic establishments have used the delivery platform to have their signature dishes shipped nationwide. But the question remains how long that will last. According to Goldbelly, it has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
After posting record-high sales during its second quarter, Amazon is struggling to maintain enough space in its warehouses for inventory. That's creating headaches for sellers who rely primarily on Amazon's fulfillment service (FBA) to get the majority of their products to customers.
In a way, pre-sales and waitlists are counterculture to today’s “fast delivery” windows, but they can also be a vital tool in building a customer base during uncertain times. For new brands like direct-to-consumer A/C maker July, pre-orders gave them two benefits: the opportunity to make connections and manage the uncertainties, said co-founder
During Snap's second quarter earnings yesterday, CEO Evan Spiegel called out e-commerce advertising as one of the company's bright spots during the quarter, as consumers are spending more money online during the coronavirus. Snap's revenue overall grew 17% year-over-year, to $454 million. But, even before the pandemic, Snapchat was heavily focused on wooing new e-commerce advertisers, particularly with new ad formats.
Since launching Instagram Checkout a year and a half ago, which allows customers to buy products from participating retailers' websites, Instagram has made it a priority to get more well-known retailers using the feature. Now, the next step on the app's to-do list is to make shopping more visible on Instagram. That was signaled by the launch of a new Shop tab in Instagram Explore last week. But Instagram still has a ways to go until users think of it as a shopping destination first and foremost.
For brands and advertisers wondering how to approach fitness and wellness consumers in a time of great change, register for this webinar. Healthline Media and Digiday will unpack strategies for meaningful engagements alongside a panel of experts from leading fitness brands, highlighting the six trends marketers need to know in 2021.
Amazon recently announced that it was cracking down on QAnon merchandise. Even if the company is truly shifting its approach to how it polices product listings, its ability to cut down on disinformation merchandise will be hamstrung by its own algorithms. As long as Amazon’s product recommendation algorithm takes a purely neutral approach — even to anti-vaccine or white nationalist products — it will continue to give them prominent slots in search results.
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