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For the past couple of years, Bath & Body Works has been the one bright spot of L Brands, reporting positive comparable sales growth while Victoria's Secret has been reporting declining sales. Soon, the mall-based lotion and candle retailer will get a chance to stand on its own.
It's been four months since Bed Bath & Beyond named former Target executive Mark Tritton as its CEO, in the hopes of reversing nearly three years of same-store sales declines. Tritton has started to lay out his agenda for turning the big-box retailer around, beginning with cleaning house. Last week, the company cut 500 jobs, or about 10% of its corporate team. Now, the next step is for Tritton to figure out how to bring more people back in-store.
Melanie Kahn, founder of Illinois-based beverage brand Poppilu Antioxidant Lemonade, was relying on the annual Natural Products Expo West event to help move her business forward in a number of ways. She was hoping to meet with potential investors during the event, which was supposed to be held between March 3 and 7 and get her company in front of new retailers. Plus, she had a new product to promote, for kids.
Victoria's Secret's market share has declined for years as consumers have grown tired of its overtly sexualized marketing and merchandise. But the number of startups and retailers vying to take a slice of the business that previously belonged to Victoria's Secret hasn't slowed down.
Last summer, Kroger began selling cannabidiol products at over 1,000 of its stores across the country. The country's largest national grocery chain joined the CBD boom in stocking topical CBD products like oils, balms and creams. Kroger, along with Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS, has been on a mission to introduce CBD use to mainstream shoppers since the hemp-derived compound was decriminalized in 2018. With hundreds of stores, largely located in the Midwest and the South, Kroger has quickly become one of the biggest brick and mortar CBD sellers by footprint, with plans to become the go-to hub for large CBD producers.
Blue Apron is considering either selling itself or raising more private money. It's also closing one of its facilities. Undoubtedly, the meal kit company has had a rough few years -- and this latest development may mean the beginning of the end. How did Blue Apron go from a startup darling to where it is now?
Tailored Brands, the parent company of stores including Mens Wearhouse, has had a rough few years. The company is trying to rebuild its digital credibility with its new CMO, Carolyn Pollock. Modern Retail talked to her about the men's retail landscape and how she plans to go about her plans to revamp the portfolio of menswear brands.
The race to go cashierless has another entrant. This month 7-Eleven became the latest chain to test cashierless stores at its Irving, Texas headquarters as part of a pilot program. The 700-square-foot store, which opened on Feb. 5, is currently available to employees only via an app, allowing them to check in, shop and exit the store. The 7-Eleven launch is part of a wave of existing retailers trying to offer shoppers a more frictionless checkout process, which includes foregoing long line waits. A company spokesperson did not comment on how the initial testing has gone thus far.
As big-box retailers are facing increased pressure to keep their employee headcounts stable, some store workers are frustrated as they feel like they are expected do more with less. On Monday, a workers advocacy group called Target Workers Unite released what it says are the results of an employee survey that shows the majority of them feel like their stores are understaffed, but also don't feel like they are receiving enough hours from Target to make an adequate living.
Mall owners are looking to bail out some of their tenants as more struggling brick-and-mortar retailers declare bankruptcy. On Monday fast fashion retailer Forever 21 announced that it had struck a deal to sell its retail business to a group of acquirers that included Simon Property Group, Brookfield Property Partners, and Authentic Brands Groups, for $81 million
Now that Walmart offers grocery pickup in over 60% of its U.S. stores, it has started to ramp up advertising encouraging customers to try out the service. On Sunday, Walmart will run its first-ever Super Bowl ad promoting online grocery pickup; the company also ran a national TV campaign promoting grocery pickup that kicked off during the Golden Globes in January 2019.
For years, Victoria's Secret's Pink business -- a line of intimates and loungewear aimed at college-age women -- was the company's shining star. Then, in 2018, Pink reported a sales decline for the first time 16 years. In the past year, L Brands hasn't broken out sales growth for Pink, only saying generally that certain units of Pink, like intimates, are seeing "strong unit growth results." At the very least, any growth at Pink isn't enough to offset sales declines at Victoria's Secret.
The retailer will now close 100 of its 650 stores in the next two years. It's a piece of its wider strategy to bring Express back into profitability, a plan the retail is calling the "Expressway Forward" plan. It involves a shifted focus to more streamlined merchandise offerings and investing in online sales.
Independent grocery chains face a growing list of threats. The grocery space is more crowded than ever before, as Amazon prepares to launch a new grocery chain this year, as well as the expansion of discounters Aldi and Lidl into the U.S. Not everyone can keep up, as evidenced by New York City grocer Fairway filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week.
For the last five years blockchain has been hyped as the next technological paradigm. Despite many believing that it could radically change retailers' supply chain, blockchain-based applications have yet to hit the mainstream. Now that the craze has settled, some use-cases may end up quietly being adopted.
In a new guide for brand and agency marketers, learn the most cutting-edge measurement and attribution techniques preferred by advertisers that have successfully scaled their TV budgets.
For retailers, running heavy promotions during store shutdowns is proving to be tricky. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, large retailers like Macy’s and Nordstrom, along with chains like the Gap, are aggressively pushing seasonal sales to make room for spring merchandise. With virtually all brick and mortar sales down, anywhere from up to 80% to 100% of expected revenue effectively disappearing for large brands, offering discounts is one of the most effective ways to stay afloat right now, said senior retail analyst at Fit Small Business Meaghan Brophy.
Read MoreExclusively for Modern Retail+ members: Hear from Colin Darretta, CEO and Founder of Wellpath, on the future of direct to consumer business.
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