Consider this: There are about to be 1.3 million opportunities that have never existed before for retailers, restaurants, and service providers. Those that jump on it first will reap the benefits. All you have to do is plug in. The transition of the American vehicle market from internal combustion engine (ICE) power to electric (EV) is happening faster, more furiously and at more price levels than anyone could have forecasted, even as recently as a year or two ago. In 2020, EVs represented barely two percent of the American market. They …
Walmart’s Deconstruction of Lore’s Legacy Continues with Moosejaw Sale
When Walmart purchased Marc Lore’s Jet.com online business in 2016, it was supposed to be the start of an amazing new ecommerce strategy for the world’s largest retailer. It hasn’t quite worked out that way. This week Walmart announced it sold its Moosejaw outdoor business to Dick’s Sporting Goods, marking one more divestiture of Lore’s vision to onboard a group of niche higher end brands and make Walmart.com a true competitor to Amazon. Along with Moosejaw, Lore oversaw the acquisitions of Bonobos, ModCloth, the Shoes.com URL and several …
Walmart’s Deconstruction of Lore’s Legacy Continues with Moosejaw SaleRead More
The Retail Party’s Not Over…It Just Has a Different Menu
A funny thing happened on the way to the next recession: the consumer said, “No thanks.” With surprisingly strong retail sales numbers for January, shoppers are continuing to act like it’s business as usual when it comes to buying things. Driven by high employment numbers, a modest reduction in inflation and even increased social security payments for seniors, the overall economy remains basically healthy. But if it’s business mostly as usual for shoppers, it’s anything but for retailers. With memories of getting caught flatfooted in …
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How to Diffuse an Artisanal Brand
When New York magazine’s Grub Street newsletter recently asked the question, “Why does every store suddenly look the same?” It was using the term “Shoppy Shops” to describe the look-alike trend for artisanal brands. But the question came as little surprise to anyone in the business. The homogenization of what we call “artisanal market” stores selling consumer product goods and other niche products for the home has been an ongoing trend for some time. What’s changed more recently is the way that process has accelerated, largely due to shifts …
Food for Thought
Walmart versus Target? Check. Kroger and Albertsons versus the FTC and Congress? Check. Aldi versus Lidl? Check. Dollar stores versus...well, versus all of the above? Check. If you’re keeping score, 2023 promises to be one of the most turbulent years ever in the business of selling groceries, with skirmishes, battles and out-and-out wars happening across the entire channel. Just about every major player in the segment is in the middle of some sort of upheaval, major expansion or at the very least confrontation that together promise …
It’s a Pet’s World
We skimp a little on ourselves when times get tougher. Maybe fewer meals out, shorter vacations, and postponed purchases of big-ticket items. We’ll cut some corners too when it comes to spending on our kids. Fewer toys and video games, Disneyland next year rather than now. But our dogs and cats? No friggin’ way are we going to deprive our little furbabies of anything. The best food, more toys, winter sweaters and even if we skip a visit for a checkup with the doctor for ourselves, our pets are going to the vet right on …
RH Climbs a New Mountain
Gary Friedman is doing some serious mountain climbing and he’s bought himself some new gear to help get to the top. In releasing RH’s cautious third-quarter earnings in mid-December, CEO Gary Friedman announced the acquisitions of two furniture producers and the teaming up with noted interior design and architecture editor Margaret Russell (formerly of Architectural Digest) to head up its nascent media efforts that could include a luxury magazine for the design world. Taken together, these moves represent new assets Friedman believes …
Dollar…and Change
The dollar store has always played a fascinating role in the American retailing business. Often the only place to shop for many items in large parts of still-rural America, stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General are increasingly migrating into more suburban and even urban neighborhoods. Offering an ever-changing mix of durables and consumables, they have provided economically-pressed, credit challenged consumers a convenient place to shop in cash when mainstream discount stores like Walmart and Target are often out of their price …