For some 300 years, people have relied upon low-tech barometers to predict weather changes measured by the air pressure. When air pressure is high, it signals clear skies and fair weather. When it’s low, storms are in the forecast, and when it drops really low, a hurricane is coming. Economic Bellwethers Unfortunately, many of us don’t pay attention to the many economic barometers we have in place that predict our future. For example, some wait until after the fact to learn that our economy is taking a nose-dive following two consecutive …
Finance
How Is the American Consumer Shopping Post-Pandemic?
Where is the American consumer shopping these days? In-store or online. This in-depth report compares U.S. retail purchase behavior before, during and after the Covid pandemic. It’s no secret that the Covid pandemic prompted a seismic shift to online shopping. Three years later, what are the long-term ramifications on both online shopping and brick-and-mortar stores? In this report, Commerce Signals takes a look at the current state of in-store versus online retail buying and compares the data to a wide range of retail and consumer-direct …
How Is the American Consumer Shopping Post-Pandemic?Read More
The Latest Homeless Crisis: The Missing $7 Billion in Retail Sales
As recently as just a few years ago, Bed Bath & Beyond did over $5 billion in annual retail sales. Tuesday Morning was doing close to $700 million a year before it closed. Christmas Tree Shops, privately owned before it also announced its closing, had a yearly estimated revenue of about the same level, $700 million. Throw in the home furnishings sales of a few other chains that have gone belly-up like David’s Bridal, Party City and Sears Hometown and you can add in another $100 or $200 million in sales, easy. Put it all together and …
The Latest Homeless Crisis: The Missing $7 Billion in Retail SalesRead More
Can Overstock Reroute Its Road to Irrelevance?
When Bed Bath & Beyond named Overstock.com as the “stalking horse” bidder for its intellectual property last month, it wasn’t much of a shock. Overstock exited all of its non-home merchandise categories in 2022, and as one of the leading ecommerce retailers focused on the home, it was a natural buyer for Bed Bath & Beyond’s domain name, trademarks, customer lists, and other IP. Redirects Typically, when a retailer scoops up a former competitor's IP assets in a bankruptcy auction, it uses the email list for marketing purposes and sets …
The Golden Age of Home Improvement Is Over
For most of the past quarter century, Home Depot and Lowe's have appeared to be unstoppable growth machines. Combined, the two home improvement giants grew revenue from just $35 billion in 1997 to over $125 billion a decade later, as they gained share in a high-growth market. While sales sputtered during the Great Recession and the associated housing crash (especially for Home Depot), the two chains' combined sales recovered to $125 billion by 2012. Since then, Home Depot and Lowe's have doubled their revenues again, surpassing $250 billion …
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 …
The Retail Party’s Not Over…It Just Has a Different MenuRead More
Private Equity Owners: Not Always Toxic for Retail
A spate of bankruptcies has plagued the U.S. retail landscape over the past decade. During this time, private equity firms have come under scrutiny due to a slew of bankruptcy filings by private equity-backed retailers: most notably, Toys R Us. A stimulus-powered surge in consumer spending caused the pace of retail bankruptcy filings to slow dramatically in 2021 and 2022. However, 2023 is set to be a much tougher year as consumers rein in spending and financial markets tighten. That could lead to another round of bankruptcies among retailers …
Winter Arrives for Ecommerce Darlings
Just a year or two ago, many people believed that the Covid-19 pandemic had sparked a massive, permanent acceleration of ecommerce adoption. This thesis became the conventional wisdom among executives at pure-play ecommerce retailers and other companies that stood to benefit from ecommerce growth. These rosy forecasts haven't panned out, though. Many consumers have returned to their pre-pandemic shopping habits over the past two years, favoring brick-and-mortar stores. High inflation and a shift in spending priorities away from merchandise …