The Shoptalk Fall Edition

Hello from Chicago. I'm checking out the Shoptalk Fall event the next couple of days. It's Q4 so there's of movement recently.

In the news:

• Yoox Net-a-Porter - was acquired from Richemont by Mytheresa. Richemont will provide a 100M EUR line of credit to Yoox Net-a-Porter and receive a 33% stake in Mytheresa.
• Beyond - is investing in The Container Store. As they say: didn’t have that on my bingo card.?
• Signet Jewelers - the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry has announced Petsmart CEO, JK Symancyk, is joining in November when the current CEO, Virginia Drosos, retires. (DC360)
• Orvis - is facing a difficult time. They’re laying off staff, closing a few stores and stopping their catalog. I noted recently that JCrew is getting back into catalogs. (RetailDive)
• Everlane - Alfred Chang, a veteran of PacSun and Fear of God, is joining at CEO. (RetailDive)
• Accenture and Nvidia announced a partnership and formed a new group for Agentic AI.
• De Minimis - more about how the proposed changes will hurt small businesses. Unmentioned is how the legislation is aimed at Shein and Temu. Legislation often ends up having unintended effects if poorly drafted and executed. (allBusiness)
• Authentic Brands Group - has partnered with Barney’s to launch a new luxury platform: Authentic Luxury Group. “ALG will serve as an incubator for brand growth through new strategic licensing agreements and distribution channels across sectors, including fashion, retail, digital, hospitality, real estate, art and travel. Barneys New York will be the first brand positioned for accelerated growth.”
• IKEA - annual sales fell 5% and they’ve cut prices. They expect a recovery next year fueling by housing market growth. (Reuters)
• Walgreens - announced it’s closing about 1200 of its 8500 US stores. Many towns will now lack a pharmacy. (AP, CNBC)?
• Walmart - is expanding pet care in certain stores through a partnership with PetIQ. They will also start online care this month through a partnership with Pawp (available for Walmart+ subscribers).?
• Sam’s Club - is opening a fully digital store in Dallas this month. All checkout is done in the Scan & Go app. In the area where cash registers normally go, they’ll have online-only items available to view. (CNBC)
• True Value Hardware - is declaring Chapter 11 and being acquired by rival Do It Best Hardware. Do It Best is a member owned co-op while True Value has been PE owned since 2018. My local Do It Best store is amazing.?
• Guitar Center - appointed Mike Schultheis to head up all of their retail stores. He had good success at PetSmart. (Retail Dive)
• Hershey - has a new CIO, Gene Kholodenko. (CGT)
• Home Depot - is ordering corporate staff to work four 8-hour shifts per year so they understand what the store and retail associate experience is like.
• Primark - is opening its first Manhattan store across the street from Macy’s Herald Square. (WWD)
• JCrew and Macy’s - have a goal to source up to 40% of their products (like cotton) through regenerative agriculture. Cool stuff. (NRF)
• Urban Outfitters - has cut prices on over 100 styles. (RetailDive)?
• Pop-up stores - are much harder for small brands to activate because low retail vacancy has driven up rates. They are having to seek out other low-cost ways to reach their customers. (BoF)
• Department stores - are still having a tough time. This article is a good rundown of all the players. (RetailDive)
• Major malls - like Simon Property Group are bringing in more experiential retail and entertainment to lure Gen Z shoppers.
• TJX - brands love it because they can offload product without it showing up discounted online. (CNBC)
• Uniqlo - posted record annual earnings. Net profit was up 36%. (WSJ)

Our Partners:

• Shopify - has promoted Arpan Podduturi to head up all of Shop - Pay, App, Cash, Promise. This was previously led by Carl Rivera. Arpan has worked on POS prior to this.
• Shopify - has a post on how to optimize Shop Campaigns. This is a pay-per-conversion program on the Shop App and across social using the Shop Cash rewards program to incentivize action.??
• Shopify - Ben Sehl had a good post about his POV on “headless” vs Hydrogen.??
• Klaviyo - released a 2024 Consumer Spending Report. They surveyed over 8,000 consumers for trends in Q4.
• Yotpo - launched RCS (Rich Communication Services) in their multi-message builder. It’s fully approved by Apple. This is big for them because it allows for media and other features in SMS vs just text.?
• Amazon Buy With Prime - is seeing strong growth this year. Over 25% more brands and 45% more orders year-over year, driven by an average increase of 16% revenue per visitor. Prime members can purchase items with Prime and without Prime, together in one order on Shopify stores.
• Tolstoy - they’re at the NRF Innovators Showcase in January.

Until next time,

Nick