Retail Roundup | May 2022
As a retail technology company obsessed with data, we at Tillerman are constantly looking at the trends and forecasts shaping the retail industry broadly. The start of 2022 continued to bring challenges with supply chain issues, inflation and of course Omicron having an impact, but there were bright spots as well. Heres a roundup of some of the retail stories that caught our eye this month.
We are about halfway through the calendar year that has seen some highs and lows in the retail world. Many retailers reported earnings this past month. Target and Walmart posted profit declines for the quarter, spooking analysts and sending stocks into a tizzy. However, Nordstrom beat estimates and raised its own forecasts for the year. Best Buy also beat some estimates but lowered its forecast due to higher costs and discounting.
Next month we'll have a better sense of how brands fared with the many Memorial Day sales leading up to summer. Until then, here's some of the retail industry news we've been keeping an eye on.
Nike's shift away from wholesale to a more DTC strategy is opening up the door for other sneaker partnerships. Modern Retail reported on Adidas's new partnership with Foot Locker and how DSW is featuring other sneaker brands as Nike closes out their relationship with the retailer. eMarketer reports on the sneaker world as Reebok is expanding its relationship with Macy's and Allbirds is beginning to work with Zalando and Public Lands.
In the ever-changing Web3 and tech world, more luxury brands are adding crypto payments as an option. LVMH-owned watch retailer Tag Heuer, the LVMH luxury watch brand, will soon accept 12 cryptocurrencies on the US website for transactions up to $10,000. Other lux brands that have joined the trend include Balenciaga and Gucci.
Total Retail wrote about Gap Inc.'s decision to scale back their inclusive sizes in store at Old Navy, which had been launched in August 2021. Inclusive sizing will still be available online but demand was not strong in store, with factors such as supply chain and marketing partly to blame.
Lastly, The New York Times reports on how shopping behaviors - in store and online - are impacting broader market issues in the tech, financial and economic markets. Shira Ovide writes that "The ripple effects of our shopping behavior have contributed to the current sad phase for the technology industry and falling stock prices. They also show how influential we are in the fate of trillion-dollar technology companies and the U.S. economy."
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