It's all about holiday shopping this month.....
Hot Topics
Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Small Business Saturday? Words don’t matter as the holiday selling season is all month long
The hype:
You get free shipping, you get free shipping, EVERYONE GETS FREE SHIPPING – Amazon offers free shipping with no minimum for all shoppers & Target matches. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/05/amazon-drops-free-shipping-minimum-heating-up-fierce-competition-for-holiday-sales.html
High hopes for a $1T+ holiday - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/06/us-christmas-retail-sales-to-surpass-1-trillion-this-year-emarketer.html
Study predicts over 70% of Americans to shop over holiday weekend - https://www.retaildive.com/news/71-will-shop-thanksgiving-weekend-cyber-monday/542683/
In the first holiday season without Toys R Us, the big question is who is going to win the toy war - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/21/parents-should-shop-for-toys-early-this-holiday-season.html
The reality:
People LOVE Instant Pots as Kohls sells 1 per second on Thanksgiving Day - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/23/kohls-hits-record-sales-day-online-on-thanksgiving.html
Black Friday online sales jumped 23% vs last year - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-pulled-in-a-record-6point22-billion-in-online-sales-adobe.html
For some retailers, their websites experienced technical difficulties due to increased traffic (I’m looking at you, Lowe’s & J. Crew) –
Foot traffic was down, as consumers shifted their spend online - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-thanksgiving-foot-traffic-drops-1-percent-shoppertrak.html
Cyber Monday was a record breaking day, with almost $8B spent online - https://www.retaildive.com/news/cyber-monday-spending-hits-record-79b/543022/
Omnichannel retail is the real Black Friday winner as almost 90M people shopped both in-store and online during the holiday weekend - https://www.retaildive.com/news/omnichannel-thanksgiving-retail-winner/543151/
Small Business Saturday delivered for independent retailers - https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/retail/sd-me-small-biz-saturday-20181124-story.html
Comings and Goings
Lowe’s announces plans to shutter 50+ stores, after the company already closed all Orchard Supply stores earlier this year - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/05/lowes-to-shut-underperforming-stores-in-the-us-and-canada.html
Sears’ plans to close 40 more stores and no, it’s not groundhog’s day - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/08/sears-to-shut-40-more-stores-early-next-year.html
Gymboree looking at shuttering half of its retail footprint - https://www.retaildive.com/news/reuters-gymboree-could-close-half-its-stores-file-
Gap to close hundreds of stores in the very near future - https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/21/gap-to-close-hundreds-of-stores-at-malls-quickly-and-aggressively.html
Burlington plans approx. 50 new stores for next year - https://www.retaildive.com/news/burlington-sales-up-137-as-it-plans-49-new-stores/543121/
Macy’s testing a small format “neighborhood” stores. Extra space to be used to bring in other retailers, open more “Backstage” off price locations or create mini-fulfillment centers.
Nike opens new flagship store in NYC, considered a mecca of innovation - https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2018/11/19/nike-debuts-six-story-retail-experience-in-nyc/#2e3278a64764
What story was most impactful this month? What did I miss?
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