Walmart continues to bring differentiated offerings to the market in an effort to compete against Amazon, and it’s clearly no longer just about catching up. As the company merges in-store with online environments in ways that Amazon just can’t replicate, the company is hinting on its plan to take advantage of Amazon’s well-documented pain points, including shipping, workplace concerns, and environmental impacts while maximizing customer-centric models in the coming year. 

Last year, Walmart and others like Target leaned hard on the benefits of their massive store footprints, embracing buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup options bringing customers closer to Amazon’s same-day delivery without the expense of shipping. Walmart even highlighted the growing importance of order pickup service in their first-ever Super Bowl commercial.

A few weeks back, Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner told NRF attendees that the company is focusing on a “simplification of the product line with a significant reduction in SKUs which it feels will cut down on decision fatigue for shoppers.” It was a simple, stand-alone point, and while he didn’t elaborate on this point throughout his discussion (or pique the interest of any reporters for follow-up), I think it is worth dissecting a bit.

Amazon has grown because of its ability to suggest personalized items to every shopper. It works well for shoppers looking for recommendations, but what about when a shopper needs to purchase an item quickly? The task of sorting through thousands of choices for seemingly simple, everyday purchases remains overwhelming for many.

Sephora combined its digital and in-store teams to work together on strategizing ways to bring the digital experience to life in stores through its mobile app. It reworked customer profiles over the years to feature data that tracks in-store purchases, online browsing and online purchasing patterns and interactions with in-store salespeople – whether it's to get makeup done or have a product recommended. The store also tracks purchasing behaviors that ultimately lead to a sale. So the company can see if a customer browses for an item online and then purchases it in the store.

Due for completion in 2022, the £60 million development will be the largest of its kind in Europe and will create around 1,300 new jobs in the area. Up to 800 people will work on site during shifts.

The 363,000 sq ft facility, named Colossus, will initially process 1.3 million parcels daily; boosting the company’s overall capacity to 3.8 million a day. To future-proof and prepare for expected growth, further tiers will be added to the hub in coming years.

Resale platforms have been a major beneficiary of fashion’s recent push toward sustainability. In 2019 alone, the sneaker resale platform StockX achieved unicorn status, luxury consignors The RealReal went public, and Vestiaire Collective opened its first permanent bricks-and-mortar concession. And the data suggest this is more than a passing trend: the $7 billion luxury resale market is projected to grow to $11 billion by 2022, according to Cowen.

Branded re-commerce is certainly working for Patagonia: The Worn Wear business unit has had 40 percent growth in revenue and profitability since it launched, Graves said, and has attracted customers that are on average 10 years younger than the typical Patagonia customer. To build on that momentum, Patagonia launched its first Worn Wear pop-up store in Boulder, Colo., in November and created a new line of products made from clothing that was beyond repair, the ReCrafted Collection.

Retailers have been talking for years about the need to turn their physical stores into fulfillment centers, leveraging their brick-and-mortar real estate to create a new omnichannel shopping experience for the consumer who likes to discover and buy online and take possession of their purchases in a store that is convenient to them.

If there is a war for global tech talent, right now Canada is winning — and the U.S. may be losing its edge. Toronto saw the biggest growth in technology jobs of any North American city over the past five years, outpacing San Francisco, New York and Seattle. Vancouver also made the top five.

The result has been a stunning return to form for both Walmart and Target, each of which was founded back in 1962. Walmart is expected in February to report its 22nd straight quarter of comparable sales growth in the United States. Target, despite a disappointing 2019 holiday season, says it should post an 11th quarter of growth by that metric, which excludes the impact of newly closed or opened stores. 

AutoStore démarre l’année en grande pompe ! Avec des installations triplées en à peine un an et de nombreux projets à la clé en 2020, le pionner du stockage cubique prévoit une belle croissance de ses activités en France. Une croissance qui s’accompagne aussi du renforcement de ses partenaires-intégrateurs.

Starbucks’ Pickup-Only Store Is A Spectacular Glimpse Into The Future Of Embedded Retail

Calling Vancouver a “hub for great talent with potential for continued growth,” Canadian multinational e-commerce company Shopify has announced plans to open its first permanent office in the city, and hire 1,000 employees as part of the process. Shopify’s office will be located in Bentall Centre, Tower 4 (1055 Dunsmuir Street), and will feature a custom-designed space “where employees will thrive.” The space is set to open in late 2020, occupying four floors and over 70,000 sq. ft.

Dubai retail major Majid Al Futtaim has announced a partnership with Takeoff, a US-based technology company, that will revolutionise Carrefour’s online orders in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

The partnership will see several micro-fulfillment centers (MFCs) built by 2021, the company said in a statement.

Located at select Carrefour stores, these automated small warehouses will process Carrefour’s online orders to replace the manual picking method currently used.

If robots are to help out in places like hospitals and phone repair shops, they’re going to need a light touch. And what’s lighter than not touching at all? Researchers have created a gripper that uses ultrasonics to suspend an object in midair, potentially making it suitable for the most delicate tasks.

“We could go away at any minute,” said Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in mid-November. And then he added at that CNBC event: “I didn’t understand how much of a digital transformation was needed (when I first started). That is still underway.” McMillon became CEO in 2014.

The carnage in brick-and-mortar retail is staggering. Roughly 20,000 stores have closed in 36 months. And according to UBS, another 75,000 will close by the end of 2026.

Nothing but doom and gloom for retail? Hardly. The National Retail Federation called well in advance of this past holiday season for at least a 4% increase in sales. That’s in a 2% economy.

Clearly, retail is doing something right. But who knows what “right” is any longer.

Quite simply, the metrics of success are changing. Total retail sales still matter. But that metric is one of the few constants in a world turning itself inside out.

As McMillon said, the digital transformation of retail is incomplete. Very much so. No expert pegs e-commerce sales at more than 15% of the total with many saying it’s more like 10% or 11%. E-commerce was just 4% of retail a decade ago.

New warehouse construction across North America is expected to outstrip demand over this year and next, according to a new report that suggests a yearslong boom in industrial space fed by e-commerce growth may be shifting in favor of tenants.

Developers are expected to deliver about 301 million square feet of new warehouse space in the U.S., Canada and Mexico this year, while tenants will lease about 242 million square feet, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield PLC.

The real-estate firm projects builders will deliver another 272 million square feet in 2021, outpacing projected demand of 218 million square feet.

According to data gathered by Kantar Retail's ShopperScape, a monthly survey that polls 3,000 US consumers on their shopping habits, the average customer at both Amazon and Walmart is a 46-year-old white woman. These shoppers were surveyed between January and November 2019. 

What's more, the data showed that the generational spread of shoppers was almost identical, meaning that these retailers are going after almost exactly the same consumer. 

Fake goods are entering the country, and the government is planning harsher methods to deal with the problem, according to CNBC. Referring to a report published by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday, CNBC said it gives officials “greater power to examine shipments in U.S. warehouses and fulfillment centers, including Amazon’s sprawling network of warehouses across the country.”

All ecommerce platforms would be subject to the practices laid out in the report designed to fight counterfeiters, and it appears third-party sellers will also face greater scrutiny – and punishment.

Grocers looking to fill online orders more quickly are testing micro-fulfillment systems that can spit out as many as 4,000 orders a week but can still be housed in the back of stores or in urban areas where space is at a premium. The store owners are evaluating whether automation can help tamp down costs while speeding up deliveries and they are turning to a new set of startups aiming to make e-commerce fulfillment more efficient in a small footprint.

U.S.-Israeli robotics startup Fabric, which builds automated micro-fulfillment centers for retail customers, is starting construction on its first U.S. grocery site this quarter. The project, for a regional grocer in the Southeast that it wouldn’t identify, will be about 10,000 square feet, Fabric Chief Commercial Officer Steve Hornyak said. By contrast, regional distribution centers serving grocery chains typically can be 600,000 square feet or more.

The company expects to have up to six smaller fulfillment centers in various stages of construction for grocery stores in the U.S. this year.

Online orders still account for a fraction of the domestic grocery market, about 3.5% of overall food and beverage sales, according to market researcher Forrester, but sales are rising quickly. Food and beverage is the fastest-growing U.S. e-commerce segment, according to research firm eMarketer, with an estimated $22.63 billion in sales last year and projected to nearly double by 2022, to $40.04 billion.

A quick look at the UK Retail Week Golden Quarter league table for Christmas 2019 trading is at once both revealing, and depressingly predictable.

The Liverpool of the retail industry? Boohoo, who else? Closely followed by ASOS. Meanwhile, a scan further down the table shows the Norwich City's of the retail world have one thing in common: a) they are older more established businesses who b) have their heritage grounded firmly in bricks and mortar retailing.

As with everything, there are some notable exceptions such as Fortnum & Mason, Primark and Pets at Home, however these are businesses who have a very clear sense of their purpose and brand identity and largely succeed because of that.

The remainder sit firmly within a retail category which is increasingly being polarized, differentiating itself by being average, uninspiring and mediocre. To what am I referring? Legacy retail.