What: From October through December, seasonal retail jobs, transportation and warehousing jobs dropped.

Why it’s important: The onslaught of Covid cases, the difficulty for parents to arrange childcare, and the sheer availability of jobs have prevented many from entering the retail business.

Department stores have had to learn how to cope with this staff shortage: Walmart temporarily closed down some stores during the omicron wave, and Macy's has reduced store hours.

Holiday hiring in retail dropped 7%

What:  Harvey Nichols released its fiscal results for 2021

Why it is important:  Numbers speak for themselves: -45% in turnover, which gives an insight of the extent of the situation for Harrods and Selfridges.

Harvey Nichols, owned by Dickson Pool, saw its sales dip and losses increase, from £222,1 m in 2020 to £ 121,3m in 2021 in terms of sales, and from -£1,1m in 2020 to -£28,1m in 2021 in terms of losses.

Such results are due to lockdown leading to store closures for 8 months out of 12, Brexit and a sharp decline in terms of tourist arrival. There is however no talk of closing any of the 8 stores in the UK and 6 overseas as they keep the support of their owner.

Revamp in terms of offer, IT systems and customer loyalty programme are underway in order to make sure the company remains competitive once the business reopens, also through partnerships with Farfetch and Ocado.

Harvey Nichols’ losses widen but remains well funded 

What: Boston-based company Urbx is working on a robotic fulfillment center that scales up to 150ft tall.

Why it is important: Automated fulfillment solutions are the way to go in the future as e-commerce demand continues to increase following the pandemic. Urbx’s solution of putting a large and automated fulfillment building in a city-centre is proof that the importance of fulfillment is being prioritized.

Urbx will work with third parties to integrate its automation into other stores. It will also eventually build thousands of Urbx-branded automated markets, unlike any grocery store seen before. The Urbx market won’t have aisles but will rather have kiosks where shoppers can order onsite or through a mobile phone. Once the order is made, robots will pack an order of 50 items in less than two minutes and deliver the items to the kiosk.

Urbx will also have curbside pickup, delivery via electric bikes, and eventually drone delivery.

Currently they have only raised seed funding, but the company hopes to have its first Urbx market developed by the end of next year.

Urbx’ Vertical Automated Grocery Fulfillment has High Ambitions

What: M&S.com is allowing customers to join live shopping series on Fridays with weekly episodes that are interactive and shoppable.

Why is it important: M&S has been working with the livestreaming software company LiSA on the service, that allows M&S’s 13.5 million online customers to join the broadcast. The episodes are streamed live, stored on the site and can be replayed at any time.

Live shopping trend is expected to account for 10 to 20 percent of global e-commerce by 2026. It added that the business is worth $170 billion in China and is projected to be worth $25 billion in the U.S. by 2023. M&S said it also sees live shopping as a new channel for communication with customers.

Mark & Spencer launches live series

What: Having stopped running its store at Lotte Duty Free Jeju in December, Louis Vuitton will close three more (at the Shilla Duty Free in Jeju, Lotte Duty Free in Busan and Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul) in March.

Why it is important: The brand’s planned withdrawal from downtown duty-free shops in Korea suggests that local duty-free stores may no longer be profitable as Chinese consumers don’t spend abroad anymore.

Louis Vuitton also plans to pull out from the three remaining downtown duty-free stores (Lotte Duty Free, the Shilla Duty Free and Shinsegae Duty Free in Seoul) between October this year and March next year. The Louis Vuitton store at Incheon Airport Terminal 1 is unaffected by the phasing out of downtown operations in Korea. The company plans to open a second store at the airport’s Terminal 2 by 2023.

The decision to close comes as the French brand seeks to focus on airport duty-free shops, especially those in China’s domestic flight airports.

In mainland China, Louis Vuitton plans to have five airport stores open by the end of this year, including its existing stores at Beijing Capital International and Shanghai Hongqiao.

Louis Vuitton to shut downtown duty-free shops in Korea

What: British retailer Marks & Spencer nudged up its profit outlook after it reported a strong Christmas performance, with sales rising 18.6% year-on-year and 8.9% compared to two years ago.

Why it is important: The update provides evidence that one of Britain’s most elusive turnarounds could finally materialise. M&S’s shares have nearly doubled over the past year.

International sales rose 17.4% on the year and 5.1% on two years ago. Total group sales rose to GBP 3.272 billion — an 18.5% one-year rise and an 8.6% two-year jump. Online sales also continued to be strong, with growth of 50.8%. But store sales were down 10.8% on 2019/20, with retail parks up, continuing to outperform stores in city centres.

Food sales increased 12.4% against its pre-pandemic performance two years ago in the 13 weeks to 1 January, beating market forecasts of 10% growth. Clothing and home sales rose 3.2% on the same basis, also surprising on the upside. The market had expected a 0.9% fall.

M&S raises its outlook 

What: The ‘Style Not Size’ exclusive capsule for Jenni Collection is a +size loungewear collection designed by social media creators Denise Mercedes and Maria Castellanos.

Why it is important: The size 14 and size 6 friends have grown a large following for their body positive videos on TikTok and Instagram, where they show off the same outfit on two different body types, under the ‘Style Not Size’ motto.

Social Media Creators Partner With Jenni for Exclusive Macy’s Collection

What: The deal is meant to help U.S. merchants sell online in the massive yet complicated Chinese market.

Why it is important: China has often remained inaccessible to independent businesses and upstart entrepreneurs abroad. Regulatory and logistical barriers as well as complexities related to pricing, duties and translations, can be daunting to deal with for all but the largest of brands. The new connection between JD and Shopify illustrates the importance of platforms and partnerships in the consumer industry and fashion.

With a population of 1.4 billion, China is home to the world’s largest e-commerce market, estimated to be worth USD 3.3 trillion by 2025. It’s more than five times larger than the U.S. e-commerce market (GlobalData and Statista).

The partnership will help U.S. brands using Shopify get started in China in as little as three weeks with JD offering end-to-end fulfillment. The partnership also offers price conversion to local currency, translation services and more.

Shopify Links With JD.com for China Partnership 

What: In 2020, Macy’s management announced it would close 125 stores over 3 to 5 years. That same year, Macy’s closed 29 stores. In 2021, 45 stores were supposed to be closed, but only 38 were. Macy’s announced that 7 stores will be closed in 2022 (belonging to the 45 stores batch).

Why it is important: That leaves another 51 stores that are still to be closed of the 125 that were announced in 2020. But while the US is overstored, Walter Loeb doubts they will close any time soon since Jeff Gennette has indicated that the online business deteriorated If there was no physical store in the area.

These stores will eventually close but the question is when. Late announcements of store closings are a smart management strategy. After all, sharing such news too soon may prompt a loss of sales staff and disrupt the closing sales by their absence.

Macy’s to close more stores 

What: Lojas Renner, Brazil’s largest clothing retailer, announced former Unilever executive Daniel Martins dos Santos as its new chief financial officer.

Why is it important: Lojas Renner’s newly appointed CFO has extensive experience in the consumer goods sector and will hold both the position of CFO and of investor relations officer.

Lojas Renner appoints new CFO

What: The travel retail hotspot in the world is now Hainan.

Why it is important: Now that Chinese customers are accustomed to shop at home with a generous duty free cap, questions about their return in the international circuit are raised, all the more that we still lack visibility about the reopening of the borders.

Due to the international tourism disruption related to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese customers have been enticed to shop at home, which helped Hainan soar as a popular destination and a hotspot for travel retail. As a consequence, the revenue increased +84% in 2021 to reach $9,47bn, knowing that the business already posted a +83% increase in 2020.

This represents a traffic of 9,67m customers, all allowed to spend up to $15,500 free of duty, which is the most generous offshore duty-free spending cap in the world. The market in Hainan is dominated by China Duty Free Group, CNSC, Hainan Tourism Investment Duty Free Co, Hainan Development Holdings and Shenzhen Duty Free.

China's Hainan Duty Free revenue hits 9,47 bn USD in 2021

What: Luxury platform Farfetch agreed to buy Violet Grey for an undisclosed sum, bringing in some more beauty expertise ahead of its planned launch into the beauty market later this year.

Why it is important: Farfetch is approaching the market in its own fashion, leaning on its a high-tech operating system that connects merchants and consumers. The platform plans to inject its own technological savvy into Violet Grey and to learn as it moves to win over the category.

While brands in general have been cautious when it comes to selling on larger platforms, Farfetch has presented itself as more of a conduit to shoppers than a competitor. José Neves has become one of the industry’s leading bridge builders, bringing brands on the platform, buying brand house New Guards Group and Browns and threading the needle to put together a partnership with Alibaba and Compagnie Financière Richemont (with backing from Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault’s Artemis) in China. The CEO is also working with Richemont to build a broader luxury platform that would link Net-a-porter, Farfetch and perhaps other luxury groups.

Farfetch acquires Violet Grey beauty business

What: Japanese retail group J. Front Retailing, which operates Daimaru and Matsuzakaya department stores, will strengthen the development of luxury apartments and hotels.

Why it is important: The group aims to reduce its heavy reliance on department store and other retail operations.

J. Front plans to expand its real estate and financial operations so the sector will account for 40% of the company’s operating profit by fiscal 2030, up from 20% in fiscal 2019. The company hopes to develop facilities other than retail stores by using existing assets, such as department store annexes and land where a logistics centre used to stand.

J. Front to strengthen apartment and hotel business 

What: Stockmann is increasingly getting disconnected from its real estate assets.

Why it is important: Even though such financial operations allow to reduce the burden of the debts, this also puts the company at risks in the future when it comes to paying rents in exceptional contexts such as the one we have been through for the past 2 years.

Finnish retail chain Stockmann has sold its department store properties in Tallinn and Riga for €87m, retaining the right to operate the stores through a lease-back agreement. The proceedings of the sale will be used to reduced guaranteed restructuring debts.

The department store company operates 6 units in Finland, in addition to the stores in Estonia and Latvia.

Stockmann sells department stores properties in Tallinn and Riga

What: Selfridges joins Paco Rabanne and Fondation Vasarely to create unprecedented store windows, in-store art exhibitions, pop-ups and NFTs.

Why is it important: This marks Selfridges’ first foray into the metaverse and it plans to simplify access for its customers, by making it possible to buy NFTs with a regular bank card over the counter, no need for crypto currency here.

Throughout the season, Paco Rabanne’s Spring 2022 range will be dropping throughout the store and be available to rent or buy. To embrace the store’s sustainability commitments Selfridges will also curate a mix of other products both new and pre-love featuring Vasarely-like designs.

The Corner Shop will also make available series of different items such as hand-painted Bamford watches, Globe Trotter luggage and “gift shop” items featuring Vasarely graphic artworks.

Selfridges enters the metaverse and NFTs

What: The Australian department store reported a 12.3% increase in sales during the five months to January 1, despite losing 27% of its brick-and-mortar trading days due to lockdowns.

Why it is important: Myer’s online trade rose 54.3% year-on-year in the five month period tracked and now accounts for 27.7% of overall sales, compared with 20.2% a year earlier.

Despite an improved gross profit, the company has been facing higher costs of doing business.

Myer records double-digit growth

What: The first store opens in Las Vegas. The digital lingerie brand will also open stores in Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., later this year.

Why it is important: In its three-and-a-half year lifespan, the intimates business has continued to gain traction in the innerwear world, thanks in part to Rihanna’s star power, as well as her promise to deliver a bra and underwear brand for all body types at a time when lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret faced backlash for exclusive marketing messages.

Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty goes physical

What: Gap releases its premiere collection of limited-edition non-fungible tokens, in collaboration with Frank Ape artist Brandon Sines.

Why is it important: Gap fans can collect the brand’s hoodie digital art at Common and Rare levels and earn the opportunity to purchase Epic, limited-edition digital art by Frank Ape as well as a physical Gap x Frank Ape hoodie made from recycled materials.

Gap’s NFTs were built on Tezos, a blockchain platform known for energy efficiency and smart contracts. They promote low energy consumption and carbon footprint, allowing Gap to emphasize their commitment to do better for the planet.

While the consumer world focuses on NFTs, blockchain-based contracts have attracted intense interest across multiple sectors. The company’s work can now lay a foundation for other efforts, such as tokens that offer access to VIP events, exclusive products, new levels of clienteling and more.

Gap launches first NFTs 

What: From 31 January 2022, Nordstrom will open a shop in its New York flagship store called “See You Tomorrow” where it will offer customers high fashion second-hand. It is supposed to be a six-month test in the New York store and on the internet.

Why it is important: There is a difference in the Nordstrom approach to second-hand compared to other retailers. The store will source garments from its own inventory: the merchandise will be the ones returned by customers and then cleaned and possibly repaired.

Nordstrom has a liberal return policy, and many of the brands have expressed interest in the test.

Resale garment sales were about USD 28 billion last year and are projected to be about USD 75 billion by the end of 2025. The resale market is growing very fast, but one has to wonder whether this will cannibalize sales from the traditional fashion departments but how much will it divert customer spending. Rent the Runway has captured a good portion of the rental market, and resale companies like RealReal, Fashionphile, ThredUp and Vesitaire are important resale vendors.

Nordstrom Starts Resale Of Luxury Brands January 31

What: With a large increase in total volumes at the start of the pandemic as well as constraints on raw materials and transport limitations, ikea routed over 50% of their order fulfillment through their stores instead of customer distribution centers.

Why is it important: With many large retailers turning to operational investments to alleviate rising costs of transport, Ikea launched their own projects. This improved their e-commerce experience, customer delivery times and made their deliveries more sustainable.

Ikea plans on launching 80 projects in 2022 using robotics, automation and drones for better fulfillment in stores, as well as open more stores and expand their click-and-collect service, which will cost approximately one-fifth as much as home deliveries.

Ikea doubles automation projects as store fulfillment grows

What: With the turmoil caused by Covid, will retail change in 2022 as we slowly return to a version of normalcy?

Why is it important: After reaching out to retail founders, we can conclude that physical stores aren't going anywhere. However, their purpose will change. It is also more important than ever to focus on community and developing closer client relationships.

Retail founders believe changes such as, physical stores being regarded less as just a distribution channel for products and more as a cost-effective experiential media channel for customer acquisition. As well as lessening their retail footprint, while deepening their investment into the functions and services that each space has to offer. Focusing on things like hosting events and encouraging community. Along with using more eco-friendly production and materials, upcycling, diversifying collections as well as many other changes.

The evolution we see this year is going to have a lasting impact.

Shilpa Shah, co-founder of Cuyana; Dan Schoening, Vice President Strategy at Nordstrom; Matt Alexander, co-founder and CEO of Neighborhood Goods; Alyssa Wasko, founder and designer of Donni; Tal Zvi Nathanel, co-founder and CEO of Showfields; Jennifer Bandier, founder of Bandier; Heath Wells, co-founder of NuOrder and general manager of NuOrder by Lightspeed;  Julie Bornstein, founder and CEO of The Yes; Max Bonbrest, co-founder of AYR and Doug Stephens, retail consultant are part of the article.

What will fashion retail look like in 2022? 

What: Frasers Group set to expand Flannels into Ireland for the first time with three new stores in Dublin, Cork and Blanchardstown.

Why is it important: Flannels will be the first to open outside of the UK, demonstrating a key expansion for the next generation luxury retailer.

The three locations are set to open in Winter 2022 / Spring 2023, with Frasers Newbridge and Cork, set to open late Summer 2022.

Flannels makes first foray in the Republic of Ireland

What: Sidney Baillieu (Bails) Myer who followed in his father’s footsteps into the retail trade, passes away at 96 years old.

Why is it important: Myer is Australia’s leading department store operator. After several years of closing unproductive locations, its network currently has 59 department stores.

Bails took the reins in 1956 when father and then brother died, and quickly became a key player in Australian retail. After opening the Myer Emporium in Melbourne’s Chadstone shopping centre in 1960, he led an aggressive expansion of Myer department stores across Australia.

Australian Retailer Sidney Baillieu Myer Dies, Aged 96

What: Obé, a digital fitness platform, has partnered with Bloomingdale's offering a series of free classes that are found on the Bloomingdale’s website as part of the retailer’s virtual “On Screen” events.

Why is it important: The On-Screen platform gives clients the flexibility of enjoying Obé fitness classes remotely, whether it be in real time or on their own. As well as the opportunity to discover top activewear brands showcased in the classes, that they can discover at Bloomingdale’s.

Bloomingdale’s Launches Digital Fitness Classes to Customers