What: Through a new partnership with Trust for Public Land, Macy’s customers raised nearly USD1.5 million to help fund the organization’s Community Schoolyards projects.

Why is it important: To advance its sustainability priorities, Macy’s highlights new initiatives and introduces new partnerships with Better Cotton, Trust for Public Land and HERproject.

Through Mission Every One, the company’s social purpose platform, the company is increasing the use of sustainably sourced raw materials and fibers incorporated into the design of Macy’s exclusive brand products – including cotton, synthetic and all wood-based materials.

Macy's and its customers helped communities across the country become more resilient to climate change and empowered youth through a new partnership with Trust for Public Land (TPL). These projects help transform barren public parks into green spaces to help create healthy, livable communities for the public.

To champion the advancement of women's rights, women's equality, and family well-being, Macy’s, Inc. is partnering with Business for Social Responsibility’s (BSR) HERProject to empower women to improve health, well-being, confidence, and economic potential of women working in our factories globally.

Focused on circularity innovations to help reduce, reuse, and repurpose materials to eliminate waste, Macy’s introduced a partnership with the Give Back Box.

Through a well-established program overseeing the production of Macy’s private brand product ensures labor and environmental standards are met and that suppliers follow those standards. To enable customers to find and choose more sustainable products, Macy’s is making sustainable style more accessible by making it easier to find and shop at Macy’s for products that are independently certified as responsibly made.

Macy’s, Inc. proactively and continuously engages with stakeholders on issues that span the breadth of the company’s operations including transparency, product responsibility and supply chain management, energy management, diversity and inclusion and building resilient communities.

Macy’s raises nearly USD1.5 million 

What: John Lewis Partnership has been diving deep into digital and has announced that it’s recruiting for more than 150 roles as part of a big new investment in digital.

Why is it important: The specialist roles will help keep John Lewis and Waitrose the go-to brands for customers who want omnichannel access to quality, value, and sustainability.

Its Software Engineer and Delivery Lead roles will help to deliver customer-facing projects on both of its brands’ web stores that between them attract more than 55 million visits each month.

John Lewis was being held up as a pioneer for the fact that 40% of its department store sales happened online. But e-sales now contributes to almost 70% of John Lewis chain sales and nearly a fifth of Waitrose sales. That 40% figure for the chain is a distant memory from two years ago, while Waitrose at the same point in time saw only 5% of sales happening digitally.

The new roles will support the growth and development of the Waitrose and John Lewis apps, which now account for almost a quarter of sales for the two brands.

John Lewis launches digital recruitment drive 

What: Macy’s expands its relationship with Reebok which includes the creation of an exclusive product.

Why is it important: Starting in the spring of 2023, Macy’s will deepen its relationship with Reebok through a newly inked partnership covering sportswear and activewear for men, women, and children.

The deal will include the development of an exclusive product for the retailer that will be sourced from the Reebok Design Group, the brand’s global design and development arm for apparel and footwear.

Macy’s and Reebok are creating a closer bond

What: Kohl’s Chief Marketing Officer Greg Revelle will depart the company June 1. Chief Merchandising Officer Doug Howe’s departure is effective immediately.

Why is it important: As the company searches for their replacements, Christie Raymond, who leads customer insights, analytics, and engagement, and longtime Kohl’s merchant Ronald Murray will step in.

Kohl’s stated that it has received non-binding proposals to be acquired and has requested fully financed final bids to be submitted in the coming weeks.

In that report Kohl’s said Q1 net sales and comp sales each fell 5.2% year over year, total revenue fell 4.4% to USD3.7 billion and gross margin contracted 69 basis points. Operating income tumbled 70%, as net income stayed flat at USD14 million. Inventory was up 40%, per the filing.

Two top Kohl’s executives step down

What: Harrods, in partnership with Qatar Duty-Free has announced the launch of The Harrods Tea Rooms Doha in Msheireb Downtown, the largest open-air square in the Mena region.

Why is it important: The Harrods Tea Rooms Doha, builds on the success of The Harrods Tea Room at Hamad International Airport. A Qatari-owned iconic brand is proud to bring the ultimate Afternoon Tea experience to the citizens, residents, and visitors of Qatar.

Guests will discover an authentic Knightsbridge experience at one of Doha’s top tourist destinations and historical landmark.

The Harrods Tea Rooms Doha

What: The real estate company reports that the leasing activity is soaring again.

Why it is important: More flexible lease terms might become the norm, and this might impact in turn the types of conditions that department stores can negotiates with brands leasing locations in their premises.

Simon Property Group reported a strong momentum in leasing and sales during Q1 2022, with an occupancy rate of 93.3%, compated to 90.8% a year ago. This represents more than 900 leases and more being discussed with new potential partners. As a consequence, SPG gross annual rent revenue rose to 5.4% this year from 4.2% a year ago and 1.9% in Q4 2021.

More flexible lease terms are offered to tenants, with “overage rent” based on sales, on top or instead of a fixed base rent.

Simon Property Group reports a rise in short-term leases in the US 

What: Lacoste Arena flagship opened this week at 17,200 square feet, four times bigger than its current door.

Why is it important: A two-year overhaul was needed to redesign the space, which was once a cinema. The result is a series of interconnected spaces where the full extent of the brand’s offering unfolds.

An interactive tunnel, with tennis balls projected onto the floor that can be kicked and heard bouncing away, lead to another room dedicated to the brand’s tennis, golfing, and activewear offerings.

A neon sign stating, “Lacoste fait son cinéma,” a play on the store’s lieu and a French expression that loosely translates to “Lacoste’s antics,” leads to a cavernous basement space with another XXL screen.

For the opening, it will be home to an exhibition around Gaumont, the first of a rotating program of exhibitions and activities like an indoor tennis court or a golf simulator.

A space dedicated to sustainability offers a take-back program and the brand’s circular designs, shown on hangers made from recuperated material. But the real heart of the matter is product durability.

Shoppers will be able to compare existing shirt designs thanks to a carrousel inspired by the machine used to make its signature piqué knit and browse that rainbow of shirts seen upon entering.

Lacoste’s largest flagship opens on Champs-Élysées

What: The John Lewis Partnership has announced the appointment of Lisa Cherry as its executive director for people.

Why it is important: Cherry will be tasked with developing and delivering the people strategy for the Partnership’s partners, with a proposition that rewards and develops their position.

Currently serving as group chief people officer, Cherry has also previously worked in senior roles within Sainsbury’s, WHSmith, and Wyevale Garden Centres. Cherry’s early career was spent in customer facing operational roles before joining the Sainsbury’s Graduate Scheme.

She will be succeeding Nikki Humphery, who will be leaving the company to rejoin Virgin as the group’s chief people officer.

John Lewis appoints new executive director for people

What: J.C Penney has announced that John Aylward will take on the chief marketing officer position on June 6.

Why it is important: Aylward is being brought in to help further the company’s omnichannel strategy and “lead the marketing strategy, creative, visual merchandising and store design, and customer engagement teams,” according to their press release.

The department store last month launched a marketing campaign with the theme “Shopping is back!” The retailer is attempting yet another reset after high turnover in the C-suite, a bankruptcy and new ownership.

 J.C. Penney’s new marketing chief

What: Kohl’s has boosted its Kohl’s Rewards benefit by 50% in a move to lift sales and traffic.

Why is it important: The retailer said members of its Rewards program using the Kohl’s store card on purchases will now earn Kohl’s Rewards at a 7.5% rate. Previously, Kohl’s Rewards members would earn 5%, regardless of payment method. Kohl’s Rewards members also receive personalized deals, perks, and a birthday gift.

In the stores that already offer 7.5% rewards, Kohl’s saw an increase in Kohl’s Rewards membership, an increase in shoppers getting the Kohl’s card and using it, and an overall sales lift, motivating the company to roll out the enhanced benefit.

The retailer also stages periodic promotions where Rewards customers receive USD10 Kohl’s Cash for every USD50 spent on qualifying purchases. Shoppers can use that Kohl’s Cash during designated redemption periods. During key selling periods, Kohl’s occasionally gives USD15 Kohl’s Cash for every USD50 spent.

Kohl’s enriches its rewards benefit

What: In March, Steen & Strøm exceeded its best monthly sales on record by as much as 20%. It followed the end of Norway’s Covid restrictions during February.

Why it is important: The sales jump came after major investments, including a repositioned main entrance that fronts Norway's busiest shopping street, plus the introduction of a new atrium and last year’s launch of its major new beauty hall.

The 225-year-old retailer enjoys over 2 million annual visitors and executive director David Wilkinson said: “We are encouraged by the recovery of footfall and sales revenue following the major investment made in the new entrance, escalator core and beauty hall. Oslo continues to develop as Scandinavia’s focus for leading luxury and premium brands. Our customers and teams are incredibly loyal and, combined with international tourists returning, we look forward to delivering a record summer season.”

Norwegian Retail overall has proved resilient during the pandemic and Steen & Strøm reported double-digit growth last summer.

Steen & Strøm beats sales records 

What: Shopify is acquiring Deliverr for approximately USD 2.1 billion in a bid to create an end-to-end logistics platform and expedite the development of its fulfillment network.

Why it is important: Deliverr offers e-commerce fulfillment and order storage services, shipping more than 1 million orders per month in the U.S. from thousands of merchants. The company’s software and asset-light network of warehouse, carrier and last-mile partners will complement Shopify’s large-capacity, self-operated warehouse hubs.

For Shopify merchants, the acquisition will reduce fulfillment complexity and increase access to next-day and two-day delivery services.

Shopify buys Deliverr for USD 2.1B to accelerate fulfillment network expansion

What: Liberty London has linked up with Future Workforce to support the rollout of robotic process automation tech from UiPath, meaning that the e-commerce team will get products launched on the webstore more quickly.

Why is it important: The automated robots can gather images from brands, find product codes and rename images quickly to make them ready for publishing on the site.

The partnership has been a great way to improve the speed and efficiency of some legacy, manual processes, and they will use the time saved within the Trade teams to create and promote new customer offerings that will increase revenue and improve conversion.

Liberty London uses robotic process automation 

What: For many consumers, the endless feed of new styles offered by online retailers like Shein, The RealReal and Grailed is as much about entertainment as shopping.

Why is it important: The age-old ways brands have drawn shoppers back to their sites and apps is with email prompts, promotions and, most importantly, new stuff people will want to buy. Fast fashion was built on this operating model, and it’s a key ingredient of some of the most-addictive shopping experiences.

Shein, regularly uploads thousands of new items daily. But this sort of hook isn’t only found at Shein or even just in fast fashion. Resale sites and apps like The RealReal, Grailed, Poshmark and others have a similar appeal. Theirs is a slower but nonetheless steady stream of novel items to browse multiple times a day for some users.

Fast fashion keeps getting faster, more consumers are buying clothes online and they’re increasingly doing so through handheld computers we call smartphones that allow them to shop whenever and wherever they like.

The boom in online resale has added a curious dimension to the situation, since buying used is arguably one of the more effective ways to counter fashion’s overproduction. But resale sites can still tap into the desire to see new items all the time.

Non-tech trends are contributing. Drops and collaborations provide a regular drip of hyped goods and fashion’s pop-culture appeal has only broadened, fuelling the appetite for clothing.

The result is more shopping sites and apps you can visit daily, or sometimes repeatedly in a day, from your couch or wherever you are. It’s much like scrolling through Instagram and just looking at the clothes, to relax, to avoid work, to kill time during commercials, is almost as good as buying them. More than just physical products, they’re digital media too.

Key to e-commerce success: treating clothing as content

What: Live shopping is among the most popular sales techniques during the pandemic, which allows the buyer to interact directly with the seller-influencer and encourages impulse purchases.

hy is it important: With the lockdowns after two years of Covid 19, different digital sales formats emerged highly prized by the youngest consumers. Especially rooted in China, is beginning to develop in Europe, notably in french department stores, with varying degrees of success.

China live shopping has experienced unprecedented growth in the country, around 280% per year until 2020. It weighed more than USD 300 billion in 2021 against half in 2020 and should reach USD 423 billion this year, with 900 dedicated platforms and more than 500 million followers.

It is mainly cosmetics brands, multi-brand stores, and merchant sites that have ventured into the field for the moment. Like the French platform of luxury accessories Monnier Paris, which is a pioneer, resolutely committed to this path for two years. For the vice-president of the Ecommerce Europe confederation, live shopping is nonetheless a new symbol of digital transformation, it's not just videos, it's interactive so you have the best of both worlds.

Monnier Paris organized a few sessions with online payment specialist Klarna in the US. The one made in December around the theme of Christmas worked particularly well. The important thing is the way in which the brand or company presents itself and manages the event, where two levels of communication are superimposed. The first is like a classic ad, where the company addresses a large audience by presenting its product as it sees fit via a monologue prepared and thought out by its communication teams. The second generates a direct dialogue with a customer, as happens in a store, where you must know how to communicate and react very quickly.

It took several attempts at Printemps to find the right formula and the right tone. In short, the right balance between a classic format of teleshopping and a moment of entertainment, friendly and playful capable of seducing the Internet user. Since the department store launched its live shopping format "En mode Printemps" last June, broadcast every other Wednesday evening, it has produced around twenty episodes, each around thirty minutes and a theme.

Printemps has chosen the Swedish start-up Bambuser as its service provider. Beyond the site, they broadcast live shopping sessions on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Contrary to popular belief, the main results in terms of sales or appointments are made after the live broadcast.

Galeries Lafayette is in the consideration phase for live shopping. Finding the right equation in terms of return on investment is essential for fashion and luxury players because, despite its apparent simplicity, live shopping requires resources. They chose to focus on the "one to one" video sale initiated from the first confinement. The pandemic has accelerated this distance-selling format, which was struggling to materialise, ultimately proving to be very successful for premium and luxury brands, as well as for designer brands.

Live shopping is also slowly attracting some retailers and big brands since the onset of the pandemic. Particularly in France where the practice of live streaming has crossed the symbolic bar of one million daily visitors on the Twitch platform.

China’s live shopping phenomenon is rising in Europe

What: SSG.com will sell over 9.6 million fashion, beauty and food items on Gmarket Global’s English and Chinese online malls, as part of the first collaborative project following Shinsegae’s acquisition of eBay Korea, since renamed Gmarket Global.

Why it is important: International shoppers from over 80 countries including the US and Hong Kong can purchase bestselling Korean products.

SSG.com offers bundled shipping services, charging shipping fees only once for buying products from different sellers. Delivery takes seven to 10 days on average.

Shinsegae’s SSG.com to launch in 80 countries

What: Harrods is continuing the fast rollout of its H Beauty chain and opened its latest branch, in Bristol. It’s the fourth standalone for the chain in the UK.

Why it is important: Coming in the same week that Farfetch and Browns launched their own giant beauty offers, it underlines the importance of the category to premium and luxury retailers.

The new store is in the The Mall Cribbs Causeway and covers 25,300 sq ft. The space includes a diverse portfolio of products and services from over 86 international beauty brands. The store is an experiential playground, where beauty novices and experts alike can discover some of the industry’s most forward-thinking and vibrant brands as well as stock up on their favourite product.

There’s also “blow-dry product and salon phenomenon” Drybar, make-up demonstrations and experiential product testing, bespoke skincare consultations and treatments. And it has a 34-seat Champagne Bar with a menu of cocktails and patisseries created by Harrods’ food and beverage team.

Keeping up with H Beauty store openings 

What: Lisa Aiken, Neiman Marcus’ fashion and lifestyle director swung by Neiman’s San Francisco flagship for an in-store luncheon for clients on Thursday, complete with a fashion presentation.

Why is it important: Neiman Marcus plans on evolving as a luxury lifestyle platform. Part of that mission is to unite its physical stores, online shopping, and remote sales via its clienteling technology.

Aiken described it as “one business, one ecosystem that our customer lives in,” she has exclusive projects and collaborations that stretch across digital and stores, including an upcoming project for private clients in San Francisco, in collaboration with Prada.

Neiman Marcus’ Lisa Aiken stops by San Francisco

What: Amazon is handling a rapidly growing number of returns that are causing a massive problem for the e-commerce giant and the planet.

Why it is important: An NRF survey revealed that a record USD 761 billion of merchandise was returned to retailers in 2021.

U.S. returns generate 16 million metric tons of carbon emissions during their complicated reverse journey and up to 5.8 billion pounds of landfill waste each year, according to returns solution provider Optoro. In the case of reverse logistics, most of the merchandise cannot be resold as it was originally, leading to massive amounts of waste.

Amazon shared that it does not send items to landfills, but rather relied on energy recovery, which means they burn the items to produce heat which will then be used to produce energy.

Amazon offers easy returns to customers, but now they are left with the problem of what to do with these goods on the back end. The boom of second-hand markets has helped provide new options for returned items with Amazon dedicating specific spaces to articles that have been used, refurbished, or that were overstock.

How Amazon plans to fix its massive returns problem

What: Macy’s to spend USD 584 mn on fulfillment center that will account for nearly 30% of Macy’s digital supply chain capacity, serve customers nationwide, and employ nearly 2,800 workers.

Why it is important: Macy’s is spending big to strengthen its supply chain, by opening its largest at 1.4-million-square-foot fulfillment center in China Grove, N.C., in 2024.

For retailers, modernizing the supply chain for speed and efficiency is important to support their ongoing digital growth and meet customer demand for speedy deliveries, and help offset macro issues such as the pandemic, port bottlenecks, and labor shortages impeding the movement of goods.

Macy’s has a new, three-year, USD 3 bn cap-ex budget that’s pumped up from recent prior budgets. It’s largely devoted to growing the digital business by launching a marketplace next August, which will get the retailer into additional categories and stock-keeping units from what is on the website currently.

Considering the United States’ tight labor force, Macy’s could face challenges filling all of the positions at the center. However, the company said it offers career opportunities, competitive pay, a bilingual work environment, merchandise discounts, flexible scheduling, and access to a new debt-free education program for part-time and full-time colleagues.

Macy’s also recently invested in automated technology in the existing Portland, Tenn., and Martinsburg, W.Va., distribution centers to increase speed and capacity for digital sales growth.

Macy’s invests in new fulfillment center (Press Release)

Macy’s invests in new fulfillment center (WWD Article) 

What: Target opened a 30,000 square-foot store in New York City's Time Square to continue its efforts to experiment with store sizes.

Why it is important: In March, the retailer said that it would add 30 stores to its footprint in 2022 to reach new markets and to utilize their brick-and-mortar locations that also serve as hubs for fulfillment.

In the company's latest earnings call, it was discovered that the average sales per store have risen 30% in the last two years.

Target's decision to further penetrate New York City is also a move that is different from big-box competitors. For example, the big box store Walmart currently does not have locations within Manhattan.

As of March, Target stated that it would be adding 30 additional stores to their footprint to help reach new markets such as mid-side stores in suburban areas and small-format locations in urban cores. Additionally, there is a plan to renovate 200 stores and open additional Ulta shop-in-shops, to make up part of the larger goal of investing USD 5 billion to scale their operations this year.

Target opens a new location in New York City's Time Square 

What: Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management have pooled their resources to bid USD 68 per share for Kohl’s, which would value the department store at some $8.6 billion.

Why is it important: Simon and Brookfield have teamed up previously, buying Kohl’s rival J.C. Penney and fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 in 2020, and teen retailer Aeropostale in 2016, all out of bankruptcy.

Brookfield two years ago announced it aims to put USD 5 billion toward revitalizing struggling retailers, focused on those with USD 250 million or more in normalized revenues.

Simon Property Group CEO David Simon has previously touted those investments as an opportunity to rescue retailers that would otherwise fade from the landscape.

The plan would have one entity run both J.C. Penney and Kohl’s, capitalizing on synergies that would help reach a goal of slashing USD 1 billion in expenses at Kohl’s, according to the Post’s report.

Kohl’s is mainly found at strip centers, so it’s possible that these mall REITs are interested in expanding their reach in those locations, and they would benefit from moving Kohl’s to fill empty spaces at their indoor malls.

J.C. Penney owners prepared to buy Kohl’s for USD8.6B

What: The state of consumer behaviors has shown to be incredibly susceptible to change throughout the pandemic, so what does this growing inflation mean for how people will shop in the months ahead?

Why is it important: Half of U.S. consumers say that rising costs of goods and services are making it hard to afford things. When asked about what the most important purchase criteria are right now, 58% of respondents cited price while 64% said that price will be the most important purchase criteria in the next three years.

In another study to understand how inflation is affecting consumer spending habits, 66% of U.S. consumers are concerned that rising costs will prevent them from paying for the things and experiences they had planned for the year. For Millennials and Generation Z, the number was 73%.

When it comes to price sensitivity, consumer research found that gas, fresh food, and packaged food are less susceptible to experiencing a change in how consumers purchase compared to nice-to-have categories. In fact, while consumers are bracing themselves for higher prices, they will continue to pay them. 65% of consumers say they haven’t changed the way they are consuming gasoline and 59% say fresh food is still important. However, 38% of consumers say they’re purchasing less apparel and 29% say they’re purchasing fewer beauty products.

An area that consumers are struggling with seems to be in planning to pay for experiences where they are taking note of rising prices in conflict with the desire to travel and plan activities after spending most of the last two years in pandemic lockdown.

With an increase in priority for sustainability in mind, despite inflation costs, 40% of consumers said they will only buy from brands that align with values, even if that means switching from brands they know and trust. This finding was true for 53% of Millennials, 46% of Gen Z and 26% of Baby Boomers.

With saving money in mind, consumers said they will try to stay home. For 38% this means prioritizing purchases for the home as a top priority. More than half of consumers said they will deprioritize going out to restaurants, while 47% said they will deprioritize entertainment and 34% said they will deprioritize beauty as a spending category.

At the same time, 23% of consumers said they are likely to use a buy now, pay later option like Affirm over the next month as a result of rising prices. At 41%, Millennials and Gen Z were almost twice as likely as consumers overall to choose to use BNPL due to inflation.

Notably, these studies revealed more than half of consumers are interested in using pay-over-time solutions this year. In doing so, consumers get the items that they need, in a way that fits their budget.

Inflation’s Impact on Consumer Behavior

What: Shein has just conducted mega-fundraising and made them bigger than Inditex and H&M combined globally.

Why is it important: Shein has raised between USD 1 bn and USD 2 bn from investors including General Atlantic, Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital China. This puts its valuation higher than USD 100 bn and beats the combined valuations of Spain’s Inditex (USD 68 bn) and Sweden’s H&M (USD 20 bn).

It was the most downloaded shopping app in the US last year and is now the biggest fast-fashion retailer in the US, as well as in many others.

Embracing disposable fast fashion in the way it does has drawn criticism in a more sustainability-focused world, as has its use of data, although the company has defended its data storage policies and also said the Chinese Government has no stake in nor control of the company.

Shein raises new funds