Hey Friends,
It’s been a little silent on my end… We have relocated the This Week in Retail family to Charleston, South Carolina, and unfortunately this newsletter took a back seat. I apologize but we are back this week with some exciting updates.
Store issued credit cards have been a staple for the department store for 50 years, but this spring there may be some changes that could squeeze retailers even more. Under a new rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, late fees for customers will be capped at $8. Currently the industry average trends around $32. The change faces legal challenges, but is scheduled to take effect on May 14. The image below shows a snapshot of annual revenue earned from some of the largest retailers who report credit card revenues, with Kohl’s, Macy’s and Target surpassing $500M in annual revenue from credit cards.
The National Retail Federation, in partnership with Kantar, announced their annual list of Top 50 Global Retailers. According to the NRF, ranking methodology uses a system in which points are given to retailers based on their domestic and international retail revenues. To qualify for the rankings, retailers need to have a direct investment in at least three countries. The full list can be found here, but a snapshot of the top 10 is below:
Walmart
Amazon.com
Schwarz Group
Aldi
Costco
Ahold Delhaize
Carrefour
Seven & I
The Home Depot
IKEA
On somewhat of the opposite side of the spectrum - Yelp released their inaugural fastest growing brands report, in which CAVA has topped the list. Yelp’s list is based on net-new location openings and consumer interest and searches on its platforms. It also ranks CAVA as among “challenger brands,” or those that are not market leaders but are competing by disrupting their industry. Yelp said challenger brands make up 70% of the companies on its fastest-growing retail brands list. Here is the top 10:
CAVA
Scooter’s Coffee
LongHorn Steakhouse
The Habitat Burger Grill
WAWA
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen
Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers
Rally House
Olive Garden
Jersey Mike’s Subs
Amazon announced this week that it will remove ‘Just Walk Out’ checkout Technology at it’s US grocery stores, and will move fully to “Dash Carts”. Dash Carts allow shoppers to scan as they go. The carts have a large screen, AI-aided cameras and a scanner system that allows shoppers to price items and adds to cart as they shop adn continue to the parking lot after.
The Home Depot announced an exciting partnership with Google. This includes leveraging technologies like machine learning, computer vision, and generative AI to enhance the retailer's inventory management operations and improve its overall supply chain efficiency. In addition, the business will tap into future ecommerce enhancements to enable greater digital scalability, to help help customers complete their home improvement projects more efficiently and affordably.
Walmart is making additional expansions in the healthcare space, and will open its first facility in Texas next month on the way to 70 across the U.S. by the end of the year. Walmart plans to open an additional 22 clinics this year to add to its current total of 48.
And to wrap up……According to the latest company announcement, Jessica Alba, who founded The Honest Company over a decade ago, has decided to step down from her position as chief creative officer to pursue new endeavors. She will continue to provide her support and leadership as a member of Honest’s board of directors.
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