Hey Friends,
With school back in session and college football kicking off in just weeks, I wanted to start this week by looking at the results 2 years in from the NCAA NIL (name, Image and Likeness) deal and what it has done for college athletes. The NIL industry is contributing over $1.1B directly to college athletes. Division 1 compensation averaged $3,195/athlete with top earners coming college football. Division 2 and 3 averaged $204 and $309/athlete respectively. Social media (shocking) represents nearly 3/4 of all NIL activity with local deals taking majority over national brand engagements.
And now to some more traditional retail news….
Target is looking to boost sales by adding Starbucks curbside pickup at its big-box stores, the company announced this week. By October, Target looks to have curbside pickup at 1700 locations across the United States, a service at top request in survey reports from their customers.
TikTok is launched a new e-commerce program aimed to produce additional revenue streams in the US. The e-commerce business will sell made-in-China goods to consumers and aims to compete with successful shopping platforms like Shein and Temu. Combined, Shein and Temu have about one fifth of TikTok’s billion monthly active users, offering optimism on the program’s ability to scale.
Following the success of it’s annual Prime Day, this October, Amazon is bringing an exclusive shopping event to Prime members—Prime Big Deal Days! The Prime member-exclusive shopping event offers special deals to members in 19 countries.
Walmart’s new advertising initiatives are looking to increase customer connection through expanded advertising and in-store engagement. Third parties now have the option to participate in in-store advertisements that appear on self-checkout screens and as 30-second radio spots on the store’s audio. Advertisers can bundle the stations with other ad options, and there will be QR codes for customers to scan and buy the things they try. Walmart has also began testing food demo kiosks, often seen in wholesale retailers, in some Dallas-Fort Worth-area stores and plans to expand sampler stations to 1,000 stores nationwide by the end of January.
The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is making it’s return after a 4 year hiatus, but this time returning with a bit of an e-commerce twist through its partnership with Amazon. The show will stream on Prime Video, and following the stream customers will be able to shop an exclusive Victoria’s Secret collection on their Amazon.com storefront and receive Prime Delivery.
Nike is planning to unveil a new “boutique fitness concept” as part of it’s Nike Well Collective. The first Nike studio will open in West Hollywood, CA, this year, with additional studios to follow in Los Angles and across the U.S. “We will continue to evaluate locations where we have the best opportunity to connect with consumers through premium services, experiences and products,” Nike said on the FAQ page on the site.
In some retail real-estate news, in a report by JLL, there is less retail space available now, than at any other time since before the Great Recession of 2008. Open-air center demand nearly tripled in the second quarter of 2023, while grocery-anchored retail retained its position as the most heavily transacted multi-tenant retail sub-type by volume ($3.6 billion). Small store spaces (under 5k sq. ft) have seen the most demand, mostly driven by quick serve restaurants and experimental retail.
After closing its exceptionally strong 2022 fiscal year in March with net revenue of $1.8 billion — L.L.Bean is now focused on its omnichannel growth strategy. L.L. Bean plans to open 4 new stores (2 in the US, 2 in Canada), and is expanding it’s wholesale business with department stores like Dillard’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods-owned Moosejaw and 10 independent specialty retailers in the Southeastern U.S. This effort, L.L. Bean said in a statement, will have its products in more than 70 new storefronts, in addition to e-commerce platforms.