Hey Friends,
This Week the National Retail Federation released its outlook for retail sales for 2024. Retail sales forecast in the United States will increase anywhere between 2.5% and 3.5% this year, a solid but still slower pace than the 3.6% seen last year. The NRF said this week that it expects retail sales will reach between $5.23 trillion and $5.28 trillion this year. The 2024 forecast is roughly in line with the 10-year pre-pandemic average annual sales growth of 3.6%.
Best Buy announced in a recent earnings call that it is shutting down 24 stores in the current fiscal year and it intends to close another 10-15 in the 2025 fiscal year. "As our ongoing practice, we will continue to close existing traditional stores during our rigorous review of stores as their leases come up for renewal," company chief financial officer Matt Bilunas said.
The founding family behind Nordstrom Inc, is seeking to take the U.S. department store. private. A earlier attempt in 2018 proved unsuccessful. Nordstrom stock jumped more than 10% on Tuesday following the report.
The U.S. operation of The Body Shop was caught off guard by the UK company's sudden filing for administration (similar to bankruptcy) in February, leading to its own Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing. The U.S. operation disclosed assets valued between $50 million and $100 million and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million. The Body Shop Canada, while also facing challenges, remains operational as it assesses strategic options and undergoes restructuring, though it has closed some stores and its website is currently inaccessible.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, fast-growing e-tailers Temu and Shein, which offer cheap goods shipped directly from China, are making significant inroads in the US in less than two years — and there are signs it is already taking a bite out of Amazon’s business. Temu grew to 51.4 million users in January from its launch here in September 2022, while Shein’s users increased to 26 million over the same period from 20.9 million, according to the report, which cites data from Sensor Tower.
The British luxury department store Harrods debuts a self checkout pilot program. The Harrods Self-Checkout Pilot Program, powered by Enactor’s Next-Generation Point of Sale (POS) software, introduces a more user-friendly and engaging interface aimed at enhancing the customer experience, allowing easy transitions between self-checkout and attended checkout. Self-checkout has often been limited to grocers and discount department stores, so seeing this adoption in a luxury environment is pivotal.
Kohl’s is looking to add another partnership to its resume. The retailer announced Tuesday a partnership with WHP Global, the parent company of Babies R Us, to bring "baby gear, furniture, activity and more" to more than 200 Kohl's locations by fall 2024. According to a news release from Kohl's, customers will also be able to shop for baby products on Kohls.com and use the Babies R Us at Kohl's registry to build and share gift lists.
Joann Fabrics and Crafts has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after 81 years in operation. The company made the announcement Monday, adding it could become privately owned as soon as next month. Joann Fabrics and Crafts stores and website will remain open and continue operating as normal, according to a press release.
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