e-grocery phone in aisle feature

E-Grocery Sales Down, But Pandemic Gains Stay Sticky

| Mike O'Brien

E-grocery sales were down both sequentially and year-over-year in January, driven mostly by declines in the ship-to-home category, but gains from pre-pandemic levels have mostly held even though delivery options have been impacted by inflation, according to a Brick Meets Click/Mercatus report.

omnishoppers mobile in store

How the Store Experience is Influenced by Ecommerce

| Frank Kouretas

More than ever, retailers need to focus on improving their in-store shopping experiences and leverage technology to create a seamless customer journey. From product information and navigation to personalization, here are some ways ecommerce is influencing the kinds of store experience that customers are looking for.

grocery assortment

Optimizing Grocery Assortment for Omnichannel

| Julian Miller

Grocery assortment planning has been upended by omnichannel. Grocers were comfortable relying on broader, older models that identified underperforming products to remove from a store shelf, or leaning into models that focused on SKU rationalization. But assortment planning now presents an entirely new bag of challenges.

Walmart-Salesforce partnership feature

Walmart, Salesforce Team Up on Fulfillment Services

| Mike O'Brien

Drawing parallels with Amazon’s expansion of Buy With Prime to all U.S. merchants — do they each have moles in the other’s operation? — Walmart and Salesforce have linked up to provide the former’s delivery and fulfillment services to a wider swath of merchants in the latter’s app store.

bed bath & beyond storefront

Bed Bath & Beyond Posts Ugly Third Quarter

| Mike O'Brien

Bed Bath & Beyond as expected posted a tough third-quarter report, with net sales and same-store sales down a third from last year and a net loss of $393 million as it considers a range of options up to and including a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. CEO Sue Gove said the company is listening to customers, but it may be too little, too late.

omnishoppers mobile in store

Engaging Omnishoppers Despite Inflation

| Shekar Raman

As inflation continues to impact retailers, the basket size of every shopper is critical to profitability. To attract the price-wary omnishopper, you must create a seamless, consistent cross-channel experience. Engaging and retaining them is incredibly valuable, but it takes finesse to understand who they are and how they shop.

Macy’s Converts 35 Stores to Mini FCs

| Mike O'Brien

Ahead of peak season, Macy’s converted 35 stores into mini fulfillment centers, creating about 1 million square feet of space to handle online orders, lowering costs, speeding up delivery times and reducing the incidence of painful split shipments, executives said on a recent earnings call.

marketplace aggregators piece of pie feature

The Future for Marketplace Aggregators

| Ben Eachus

While marketplaces have made it easier than ever to launch a digital-first brand, the process of getting products to a customer’s door has never been more complex, and marketplace aggregators will face challenges and frustrations handling the supply chain complications.

Alen air purifier feature

How Alen Expanded from DTC/Ecomm Onto Lowe’s Shelves

| Mike O'Brien

For 16 years, Alen has been selling its a top-rated air purifiers on Alen.com and Amazon. Now the company has expanded into retail, with product in 300+ Lowe’s stores, with potential for expansion. Alen has seen sales climb 210% growth since 2020. The CEO and the COO of Alen talk about the company’s growth and channel approach.

Target Vegas strip feature

Target Sees Q3 Earnings Slump, Warns of Q4 Softness

| Mike O'Brien

Target brought bad news Wednesday, with Q3 earnings miss plus a warning about a softer Q4, as families make tough budget calls on essentials vs. nonessentials heading into the holidays while high inflation lingers, registering a 7.7% rate in October. The company is calling for a low single-digit decline in Q4 comparable sales, and an operating margin of 3%.