As consumer spending dwindles, retail chains struggle and bankruptcy filings mount up. Yet retail and food sales rose a record 17.7% in May, and discount chains are flourishing. How do we account for this? Brett Rose, founder and CEO of United National Consumer Suppliers, shares his thoughts in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.
Following in the footsteps of JC Penney and others, struggling rollup Ascena Retail Group said it plans to pay up to $5.5 million in retention awards and performance bonuses and undo pay cuts to top executives, as it reportedly weighs a bankruptcy filing in the face of its debt and declining sales.
Retail and food sales jumped a record 17.7% in May compared to April, according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, a hopeful sign of a recovery from the ongoing effects of the pandemic, after tanking an adjusted 16.4% in the March-to-April period. Ecommerce posted strong gains, increasing 30% in May from the previous month.
Luxury retail bellwether Nordstrom saw ecommerce growth of 5% to more than $1 billion in the first quarter of 2020, while overall sales dropped nearly 40% as COVID-19 locked down its retail side, the company reported. Nordstrom is also evolving its model to focus more on off price locations and ecommerce than mall stores.
For fashion retailers, the COVID-19 situation presents an assortment of challenges as not only have people’s priorities and needs changed but, for many, shopping for clothing is an inherently in-person activity. Here are 6 ways fashion retailers can connect with customers online while physical shopping is on pause to drive sales.
Target found the COVID-19 outbreak to be a two-edged sword in the first quarter, driving stratospheric ecommerce sales growth of 141%, while impacting profits due to about $500 million in associated costs, the company reported. It also saw over 5 million customers shop on Target.com for the first time in Q1.
Shortly after J.C. Penney filed Chapter 11, Amazon reportedly was in talks about possibly picking up the troubled store chain on the cheap. The plan calls closing 242 of 846 stores by 2021, setting up a real estate investment trust (REIT) to handle the balance of its physical assets and receiving $900 million in debtor-in-possession financing.
What should the growing number of retailers weighing bankruptcy be considering, and what kinds of restructuring plans should they set up? Attorney Thomas Wolford, a partner with Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg, gives us an insider’s look at what goes on from filing through re-emergence in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.
Neiman Marcus Group, owner of the 43-store chain of the same name as well as two Bergdorf Goodman locations and Last Call discount shops, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as expected, in the process securing $675 million in loans from creditors. The filing also calls for a long-term plan to eliminate $4 billion of debt.
Twenty first century loyalty – the degree to which a brand meets customer expectations for their Ideal in a product category – is a KPI that changes before the brand’s economic structure begins to improve or decline. It’s an early warning signal that your brand may be in trouble. And J. Crew’s recent Chapter 11 filing is a prime example.