As a record number of Americans resigned their jobs in 2021, we are proud to present our research in MIT Sloan Review’s Toxic Culture Is Driving the Great Resignation, co-written with MIT adjunct faculty and co-founders of Culture X, Donald Sull and Charles Sull, and Revelio Labs CEO Ben Zweig. The article investigates the main drivers of employee attrition and actual strategies managers can employ to retain talent.
The sales mix for club stores online can be very different than in-store. In today’s Insight Flash, we use our CE Receipt data to dig into individual online transactions for Costco and BJ’s. Although Costco is generally more likely to be thought of as a destination for higher-end goods like wine and jewelry, we dig into how the item mix really differs versus BJ’s and what role seasonality plays. Although Costco online sees substantially more transactions than BJ’s online, BJ’s was chipping away at that share in the beginning of 2020.
Pandemic engagements and holiday shopping have corresponded with dazzling sales for jewelry companies, including both brands that are mostly focused on ecommerce as well as those that have historically sold through brick-and-mortar stores. Transaction data indicates that sales at newly public DTC e-tailer Brilliant Earth (NASDAQ: BRLT) have more than doubled between November 2019 and November 2021. At the same time, sales at more traditional jewelry retailers owned by Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG)—such as Zales, Kay Jewelers, and Jared—have resumed their seasonal patterns after an initial disruption early in the pandemic.
Another holiday season has come and gone, but like the one experienced in 2020, 2021’s iteration was anything but ‘normal’. For many retailers, Thanksgiving was again removed from the mix and the wider season was dominated by concerns over supply chain challenges, labor shortages, and the omnipresent risk of rising COVID cases. And, as perhaps should have been expected considering the 2021 experience, all of these effects were felt. Yet, the situation was hardly doom and gloom, with many retailers seeing exceptional traffic to locations throughout the holiday season.
Apptopia estimates indicate December 2021 closed out with 6.8 million MAUs for the top sportsbook mobile apps combined, in the United States. A slew of states legalizing the industry this year has certainly aided the 199% year-over-year growth for the month of December. Sportsbook app downloads spiked 297% m/m (month-over-month) in September with 2.9 million installs, due to the start of NFL season. They then fell 31% m/m and continued to fall until December.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into First Watch, a rising star in the breakfast space, and Staples, a legacy brand that has been making a surprising comeback. Last winter, while the pandemic was still limiting the dining industry, First Watch was continuing with its expansion plans and opening new locations. And although the daytime restaurant concept’s year-over-two-year (Yo2Y) overall monthly visits were up – thanks to the brand’s aggressive expansion – Yo2Y average visits per venue were down by 21.6%, 22.6%, and 15.5% in January, February, and March, respectively, indicating that the brand was definitely feeling the effects of the drastic downturn in diners.
What happened in 2021? Cryptocurrency happened in 2021. Last year the top three apps combined for 18 million downloads and this year they combined for 145 million. The Crypto.com app recently (early January '21) hit 50 million downloads since launch in 2017. Most (82%) of those downloads came in 2021, making the app the second most downloaded crypto app globally in the calendar year.
Albertsons Companies, Inc (NYSE: ACI), the parent company of supermarket chains such as Albertsons Markets, Safeway, and Acme, made its public debut back in June 2020. Alternative data—specifically, Bloomberg Second Measure’s consumer transaction data—shows that after an initial bump in sales at the beginning of the pandemic, Albertsons Companies’ sales are back to pre-pandemic levels. A closer look at our data also reveals that customer counts at Albertsons are lower than before the pandemic, but average monthly sales per customer is higher.
In late 2020, we discussed our belief that top tier malls would see a very strong recovery in 2021. The pace of the retail rebound was already seeing picking up, and several changes that mall owners had begun instituting years prior were well aligned with how the wider retail space was evolving. From new perspectives on tenant mix to a sharper focus on providing a wider and more holistic shopping experience, there were many reasons for optimism. And looking back at the performance of top malls in 2021 appears to justify that confidence.
Reddit is on track to join other publicly traded social media companies in its Wall Street debut. Famous for its message boards and network of niche communities, the San Francisco-based platform filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec. 15, writing on its website that “the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.” According to Reuter’s Sept. 13 report, Reddit hoped for a valuation of more than $15 billion.
Job postings are often used to measure demand in the economy. But does one job posting really represent one vacancy? And does a removed posting really represent a hire? Or, alternatively, are there roles where there is no posting but still a new hire? Or are there roles with postings but no talent to fill those roles? In short, what is the relationship of job postings to hires? By comparing job postings with new hires for the second half of 2021, we can see which roles have the biggest discrepancies between new hires and job openings. Below is their “hire to job posting” ratio:
Although “Black Friday Preview” deals from many retailers in early November pulled forward the holiday shopping season in 2021, the week before Christmas is still crucial for many retailers to pick up last-minute purchases. In today’s Insight Flash, we dig into how important this week was for online sales tracked by our CE Receipt data based on the percent of sales for the week, growth in items per transaction, and growth in price per item.
Each year, we kick off our content with a look at the retailers or retail segments we think could dominate the year to come. Last year, we explained why grocers like Publix and Albertsons would thrive, Planet Fitness would drive a major recovery, malls would rebound and a specific group of home improvement retailers would continue to impress. So who should you look out for in 2022? Here’s our list of the brands to watch.
With the holiday season now closed and US Transact data available through December 24, we look back on December holiday spend to examine key trends by region, subindustry, and channel. US NAICS Retail spend was up double digits year-over-year across all census divisions for the pre-Christmas December shopping period. The strongest growth was in the East South Central and Middle Atlantic divisions at 17.2% and 16.7%, respectively. The West North Central and West South Central divisions had the weakest growth, still at 11.2% each.
Congratulations, if you're reading this it means you have made it through the year! 2021 is over and as our gift to you, Apptopia has our annual download leader charts ready to go. Below are 30 top charts across a plethora of high interest industries. All data is iOS + Google Play combined, except for data from China which is iOS only. If an app has a "lite" version, that data is included in the respective app's data. We created these categories ourselves and had to make decisions on distinctions. In general, we tried to group apps with the same primary function together.
Despite chip shortages and factory closures, top consumer electronic producers had strong sales this year. According to the latest report by Global Market Insights Inc., the market valuation of consumer electronics will cross $1.5 trillion by 2027. Trends that will mark this sector next year include: a push for smart devices, more energy-efficient products, and investment in other sustainability practices. With the steady growth in the electronics market, it’s a great time to pitch top brands who invest heavily in advertising.
As the food delivery industry continues to grow with record high order volumes in different markets every day, it’s like a roller coaster that only goes up. On this roller coaster, the ultimate goal for all the food delivery companies right now is to compete for market share. Asia has grown to be a major battlefield for the biggest food tech companies in the world. As 2021 draws to an end, Measurable AI presents the third part of this food delivery industry research in Asia, covering specifically market share and average order value.
Apple is reported to break iPhone sales this holiday season selling over 40 million devices from Black Friday to Christmas. As consumers unwrapped new iPhones and Android phones on Christmas morning, they downloaded a flurry of apps and games, activated new subscriptions and bought new in-app purchases to uplevel their gameplay, access new lives and upgrade their avatars' skins.
In-person dining at national restaurants began returning to pre-pandemic levels once people received their vaccinations. According to the NPD Group, online and physical visits to fast casual restaurants were up 8% year-over-year by August, reaching levels similar to 2019. “Fast casual restaurants have capitalized on the lessons they learned during the pandemic,” says David Portalatin, NPD food industry advisor and author of Eating Patterns in America.
Public equity investors use Apptopia's app data estimates to identify leading indicators and trend shifts in tickers six to eight weeks ahead of consensus. Apptopia's data is quite literally a clairvoyance in equity trading (we won't haunt your house though). Apptopia's Director of Equity Research, Tom Grant, recently chatted with Neudata to discuss travel industry trends as COVID-19 continues to shape the sector. Car rental companies, like everyone else in the industry, have taken a hit from COVID.
