With January coming to a close, we checked in with our Nationwide Office Index. Are workers being required to come into the office more than they did in 2022? And what do January office visit trends portend for the rest of the year? Despite a growing number of reports that many employers want workers to spend more time in the office, the data shows that at least for now, the office visit patterns that took hold in the second half of 2022 remain strong.
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In our recent collaborations with The Washington Post and Reuters, we explored how the recent wave of layoffs in Big Tech has hit Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in the industry. As we celebrate Black History Month, we are doing a deeper dive into whether companies are heading into a diversity crisis by laying off their DEI talent. As the uphill battle for diversity unfolded during layoffs, some companies have also had sharp declines in their share of diverse new hires.
The fitness industry experienced an exceptionally tumultuous period over the past few years asCOVID-19 restrictions kept many away from their workouts, leading some to question their continued viability. But gyms proved resilient, with foot traffic to major fitness chains recovering as soon as vaccines became widely available and the pandemic began to subside. Now, with the sector’s strongest month of the year behind us, we take a closer look at the segment's January performance to see how major chains are doing post-COVID and explore specialty fitness brands.
When we look back at mall performance in 2022, the general takeaway is one of relative success for a segment that had been uniquely challenged by the pandemic and its retail effects. This was especially impressive considering that the impact of COVID was rapidly replaced by economic headwinds that limited a full return to business as usual. In short, 2022 was marked by volatility that hindered a full visit recovery for many within the mall sector.
On February 12, 2023, more than 60k football fans will pack into State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to experience Super Bowl LVII. For them, they’ll be up close and personal to football’s most exciting night, face-to-face with non-stop action. For the nearly 200mm people expected to tune in to the Big Game, there will be frequent stops in action—stops filled with ads from brands taking the opportunity to get their logo in front of a massive and engaged audience.
Artists and concert venues know how many tickets are sold to every show – but they don’t necessarily see who is attending each event. Location intelligence can shed light on the unique visitor profile each artist attracts and how audience demographics and psychometrics can vary within a single venue depending on the performer. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, also known as Bad Bunny, was one of the most popular musicians of 2022.
Many retailers approached the recent holiday shopping season with understandable uncertainty. After all, it’s a season that has traditionally accounted for up to 40% of annual sales. The disruptions wrought by inflation and pandemic-driven changes in consumer behavior left many merchants and service providers wondering whether they’d find a windfall under the tree or coal in their stockings. Before the season started, Envestnet | Yodlee’s research team used the company’s vast array of consumer spending and transaction data to derive some insights.
At the end of November 2022, Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that it saw record sales during the five-day shopping period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. But how did the rest of the holiday season fare? Consumer transaction data shows that Amazon’s U.S. consumer sales during the 2022 holiday season exceeded its holiday sales during the previous three years. In addition, Amazon’s year-over-year holiday sales performance outpaced that of several major superstore companies, such as Target and Costco.
2022 saw the coffee space impacted by high inflation and the curbing of discretionary spending. But amidst these setbacks, the leading coffee chains expanded their footprints, rolled out perennial favorites, and welcomed crowds of loyal visitors. In recent months, many consumers saw coffee as an affordable luxury and were once again enchanted by coffee’s seasonal charm.
In 2022, the value of commercial and multifamily construction starts in the top 10 metropolitan areas of the U.S. increased 37% from 2021, according to Dodge Construction Network. Nationally, commercial and multifamily construction starts increased 25%. Commercial and multifamily construction has made impressive gains in 2022 largely driven by rising demand for apartments and condos. Not to be outdone, commercial starts also posted strong gains fueled by increased demand for hotel, data center, and retail projects.
Restaurant sales growth remains strong year-over-year, but the last two months of the year showed there is some slowdown already in effect. Same-store sales growth was +4.8% in December, an acceleration of +1.5 percentage points compared to November’s year-over-year results. However, these two months were the weakest for restaurant sales growth since the industry saw a rebound back in August of 2022. Average sales growth for November and December was +4.1%, compared with a stronger +5.1% average for the period between August and October.
Meal kit companies had sizzling sales in the early months of COVID-19, as consumers turned to subscription services to fulfill basic needs. But in recent years, the industry has seen challenges related to seasonal demand, rising inflation, and high operational and marketing costs. In fact, some meal kit companies like Blue Apron and HelloFresh announced layoffs in recent months, and Blue Apron (NYSE: APRN) received a delisting notice from the NYSE in December 2022.
With its high concentration of government institutions, universities, and thriving art scene, Washington, D.C. has long attracted out-of-towners willing to relocate to take advantage of the city’s unique professional, academic, and cultural opportunities. And while the population influx slowed over COVID, domestic migration trends appear to have fully bounced back, with both D.C. and its surrounding counties looking stronger than ever. We took a closer look at migration patterns and demographic trends over the past three years to explore who is moving in and who is moving out of the capital city and its surrounding areas.
With the announcement of Macy shuttering some additional stores in 2023, we dove into the location intelligence data to understand the rationale behind the brand’s store fleet optimization strategy. Macy’s first announced its Polaris transformation strategy in February 2020 – a month before COVID-19 upended the brick-and-mortar retail landscape. The three-year plan involves closing 125 stores – mostly in malls or in underperforming locations – along with opening smaller, stand-alone venues, revamping the brand’s loyalty program, and ramping up investment in private labels.
It isn’t just the December chill rolling in. The frosty winds of recession are blowing steadily and prompting many companies to brace against a global financial downturn. While many in the tech sector are opting to cut costs through staff cuts and hiring freezes, companies without such a payroll cushion are seeking ways to squeeze value from every asset they have.
For most junior employees, the culture in which they work is defined by their managers. We previously covered how Toxic Corporate Culture was a main driver of The Great Resignation and how Gen Z is redefining work culture as we know it today. Today, we look at whether excess management has a negative effect on company culture. And if so, what is the business impact of being a top-heavy company?
For over a century, grocery shopping has been an essential part of our daily lives. And because inflation has led many Americans to opt for more meals at home, supermarkets have become an even bigger part of our routines. But that doesn’t mean that grocery shopping has to be a dull affair. Thankfully, many exciting experiences can be found at grocery stores across the country, and perhaps the most exciting development is the infusion of technology into how we shop for food.
This week MediaRadar reviewed ad buys from the week of January 2, 2023, and compared them to ads that ran the week of December 26, 2022. While we highlighted four categories in this article, you can see the shifts in ad spend among all categories here. We look at Quarter-Over-Quarter (QoQ), Month-Over-Month (MoM) and Week-Over-Week (WoW). Here are some key weekly takeaways from advertising shifts that took place. Travel advertising increased over 15% WoW. This represents over a $75mm investment during the first week of 2023.
Total construction starts jumped 27% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.185 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network. During the month, nonresidential building starts increased 51%, nonbuilding starts increased 30%, and residential starts rose less than one percent. Across 2022, total construction starts were 15% higher than in 2021. Nonresidential building starts rose 38% over the year, nonbuilding starts were up 19%, and residential starts were down 3%.
Convenience stores (c-stores), once dismissed as uninspiring places to grab a quick cup of coffee or a sugar-laden snack, are re-inventing themselves as go-to, affordable places to shop, pick up tasty, ready-made meals, and splurge on low-cost treats. In the face of rising prices and shifting post-pandemic work routines – with more people working from home and commuting less often – this positioning has helped the sector sustain remarkable growth despite economic headwinds.
