Many businesses, small and large, have taken a hit due to the coronavirus outbreak. But one category, in particular, enjoyed predicted and substantial gains: online grocery delivery. The pandemic converted millions of Americans into first-time online grocery shoppers, fueling a 54% growth in web sales across the category in 2020. So how did grocery delivery connect with consumers during the height of the pandemic? Drizly, Instacart and Shipt emerged as the top three advertisers in the grocery delivery category during this period.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into the recovery of Disney’s two namesake theme parks and explore what Labor Day weekend may be telling us about department stores’ upcoming holiday season. Following an extended period of depressed visits, Disney World and Disneyland both saw visits climb impressively close to 2019 levels during the summer. July visits were down 8.2% to Disney World and 25.3% to Disneyland.
This back-to-school season marks the first time that many students across the U.S. are returning to the classroom since schools transitioned to remote instruction in March 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Interestingly, August 2021 consumer sales for office supply company Office Depot (which includes stores under the Office Depot and OfficeMax brands) were lower than sales for August 2020 and August 2019. Consumer transaction data also shows that Office Depot’s August 2021 sales patterns varied by metro area
Last December, Kohl’s and Sephora announced a long-term strategic partnership to revitalize Kohl’s beauty offerings by opening Sephora shops-in-shop at select Kohl’s locations throughout the country. The plan involved launching 200 “Sephora at Kohl’s” locations by the fall of 2021, for a total of at least 850 Kohl’s with a Sephora store-in-storeby the end of 2023.
On Thursday September 23, 2021 Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI) posted better-than-expected revenues of $2.31bn beating the consensus estimate of $2.24bn (-3.1%) and in the same direction as Advan's forecasted sales. The revenue was +51.2% YoY - Advan's foot traffic data captured an increase in foot traffic of +56.4% YoY at its restaurants for Q1 2022. As a result of beating the sales and EPS, the stock opened at $159.34, up +6% from its previous day's closing price and set an all-time high of $164.28 during the trading session.
B2B advertisers shifted much of their budget to digital last year. But only a small portion of that shift went to Facebook. This summer, 11% of B2B digital advertisers bought placements on Facebook. Even though the platform allows marketers to build highly specific audiences, B2B marketers are slow to use the social media site. When we take a deeper look, Facebook B2B advertising is growing but not at the expense of traditional formats—and the creative from major companies shows us how.
Apples to apples? In this market, it might make more sense to compare Apples to unicorns. Currently, that exchange rate is right around 1 to every 800. There are now more than [800 “unicorns](https://www.cbinsights.com/research-unicorn-companies?utm_source=chartr)” or private startup companies worth more than $1 billion (like Stripe, SpaceX, Reddit, Instacart, Warby Parker, and Discord to name just a few). Combine those 800 with yet another 800 super promising companies and you wind up with a total combined valuation of $2.6 trillion. A staggering figure that, remarkably, is almost equal to what the world’s most valuable company
Looking at data on employees at public companies in Northern America, the plot below tracks the rolling mean of monthly hiring rates of women and men. Although the numbers look similar until fairly recently, we observe a widening gap between hiring rates of men and women in the recent past, especially during the pandemic. It is hard to disentangle whether this dip in women taking up new roles is driven by labor supply, or labor demand.
Still the top category in digital advertising, CPG takes on aspects of nearly every other vertical, with multiple sub-categories and products that span the entire digital landscape. We analyzed the top 5 CPG advertisers over the last 3 years, for seasonal, spend, and creative trends, to explain what keeps it at the top of the (individually wrapped) food chain.
The food delivery industry hasn’t stopped evolving since its birth. 2020 was a big year for change, with unprecedented changes introduced across the food delivery market. This year promises more of the same, as many wonder whether a post-COVID drop may be in store for the industry. To understand how the pandemic has impacted the food delivery market, as well as see consumer spending habits are shaping up in 2021, Edison Trends examined over 3.3 million de-identified food delivery transactions worldwide.
The return of the pumpkin spice latte—or “PSL” to its loyal fans—is heralded as the unofficial start of fall. Starbucks and Dunkin are two of the largest coffee chains known for selling this seasonal treat. But does the return of the PSL affect sales at these two companies? Consumer transaction data found no major changes in week-over-week sales when Dunkin introduced its fall 2021 beverages, while Starbucks experienced a modest sales bump the same week that PSLs returned to its menu.
Athleisure – and workleisure – are having a moment. After the long months of shelter-in-place, many consumers are looking for clothes that make them look presentable without sacrificing the comfort they got used to during the lockdowns. But is the surge in athleisure translating to offline success for bona fide sportswear brands? We dove into visit trends at Nike and Under Armour to find out. The nationwide apparel recovery as a whole has been slower than in other industries.
The heat between gig companies and worker rights groups is intensifying. And the ad numbers show it. Last year, businesses like Uber and Lyft contributed a record-breaking $200 million to the Prop 22 campaign in California, which allowed the companies to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. As similar legislation gets closer to the ballot in Massachusetts, how much money will these companies shell out?
Another day, another Amazon headline. The world’s largest online retailer is making new again, this time with their recently announced plans to hire more than 125,000 warehouse and transportation workers. Delving into our data we can see a 13% increase in production occupations. While this number was not even close to the 125,000 roles they plan to increase, it does tell us they are definitely increasing hiring. We would anticipate more listings for production occupations will likely be posted in the future.
Last week, Kroger made headlines when it announced the launch of its Delivery Now service, promising groceries delivered in 30 minutes or less. Grocery has been one of the many industries benefitting from the surge of online shopping over the last year and a half, but can Kroger’s gambit add a second burst to the trajectory? And could it be a model for other players both in the US and overseas? In today’s Insight Flash, we look at how grocery spend has grown by channel in the US versus UK, what the average ticket is for third-party delivery versus the Grocers’ direct channels in both markets
When we last looked at the Darden Restaurant Group, year-over-two-years visits to Longhorn Steakhouse were up but many of the parent company’s other restaurants were struggling. With September almost behind us, we analyzed the data to see how the summer has treated some of the group’s best known dining brands. Although the restaurant industry appeared to be making a full visit recovery in early July, the year-over-two-year growth in visits was short-lived.
Total construction starts fell 9% in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $782.8 billion, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. All three sectors lost ground during the month: nonbuilding starts were down 2%, residential starts were 9% lower, and nonresidential building starts fell 13%. “Construction starts have hit a rough patch following the euphoria seen in the early stages of recovery from the pandemic,” stated Richard Branch, Chief Economist for Dodge Data & Analytics.
The recently announced partnership between Amazon and Affirm for the latter to provide shoppers with Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options on purchases over $50 dominated headlines. But does a company as large as Amazon really need the extra support from point-of-sale-lending? In today’s Insight Flash we dig into the specifics of the partnership, looking at cross-shopping trends between the two merchants, which subindustries see the biggest gaps in average ticket from BNPL shoppers, and repeat usage behavior from BNPL services.
With the pandemic spurring more and more people to move into new, and often larger homes, outfitting these living spaces has become top-of-mind. However, with the rise of eCommerce, in-store furniture shopping has become passé – consumers are going digital instead. To help brands and retailers navigate this changing landscape, we’ll analyze the digital performance of top online furniture sites, using our eCommerce solutions, Research and Shopper Intelligence.
When we last checked in with the fitness industry, the sector was slowly making a comeback – although visits still lagged behind 2019 figures. Now, over a year and a half after COVID first hit the United States, we dove into the data to understand how this hard-hit industry is faring under the new normal. The fitness sector suffered a heavy blow over COVID. As health clubs closed throughout the country went into lockdown, many gyms could not afford to stay in business – according to one study, 22% of gyms have shuttered permanently since the start of the pandemic.
