After a sharp decline early in the pandemic, the DTC clothing rental market is experiencing a resurgence. Many consumers are signing up for DTC clothing rental subscriptions as they return to the office and begin attending in-person events such as weddings again. As a Rent the Runway IPO approaches, consumer transaction data reveals how customer counts are rebounding for top clothing rental companies.
The pandemic has been tough for department stores. Brands that were already struggling to adapt to the role of e-commerce and changing consumer preferences were pushed over the edge, while other department stores were forced to shed stores to stay in the game. Neiman Marcus, JCPenney, and Lord & Taylor filed for bankruptcy, joining their peers Sears and Barney’s New York that had filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Macy’s and Nordstrom announced plans to permanently shutter several locations in an attempt to optimize their store fleet.
Facebook made impressive earnings last quarter—up significantly from the same period last year. Our data suggests that Facebook has stayed true to form: most of their revenue comes from the cumulation of thousands of small, niche advertisers (with a handful of big brands thrown in.) And now that the economy is recovering, there has been a massive influx of advertisers. We saw an 87% jump in the number of advertisers in Q2 compared to last year. Who are these advertisers and have the top spenders shifted?
The Dodge Momentum Index fell to 155.8 (2000=100) in July, a 6% decline from the revised June reading of 164.9. The Momentum Index, issued by Dodge Data & Analytics, is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. Both components of the Momentum Index fell in July. Commercial planning fell 3%, while institutional planning dropped 9%.
When Dick’s Sporting Goods launched House of Sports – an experiential retail and sports concept – the idea was to break the mold and create a powerful addition to the brands wider fleet. And it appears to have done just that. Dick’s Sporting Goods has been one of the top performing retailers in recent years and its recovery performance has only solidified its powerful position amid the wider retail landscape.
It's been a year for ride-share advertisers, and the drivers that keep them on the road. With quarantine in full force, the customer base dried up, with few, if any, willing to catch a ride with a stranger, mask or no mask. However, it didn't only affect the consumer, but the drivers too, as the contract employees shed their chauffeur status for whatever job was available. Flash forward to 2021 - the pandemic is in a new phase as the country is flush with vaccines - and with renewed demand, drivers are getting back in gear.
We’ve been hearing a lot about the chip shortage lately. And though the conversation mostly surrounds cars, the lack of semiconductors affects a range of industries. From construction to smartphones, much of our economy depends on these materials. Though Big Tech companies have been bringing in huge earnings, tech companies are facing headwinds with a limited supply of chips. But are supply chain issues enough to disrupt advertising budgets? It doesn’t appear so.
Even before the pandemic hit, big box retailers were both expanding their e-commerce platforms and making significant investments in brick-and-mortar store upgrades in order to stay relevant in the face of new competition. Now, as the country reopens, it’s more important than ever for these retailers to have attractive in-store shopping opportunities in order to compete with both each other and with exclusively online retailers.
With the games sprinting ahead in Tokyo, it’s all about scoreboards these days. In the spirit of healthy competition, we used Shopper Intelligence to break down top brands and onsite-search terms for select Amazon categories. Check out who ranked first, second, and third based on units sold in June 2021, plus, get powerful insights so your brand can win a medal next month.
Open source software -- that anyone can see, modify, and distribute the source code free of charge -- offers a publicly-accessible, and free alternative to proprietary software. Many companies have embraced collaborative software over the last decade and have achieved massive success. But as the open source movement picks up the pace, which companies missed the memo? By tracking the skills most associated with open source -- Python, and R -- and their proprietary counterparts -- MATLAB, SPSS, SAS, and Stata -- we’ve ranked the workforces most skilled in open source.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers turned to streaming services as movie theaters, sports stadiums, concert halls, and other live event venues shut down. The gradual reopenings of brick and mortar businesses has boosted movie theater attendance and sales as the summer blockbuster season gets underway. Additionally, some companies such as AMC Theatres have seen increasing average transaction values as well as a growing share of sales taking place online.
In this Placer Bytes, we analyze the post-pandemic performance of Baskin-Robbins and other leading ice cream chains and check out the other side of the food spectrum to assess the salad recovery. All the salad chains analyzed appear to be recovering, although some are recovering faster than others. Tender Greens, which suffered the biggest decrease in visits over the pandemic, has slashed its visit gap relative to 2019 from -71.5% in January to -31.5% in June – but the brand still has a way to go before hitting 2019 visit levels.
“Which shot did you get?” “Moderna.” “Oh, cool, I got Pfizer.” Consumers now talk about pharmaceutical companies just as casually as they talk about the weather. Prior to the pandemic, most consumers didn’t even know that Johnson & Johnson produced pharmaceutical drugs in addition to baby products. With 60% of the adult population in the U.S. fully vaccinated, we are well familiar with the names of the three companies offering vaccines. These companies have brought in significant revenue over the past year. But they haven’t had to advertise the vaccines that they sell.
Social media has birthed several viral trends since its inception. TikTok-driven purchases have become so prevalent that the phrase “Tik Tok Made Me” has become part of the English lexicon. In today’s Insight Flash, find out if the buzz actually boosts the sales of the mentioned retailers, looking at transaction trends in the US and UK as well as US new shopper behavior. Today’s flash takes a deep dive into three TikTok trends that exploded in Spring 2021. These encompass Aeropostale’s Tiny Tops, Coach’s Tabby Bag, and Zara’s Pink Jeans.
Significant time has passed since Amazon launched its Fresh grocery concept, and the channel is playing an increasingly important role in the grocery space. As the brand enters more and more states, we dove into Amazon’s grocery push by looking at both the Whole Foods recovery and the Amazon Fresh expansion. Though the brand was among the hardest-hit players in the grocery sector, Whole Foods is clearly enjoying a significant recovery.
Heading into Peloton earnings on August 26, Peloton (PTON) is in a tricky spot. Shares are down 27% year-to-date, as investors question the sustainability of elevated pandemic growth levels. Negative headlines around the safety of its new high-end treadmill Tread+ have also weighed on the stock, with the repercussions already filtering through into next quarter’s guidance. But PTON is fighting back, moving into the lucrative corporate wellness space, with big names like Wayfair and Samsung already on board.
Nothing screams "summer" quite like an ice-cold beer or refreshing rum punch — and this year, vaccinated Americans will finally be able to share a drink with friends. With bars reopening and summer barbecues back on, global beverage sales are projected to increase 3% in 2021. So how are big beverage brands preparing for a post-vaccine summer? Diageo, Bacardi, and Brown-Forman have all increased spending in the last year, so let's take a closer look at their advertising strategies.
Amid the massive disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused, a new global media landscape is emerging—and it’s digital. The pandemic is far from over, and we will feel its effects for years to come, but the resilient media industry is bouncing back, with certain constituents pulling out ahead of others. Marketing and ad spend are good barometers for measuring the overall health of the industry, and Nielsen Ad Intel data shows just what a turn-around the industry has made over the past 12 months.
Below, ETR recaps the datasets on leading vendors in the Observability sector, based on ETR's Summer Technology Spending Intentions Survey (TSIS), which captures where IT budgets are being invested in 2H21, citing participation from \~1,200 IT decision-makers. Below are specific excerpts from each vendor's outlook report, originally published on July 23rd, 2021. Spending intentions on Datadog have accelerated to multi-year highs, driven by more customers indicating plans to Increase spend with the vendor in 2H’21.
For many, there’s an inherent thrill that comes with online gambling. The risk, the high stakes, the rewards can be addicting. And like so many other popular pastimes, gambling has not been impervious to the digital revolution. Think about it, there’s really no need anymore to drive to the local casino or take a trip to Las Vegas to get your fix. Technology has transformed our living rooms into our own personal casino royales filled with Texas Hold ‘Em, Roulette, Blackjack, and more.
