Over the past several years, teen-focused jewelry retailer Claire’s Stores Inc went from filing for bankruptcy to filing for an IPO, as the company gradually expanded its offerings to attract new customers and experimented with different omnichannel strategies. Our analysis of U.S. consumer spending data since 2019 found that a higher proportion of the company’s direct-to-consumer sales come from new customers versus returning customers. At the same time, most of Claire’s DTC sales still come from brick-and-mortar stores rather than its ecommerce site—although online sales typically spike each November, likely fueled by the company’s major Cyber Monday sale.
The workplace recovery has stalled over the past few months, with employees and employers settling into the new normal of widespread hybrid and remote work. Now, with 2022 almost behind us, we dove into office foot traffic data for the past six months to understand where the workplace recovery stands nationwide and in select cities and what may impact the recovery in 2023.
The media landscape is changing faster than ever. As we feel the impact of the recession, MediaRadar is monitoring which advertisers shifting ad spend each week. This will give you the most updated view of the ad sales landscape. Here is a full list of advertising changes by category. (Don’t worry, it’s ungated) Here are some key takeaways from advertising shifts that took place during the week of November 21, 2022. Media & Entertainment is a category that is experiencing growth at the end of 2022.
The top 10 quick-service restaurant apps in the U.S. were downloaded 11.4 million times in November, seven percent less than those the month prior. Year-over-year in the month of November, downloads of the top 36 quick-service restaurant apps are up 18.6 percent. A download represents a new user and the first conversion on the mobile app customer’s journey.
Going into this year’s holiday shopping season, we face an uncertain economic climate. Consumer confidence in the US is at its lowest level since the Great Recession, with high inflation curbing holiday shoppers’ spending appetites. How has the retail sector been faring in this climate, particularly during the holidays? Job postings in retail have dropped in September, October and November relative to their levels in the same months last year. The decline came after years of growth during these months – even during the pandemic.
Social media is playing an ever-larger role in consumer shopping habits and marketing strategies. Consumers increasingly seek a more authentic approach to marketing and social media trends that seem spontaneous, viral, and of the minute to resonate with potential shoppers. And while social media trends can help with brand engagement and recognition, they can also impact brick-and-mortar retail performance. Offline engagement, in turn, can promote greater brand awareness and loyalty.
As the battle for consumer spending intensifies in the 2022 holiday season, Bloomberg Second Measure analyzed three major big-box retailers known for their Black Friday events—Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), and Best Buy Co, Inc (NYSE: BBY)—to see how they fared during Black Friday week. Using consumer transaction data, we found that Walmart outperformed its peers in terms of overall year-over-year sales growth in the U.S. Additionally, all three companies saw greater year-over-year growth in their online sales than their retail sales.
Sandalwood China E-Commerce Data shows COVID-related drug sales on JD reached 96.93 million RMB (around 13.91 million USD) in last week of Nov, representing a 465.02% y/y growth compared to 2021. Sales of cold and cough medicine grew 380.18% y/y and reached 60.17 million RMB (around 8.64 million USD), whereas Antipyretic and Analgesia grew 694.82% y/y and reached 36.77 million RMB (around 5.28 million USD).
Awarded in December 2010 to Qatar, this year’s FIFA World Cup is the first to take place in the Middle East, and the first to be supported by commercial 5G networks. Ahead of the event, we outlined the important role of the Qatar Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) and both Ooredoo Qatar and Vodafone Qatar in driving performance gains in the market. A competitive, pro-investment market environment has paid dividends, coupled with firm commitments from both operators to roll out commercial 5G networks in all densely populated areas and all venues associated with the FIFA World Cup.
Brick-and-mortar retail has had a tumultuous few years, from the lockdowns of 2020 to the high gas prices and inflation of 2022. Yet, consumer demand for in-person retail and services has remained strong, with key categories bouncing back after each new challenge. Our latest white paper dives into some of the key trends likely to shape the retail landscape in 2023. We examined foot traffic data, migration trends, and office recovery patterns to better understand what the coming year may have in store.
Our recent look at digitally native brands highlighted the unique experiences that can be found in retail corridors – outdoor and pedestrian-friendly clusters of stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues. But indoor malls also house a number of different retail, dining, and entertainment options in close proximity – and yet foot traffic data indicates that visitors treat these two types of hubs quite differently. Here, we take a closer look at the foot traffic trends and consumer behavior data for nine major retail corridors to understand what separates these hubs from indoor malls.
This Placer Bytes takes a look at three very different companies – Nike, lululemon, and GameStop – to see how they fared over the holidays and what lies ahead. Nike has undergone quite a few shifts in recent years, including its pivot away from wholesale to focus on its own retail ecosystem, including standalone Nike stores, Converse, Hurley, and Nike Factory Store. The company’s investments in owned distribution channels include leaning into experimental and experiential retail with its new Nike Rise, House of Innovation, and small-format Nike Live concepts.
The Earnest First Choice Retailer Rankings are based on the credit and debit card spend of millions of de-identified U.S. consumers from the Orion spend panel. Earnest identifies each shopper’s First Choice Retailer by comparing their spend across 1000 retailers between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. For example, if Shopper A spent $70 at Amazon, $50 at Walmart, and $30 at Target, their First Choice Retailer would be Amazon.
The Dodge Momentum Index (DMI), issued by Dodge Construction Network, increased 3.8% (2000=100) in November to 207.2 from the revised October reading of 199.6. During the month, the DMI continued its steady ascent, with the commercial component rising 4.3%, and the institutional component ticking up 2.7%. Commercial planning experienced a healthy increase in hotel and data center projects and modest growth in stores and office projects. While education and healthcare projects slowed in November, the institutional component remained net-positive alongside a robust increase in planning projects for government administrative buildings and religious facilities.
The rise of tech firms and big data has sparked a shift toward flexible and open source software. In a previous newsletter, we showed which companies have adopted open source software. This week, we take a look at software skill requirements for government jobs. We focus on data related jobs and assess the differences between the government and private sector. While job postings in the private sector are likely to require open source data analysis and visualization software skills, such as SQL, Python, and Tableau, less than 10% of government job postings require these skills.
When we last looked at malls, there was an expectation that declines compared to 2021 in October could actually signal potential strength in November and on Black Friday. Yet, that potential failed to materialize, with Black Friday and the corresponding weekend seeing visit declines compared to a pre-pandemic 2019 and even 2021. But there’s more to the mall story in 2022, and this could have very interesting implications for retail strategies moving forward.
The effects of inflation are omnipresent. The mobile app market isn’t immune to them, and has, in fact, begun to show signs that the economic headwinds facing the business macrocosm are filtering down to the mobile microcosm, affecting publishers and apps of all sizes. Without a clear end in sight, this environment demands that those evaluating opportunities in the mobile ecosystem have a sustainable approach to surface insights around its most resilient aspects.
College towns are bustling once again. After two years during which COVID significantly impacted student routines, most campuses are back to business as usual. And with classes winding down and winter break just around the corner, many students are availing themselves of the various amenities their cities have to offer – both on and off campus.
Tight budgets and a smaller emphasis on extending the holiday shopping season early meant all eyes were on Black Friday 2022 for an indication of what lies ahead for holiday retail. And despite the fact that Black Friday 2021 was limited by rising COVID cases and a concerted effort from retailers to shift focus away from the retail holiday, Black Friday 2022 still fell short for most sectors. Still, the retail holiday continues to attract consumers to brick-and-mortar stores, and comparing Black Friday visits to pre-Thanksgiving foot traffic revealed significant visit spikes almost across the board.
To make economic decisions, we need to understand how people and businesses spend their money. To do this, government and academics have historically had to rely on datasets that are small or significantly delayed. However, with the advent of digital economies, we are seeing a new wave of economic research and statistics based on large-scale anonymised transaction datasets. Such data helps us to understand and react to economic movements in real time, without the recurring risk of significant data revisions.
