Digitally native brands (DNBs) – or brands that first launch online – take a unique approach to omnichannel business. More than simply drumming up in-store sales, a DNB’s physical presence connects brand and consumers in a way that benefits both offline and online traffic. These stores are well-known for being experiential in nature, and given this past year’s shift in consumer demand from physical goods to experiences, DNBs have the potential to bridge the gap and capitalize during the holiday retail season.
Ookla® has exciting, fresh data from Q3 2022 for SpaceX’s Starlink, HughesNet, and Viasat in North and South America, as well as new Starlink markets we haven’t yet featured in our ongoing series on satellite internet. With accelerating competition on the horizon for 2023, we’ve been eager to see how Starlink continues to perform, especially as building new fiber connections continues to be costly around the world.
After soaring to new heights in 2020 amid a surge in consumer demand for entertainment and escapism, the mobile gaming space was hit by platform privacy changes and an overall decrease in engagement as real-world experiences became viable once more. Nevertheless, the category still represents an impressive 61% of all consumer spending in apps, a figure that would be even larger if accounting for in-app ad revenue.
Business Insider declared Portugal the new California recently, with many people moving there to work remotely at their jobs elsewhere. But Portugal is not the only country opening their borders for “digital nomads”. Many countries are now offering digital nomad visas or investing in initiatives that make them more attractive to international migration.
The past few years have been good to the discount and dollar sector. The segment saw heightened visits and store fleet growth in a period marked by a global pandemic and economic uncertainty. Now, we dive into the performance of four major discount chains – Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar (owned by Dollar Tree), and Five Below – to see how the upcoming holiday season might affect visits.
Over the past few years, Ulta has established itself as one of the nation’s leading retailers. Despite the significant challenges facing discretionary retailers in the wake of COVID and ongoing inflation, the beauty chain continues to experience remarkable growth, with second-quarter net sales increasing 16.8% percent compared to last year. In May, the company launched its own retail media network – utilizing its diverse and expanding customer base to offer partners targeted advertising opportunities, both on and off its website.
Consumer spend growth measured by the Vela credit and debit card data in Earnest Analytics Spend Index (EASI) decelerated to 5% YoY in the first 16 days of the holiday shopping season (starting Nov. 1). This was notably slower than early holiday 2020 and 2021 shopping season levels at 11% YoY and 19% YoY, respectively, and slightly lower than 2019’s 7% YoY growth rate.
With holiday shopping in full swing, several retailers—including department stores like Kohl’s and big-box stores like Target—are reportedly bracing for deep discounts in response to excess inventory and value-conscious consumers. At the same time, off-price retailers are reportedly benefitting from the inventory challenges faced by their suppliers, and have been able to negotiate lower buying prices and further diversify the brands in their merchandise.
The holiday season is an important time not just for retailers but for coffee chains as well, as these brands get a boost in foot traffic from thirsty consumers going about their holiday shopping. As Black Friday draws nearer – and with the official kickoff of holiday shopping – we dove into the foot traffic data for department stores and Starbucks to take a closer look at the status of holiday retail thus far.
Low-income consumers are moving their wallets to dollar stores according to Earnest Analytics’ credit and debit card data in the face of high inflation. Spending by households making under $55k per year at national dollar store chains like Big Lots (BIG), Dollar General (DG), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Five Below (FIVE), and Olli’s Bargain Outlet (OLLI) materially outgrew spending across other major categories since April. Hobbies & Toys, Health & Beauty, Supermarkets, Home Furnishings, Household Goods, and Home Improvement.
With COVID concerns fading, many consumers are now ready to enjoy life’s simpler pleasures, from decorating their lawns for Halloween to going to the movies. So while inflation continues to dominate many of the retail headlines, diving into foot traffic trends in key discretionary categories provides plenty of reasons for optimism as 2022’s holiday season picks up steam.
Our latest white paper takes a closer look at the growing trend of retailers adding small-format stores to their fleets. We dove into the foot traffic data of four leading chains to see how retailers can use small-format stores to increase visit density, cater to niche audiences, and foster brand loyalty. Below is a taste of our findings.
Sandalwood China E-Commerce Data shows the cumulative sales volume of China online cellphone sales reached 76.49 million from January to October 2022, a 3% y/y decline compared to 2021. E-commerce channel has taken 1/3 of the overall market sales. Compared to the 12% y/y decline of the whole cellphone market (online+offline), e-commerce channel remains resilient. Taking a closer look at the growth factor of cellphone sales around Double 11. Sales volume of the whole sector during pre-sales (Oct 20 – 30) was 1.6 times regular period (Oct 1-19) while that during Double 11 (Oct 31 – Nov 11) reached 3.7 - exceeded expectations of many.
Total construction starts rose 8% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.12 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network. In October, nonresidential building starts gained 9%, and nonbuilding starts rose 26%; however, residential starts fell by 3%. Year-to-date, total construction was 16% higher in the first ten months of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021. Nonresidential building starts rose 37% over the year, residential starts remained flat, and nonbuilding starts were up 17%.
Pandemic-driven shifts away from retail shopping during the 2020 holiday season raised the question of whether sales events such as Black Friday would draw shoppers back to stores in 2021. Looking at in-store consumer trends for major department store companies—Macy’s Inc (NYSE: M), Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), Dillard’s (NYSE: DDS), J.C. Penney, and Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN)—during Black Friday week over the past three years, only Dillard’s retail sales during Black Friday week in 2021 reached pre-COVID levels. Among the public department store companies in this peer group, Kohl’s also saw the highest share of its fiscal quarter sales occur during Black Friday week.
We dove into the foot traffic data to the off-price apparel sector and took a closer look at two leading sports retailers, Hibbett Sports and Dick’s Sporting Goods to see what visits can tell us about the upcoming holiday season. There are four chains that dominate the off-price apparel category – T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, which are owned by the same parent company, Ross Dress For Less, and Burlington. These retailers performed remarkably well during the pandemic, consistently outperforming the overall apparel sector – a trend that has persisted in recent months.
The top 10 quick-service restaurant apps in the U.S. were downloaded 12.3 million times in October, 23 percent more than those the month prior. Year-over-year in the month of September, downloads of the top 36 quick-service restaurant apps are up 27.5 percent. A download represents a new user and the first conversion on the mobile app customer’s journey.
The bipartisan _Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act_ that went into effect earlier this year allocates $2 billion to improving cybersecurity in critical infrastructure and modernizing systems and software at federal, state, and local government agencies. While this funding has generated more demand for cybersecurity roles in the public sector, the attrition rate of government cybersecurity jobs has also been increasing significantly since 2021.
Wholesale clubs, which experienced significant foot traffic gains in 2021, continued to outperform pre-pandemic visits for much of 2022. And with inflation still impacting budgets going into the holiday season, consumers are as meticulous about choosing where they shop as they are about finding the perfect gift. We dove into the data for the three leaders in the space – Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s Wholesale Club – to take a closer look at the foot traffic trends driving visits as we approach the biggest retail months of the year.
An overall slowdown in fast fashion growth is catching up to Shein. The ecommerce retailer experienced five consecutive months of US slowing sales according to credit and debit card data. Shein maintains its market dominance, with 30% share in October, as rival fast fashion retailers H&M and Zara experienced in-line sales declines. The sales slowdown is a huge reversal for a company that grew double digits in the first five months of 2022. Before that, Shein unseated H&M and Zara during the pandemic to become the largest US fast fashion retailer by sales.
