With an estimated market size of 24 billion USD according to Forbes, the human resources technology market is bursting with opportunity. AI-based algorithms, together with increases in cloud computing have enabled major innovations for crucial HR functions, such as staffing, recruitment, applicant tracking, freelance hiring, and employee management more generally. We have looked at 50 of some of the biggest and fastest growing companies in this space. Below are the 5 fastest growing companies:
Bath & Body Works, Best Buy, and Dick’s Sporting Goods may operate in radically different retail categories, but these chains do have one thing in common – all three brands survived the pandemic with flying colors. We dove into the foot traffic trends to better understand where these category leaders are positioned going into 2022. Bath & Body Works made headlines over the summer when its parent company took the Bath & Body Works name and spun off Victoria’s Secret into an independent company.
Most people love a good comeback story—and when it comes to business, the most recent example of this is WeWork. WeWork went from a failed IPO worth almost nothing to a public company (via a merger with a SPAC) worth $9 billion in just two years. This would be a huge accomplishment for any company, but it’s even more significant when you consider how it came back during a pandemic.
‘Tis the time to give thanks in the USA and it appears sunny destinations both domestic and international are set to record growth on pre-pandemic US visitor numbers for the traditional exchange of turkey and well wishes. Travel analytics company ForwardKeys reveal the latest air ticketing data and trends placing Florida and El Salvador high on the travel agenda this Thanksgiving.
Total construction starts pushed 16% higher in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.01 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Nonresidential building starts gained 29% and nonbuilding moved 52% higher in October, while residential starts lost 8%. The month’s large gains resulted from the start of three large projects: two massive manufacturing plants and an LNG export facility. Without these projects, total construction starts would have fallen 6% in October.
The new construction pipeline, despite the various supply and labor challenges present in the market, has continued to deliver units this year to an extent greater than in recent years. Through October, more than 300,000 conventional new units have been delivered, up from just over 260,000 new units in the same portion of both 2019 and 2020. While the preexisting upward trajectory in average construction time has continued and intensified, the average lease-up duration has declined for the first time in more than four years.
The US borders finally opened on November 8. Did that result in a material influx of tourists that will help increase hotel and retail traffic? Not yet... Let's review 5 airports that showcase both domestic and international travel: LAX and ORD (Chicago O'Hare) that capture international visitors from the Asia-Pacific region, and JFK and EWR (Newark) that capture traffic from Europe; plus LGA (LaGuardia) which has mostly domestic traffic for comparison.
When many Americans sheltered in their homes early in the coronavirus pandemic, meal delivery sales reached new heights. Our data reveals that in October 2021, sales for meal delivery services grew 15 percent year-over-year, collectively. The ongoing pandemic may also be driving more Americans to make their first meal delivery purchase. In October 2021, 50 percent of U.S. consumers had ever ordered from one of the services in our analysis, up from 44 percent a year ago.
When U.S. cities and states faced shelter-in-place orders to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Americans’ reduced mobility resulted in plummeting sales at rideshare companies. With the exception of a late 2020 dip, sales have been gradually recovering since April 2020. Uber sales were up 103 percent year-over-year and Lyft sales were up 87 percent year-over-year in October 2021.
After spending the last several weeks celebrating the strong ending of the Fall 2021 leasing season, it’s time to look toward Fall 2022. The first reading of the Fall 2022 pre-leasing registered in line with the year-ago rate. As of October, 5.2% of beds at the core 175 universities tracked by RealPage had been leased for the Fall 2022 academic year. That rate exactly matches Fall 2021’s October reading and only slightly undercuts the 7.4% reading seen in October for Fall 2020.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into the latest from AMC Theatres and GameStop and break down the latest Mall Index update. Though the hype surrounding AMC Theatres and GameStop was more Reddit-driven, public market intrigue and had less to do with actual performance, the two brands had indeed been recovering in terms of visits. And while a steady recovery is worth celebrating in this unique market environment, the latest data shows just how significant those returns have been.
U.S. single-family rent growth increased 10.2% in September 2021, the fastest year-over-year increase in over 16 years, according to the CoreLogic Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI). The index measures rent changes among single-family rental homes, including condominiums, using a repeat-rent analysis to measure the same rental properties over time. The September 2021 increase was nearly four times the September 2020 increase, and while the index growth slowed last summer, rent growth is running well above pre-pandemic levels when compared with 2019.
The hotel industry rebounded slightly after two weeks of declines, gaining nearly a percentage point in occupancy during the week ending 6 November. The uptick was expected given that history shows a similar pattern after a Halloween Sunday. Of course, due to Halloween, Sunday demand was down significantly with decreases also seen on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Week over week, average daily rate (ADR) was nearly flat (+0.2%) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 1.8%.
In what many considered as a very bold move at the height of COVID-19 in 2020, Haidilao expanded massively — reaching a total of 1597 stores by June 2021. Unfortunately this delivered a disappointing blow to Haidilao’s bottomline. Stock price dropped continually at a staggering 74% from its peak on Feb 17 to Nov 8 this year. As an attempt to stop the bleeding, Haidilao announced shut down of 300+ stores by Dec 31, 2021. Sandalwood weekly sales data saw this coming, because data consistently showed weakness throughout 2Q21.
After suffering steep decline in 2020, apartment occupancy across the major Northeast markets recovered well and is now back to topping U.S. norms. While the U.S. apartment market saw occupancy decline in 2020 during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the major markets across the Northeast suffered a much steeper drop. This was significant because these markets typically enjoy a headline position for occupancy rates, given their urban appeal, job market and the fact that there’s just not enough product to house the population growth in these popular areas.
Visits to popular burger fast-food chains such as Portillo’s, In-N-Out, Shake Shack, and White Castle have been particularly strong over the past couple of months. We dove into the data to better understand foot traffic patterns to these cult favorites. Many of the burger brands analyzed are relatively regionally focuses – Portillo’s has a high concentration of Chicago locations, In-N-Out is strong in California, Shake Shack is particularly popular in the tri-state area, and White Castle has a loyal Midwestern and Northeastern following.
Just as we started to get comfy, the ever-changing 14-day average of daily COVID-19 cases flipped from negative to positive this week. Cases are increasing in 25 states, and the overall case numbers are hovering around 74,000 cases per day. The magnitude of this wave will depend on vaccination rates as well as the number of previous infections. Some areas that were spared earlier in the Delta surge are now being hit harder.
Glossier—the DTC beauty company that recently raised $80 million in Series E funding—has historically held one major sale each year, coinciding with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Consumer transaction data reveals that Glossier’s sales the week of Black Friday are continuing to grow year-over-year. At the same time, a comparative analysis of other major beauty retailers found that Sephora’s sales events correspond with a sharper increase in monthly sales per customer compared to sales events at Glossier and Ulta Beauty.
Global commercial real estate price growth accelerated in the third quarter of 2021, with the Asia Pacific region leading price gains, the latest _RCA CPPI Global Cities_ report shows. The RCA CPPI Global Cities Composite Index climbed 7.3% in the third quarter from a year ago, up from the 6.1% year-over-year pace seen the prior quarter and the 2.5% rate seen in the third quarter of 2020 amid the pandemic’s challenges.
It’s common understanding that the pandemic made years of expected eCommerce growth take place in just a matter of weeks. As consumers stayed home, delivery services for every product ranging from staple groceries to office supplies became the norm. Now that 2022 is almost here, we see that there simply is no going back to “normal” shopping patterns. People are accustomed to ordering their retail items online and want them delivered quickly, cheaply and sustainably.
