With HP and Dell’s earnings releases right around the corner, there are rumblings that Dell is expected to beat estimates. Given this optimistic outlook, we thought it would be worth taking a quick 2-minute look at these companies’ recent hiring patterns using Linkup’s Insights platform, just to see whether we can add evidence to confirm or deny the existing narrative, and if we can provide a better understanding of the future demand both companies can expect.
Though Fish and Chips may be a British staple, fast food popularity in the UK is quite diverse overall. In today’s Insight Flash, we take advantage of our newly launched CE Transact UK Cohort data to analyze where Brits go for a quick bite. We dig into which chains are the most popular in which countries, which pizza chains have seen the highest return behavior, and what cross-shop looks like across burger brands.
In Silicon Valley, Netflix is a rare unicorn that pivoted not once but three times, ultimately allowing it to develop programs tailored to multiple audience interests simultaneously. The company started as a mail order DVD service. When that model ran its course, it switched to streaming movie content online. Then, in 2011, it switched again, moving away from licensing third party content in favor of its own homegrown material. In effect, it became a studio.
Our latest white paper looks at recent mall performance from a location analytics perspective. Consumer behavior trends indicate that shopping behavior is stabilizing, and foot traffic data shows that visits are bouncing back, with some months in 2021 even exceeding 2019 visit levels. The Mall Deep Dive – 2021 Yearly Review white paper looks at top tier indoor malls, outlet malls, and open-air shopping centers to evaluate nationwide and regional foot traffic trends, analyze the correlation between online searches and mall visits
There are a host of elements that impact luxury hotel performance. The segment relies on a healthy mix of leisure and corporate travel—spendy families paying top-dollar room rates and the C-suite on healthy per diems. Above all, the luxury hotel segment relies on stability, something not indulged over the past two years. It’s been a protracted pandemic to be sure, and just as the world appeared to be rounding the corner on the Delta variant, along came Omicron—a rowdy interloper arriving to a party all hoped was winding down. And though the intrusion was noisy at first, Omicron could potentially be more insipid than insidious.
After launching in July 2020, Comcast's Peacock TV has been installed on 50 million mobile devices and generated $45 million via in-app purchases. All of this is in the United States, the only market where the app is available for use. The one-two punch of the Super Bowl and the Olympics has enabled the app to reach a new record for daily downloads (339.4k on 2/16/22) and IAP revenue ($335.3k on 2/16/22). NBC had streaming rights to both highly anticipated sporting events.
Off-price foot traffic has been outperforming the apparel average for all through 2021, and recent data shows that visits across the sector are still strong. To better understand the sector, we analyzed overall visit performance and consumer behavior patterns for T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, Burlington, and Ross Dress for Less to see how these off-price leaders capped off 2021 and to understand what lies ahead for the sector in 2022.
First…an update after the big game: Kinsa’s data isn’t showing any significant signs of increased illness activity in California where spectators gathered to watch in person. Note, attendees over 5 years old were required to show proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test within 48 hours (or negative antigen (rapid) test within 24 hours) of the game. In addition to fans flooding LA to spectate, people around the country also gathered to watch the game at home, so we’ll continue to keep an eye on illness levels over the next week to see what happens with activity across the country following this event.
The nation’s overall mortgage delinquency rates have improved significantly over the last year, according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report. Data shows the serious delinquency rate for November 2021 declined 1.9 percentage points from 12 months prior to 2%. When compared to the peak serious delinquency rate for mortgages in August 2020, the rate last November was down 2.3 percentage points. Declines in local unemployment rates, a rapid rise in home prices and demand for housing have helped reduce the overall delinquency rate. Loan product mixes also contribute to the national delinquency rate, and this blog explores mortgage default trends by loan type.
Health and fitness apps have a predictable spike in downloads, revenue and usage every late December through January. For regular category leaders, like Calm, MyFitnessPal and Planet Fitness, rank may increase nominally with the seasonal intention-setting. The real story is of who shows up for the first time – especially if they sustain Top Chart status into mid-February.
U.S. weekly hotel performance continued to rev up with the largest week-over-week increase in occupancy this year. A level of 54.6% for 6-12 February 2022 was 4.2 percentage points better than the week prior, and in absolute terms, occupancy was highest since the second week of December. All day parts saw growth with the largest occupancy gain over the weekend (Friday and Saturday), up 6.6 percentage points to 64.1%. Of the 166 STR-defined markets, 91% reported week-over-week gains in weekend occupancy.
Like the malls they anchor, department stores were being eulogized long before the COVID pandemic hit American retail. But whereas many malls bounced back already in the summer of 2021, many department store brands continued to struggle to return to pre-pandemic foot traffic levels. Now, with two years of pandemic life behind us, we dove into foot traffic to leading high-end and mid-range department store chains to understand how the “new normal” looks for this critical retail sector.
One of the lessons from the global pandemic was never to miss an opportunity in adversity as many suppliers around the world will tell you! The airline industry as we all know suffered more than most as borders were closed, travel restrictions applied and consumer confidence evaporated in the face of rapidly increasing infection rates in nearly every country.
For the first month of 2022, active job listings in the U.S. were, for the most part in a somewhat steady holding pattern, up just 0.3% over December. When we drill down to the occupation level we see some hidden booms (hello, Food Service and Computer and Mathematical occupations) and slides (we see you Healthcare, Transportation and Supply Chain). But overall things remained on a relatively even keel in January.
On Valentine’s Day, love is in the air but does it drive people to install dating apps? Looking at monthly data, dating app downloads in the U.S. actually tend to drop in February from January and rise up again in March. In-app purchase revenue follows the exact same pattern. 2020 was an exception, with March continuing the downtrend due to the onset of the pandemic. But what about on the holiday itself and/or leading up to it? There is a slight uptick, again with the exception of 2020, leading into Valentine's Day.
When many Americans sheltered in their homes early in the coronavirus pandemic, meal delivery sales reached new heights. Our data reveals that in January 2022, sales for meal delivery services grew 7 percent year-over-year, collectively. The ongoing pandemic may also be driving more Americans to make their first meal delivery purchase. In January 2022, 51 percent of U.S. consumers had ever ordered from one of the meal delivery services in our analysis, up from 46 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 year-end dips in 2020 and 2021, sales have been gradually recovering since April 2020. Our consumer spending data shows that Uber sales were up 84 percent year-over-year and Lyft sales were up 62 percent year-over-year in January 2022.
Last week we looked into a day in the life of a Chief Data Officer, and noted that CDAOs seem to be commonly recruited straight out of academia. The week before that, it was the former academics that founded successful unicorns. This week we will shift our focus to understanding talent flows in and out of Higher Ed institutions. Existing economic literature shows that, in the context of teaching careers, outside options matter greatly as higher quality teachers enter the workforce during recessions.
The home furnishing sector got a boost in 2020 as the excessive amounts of time spent indoors pushed people to upgrade their living space. Since then, the country has opened back up, but home furnishing foot traffic is still booming. To better understand this category, we dove into foot traffic patterns for Tuesday Morning, At Home, HomeGoods, and Floor & Decor to see how these visit leaders performed in 2021 and find out where the sector is headed in 2022.
Total construction starts increased 4% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $923.4 billion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Nonresidential building starts increased 4%, and nonbuilding starts rose 18%. Residential starts fell 1%. Compared to one year ago, total construction was 8% higher in January 2022 than in January 2021. Nonresidential building starts were up 14%, nonbuilding starts rose 12% and residential starts gained 2%. For the 12 months ending January 2022, total construction starts were 13% above the 12 months ending January 2021.
