Pre-pandemic, there was a fairly widespread sentiment against the continued value of the department store. And with news around store closings and bankruptcy proceedings dominating headlines in the last year and a half, it’s clear that the pandemic hasn’t done the sector any favors. Yet, the tide does appear to be turning with key trends working in the sector’s favor ahead of the holiday season.
The latest release of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index indicated that home price growth remained strong in August, clocking in a 19.8% annual growth, same as the month prior. Nevertheless, after 10 months of double-digit annual home price growth nationally, home price acceleration is showing signs of reprieve. In addition to the national growth rate stalling, the 10-city annual growth slowed from 19.2% to 18.6%, and the 20-city annual rate was down from 20% to 19.7% in August, non-seasonally adjusted.
Revenue grew nearly 6% across Amazon categories reaching $85.4 billion in the third quarter (July – September). To determine the top Amazon brands and the consumer behavior driving their growth, our industry managers used data from Shopper Intelligence, our eCommerce solution, to analyze the fastest-growing brands based on quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) revenue growth in top Amazon categories. Read on to see which brands and related products are capturing consumer attention, and leave with some learnings for your holiday season strategy.
Dutch Bros Coffee, the Oregon-based coffee chain popular on the West Coast, recently made its debut on the NYSE under the ticker BROS. In the two years leading up to its IPO, Dutch Bros launched market expansion plans aimed at reaching consumers in new states. An analysis of consumer transaction data found that Dutch Bros Coffee’s overall sales have more than doubled over the past two years, driven by significant growth in states where it already had a strong presence, as well as increasing sales in states, such as Texas, in which the company recently opened newer locations.
As visits across the wider retail landscape ebb and flow with success finding peaks and valleys, Walmart and Target stand out for their ability to thrive almost regardless of the wider context. And after hitting heights in the summer, both brands appear headed for another strong holiday season. Target’s visit jumps have continued nearly unabated throughout the year, with the summer months marking new heights as visits in July and August rose 15.8% and 15.9% compared to the same months in 2019.
As people return to the in-person experience of restaurant dining, you might expect mobile ordering to have tapered off. But food delivery apps like GrubHub, UberEats and DoorDash haven’t seen a slowdown in orders—even as they continue to make headlines for the wrong reasons. “Food delivery app usage has not slowed down, even as consumers return to in-person dining more frequently,” Alisha Kapur of Similarweb told Reuters.
The CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights report features an interactive view of our mortgage performance analysis through August 2021. Measuring early-stage delinquency rates is important for analyzing the health of the mortgage market. To more comprehensively monitor mortgage performance, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency as well as transition rates that indicate the percent of mortgages moving from one stage of delinquency to the next.
In August 2021, 4% of home mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure) , which was a 2.6-percentage point decrease from August 2020 according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report . However, overall delinquencies were still above the early 2020 pre-pandemic rate of 3.6%. The share of mortgages that were 30 to 59 days past due — considered early-stage delinquencies — was 1.1% in August 2021, down from 1.5% in August 2020.
Visits to The Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and Tractor Supply soared in 2020. Now, with 2021 almost behind us, we dove into one of the pandemic’s biggest retail winners to uncover the long-term impact of the 2020 home improvement craze. The Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, and Tractor Supply are holding on to their 2020 visit gains, with August visits to Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Tractor Supply exceeding August 2019 visits by 11.3%, 13.2%, and 44.0%, respectively.
After more than 200 days the world’s most lucrative international market reopens, with full access for travellers flying between the United States and its major trading partners in Europe finally open. It may be symbolic of the industry in recovery and indeed many airline CEO’s are today flying in one direction or the other seeking valuable soundbites in this week’s press. More importantly, in November and December 2019, revenues of some US$2.8 billion were generated and every airline will be hoping that the pent-up demand generates that type of cash straight away. If only...
The ride hailing app 99 – Private Driver and Taxi, which shares the same Chinese parent company, Beijing Xiaoju Technology, as DiDi - Rider, has surpassed 100 million downloads globally. It was launched in July 2012 on Google Play and in August 2012 on iOS and surpassed its first major milestone of 50 million cumulative downloads in June 2019. It was particularly impressive that 99 Taxis reached the 100 million global download milestone in under 2.5 years since then.
Notable Hit 1: (PLNT:NYSE) On Thursday November 5 , 2021 Planet Fitness (PLNT) posted better-than-expected revenues of $154.26mm beating the consensus estimate of $135.09 (-14.2%) and in the same direction as Advan's forecasted sales. The revenue was +46.4% YoY - Advan's foot traffic data captured an increase in employee foot traffic of +58.7% YoY at its fitness clubs for Q3 2021. As a result of beating the sales and EPS, the stock opened at $91.27, up +15.5% from its previous day's closing price.
U.S. hotel performance for 24-30 October was neither a trick or treat as occupancy dropped to a 25-week low of 58.9% after coming in at 63.9% in the prior week. The decrease was anticipated due to Halloween, which always negatively impacts demand. The decline was most pronounced on the weekend, given that the holiday was on Sunday. Weekend occupancy tumbled down by 10 percentage points week on week versus three percentage points during the remaining days.
There was speculation this past summer that, come Labor Day, workers would begin their return back to the office. Fast forward some months, with the Delta variant spreading and the Great Resignation testing the market, the nature of remote work remains top-of-mind: are employees returning back to the office, or will remote work be a sustained new reality in a post-pandemic workforce? We have refreshed our May analysis on measuring workers’ return to the office via consumer foot traffic to dense urban Starbucks locations near large office buildings.*
The Dodge Momentum Index increased 10% in October to 181.2 (2000=100), from the revised September reading of 164.6. The Momentum Index, issued by Dodge Construction Network, is a monthly measure of the initial report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. In October, commercial planning rose 14% and institutional gained 3%. The value of nonresidential building projects entering planning has staged a solid recovery this fall.
Heading into the holiday season, technology purchases from companies like AAPL, 005930-KS, DELL, and HPQ are likely to be hot items on many gift lists. In today’s Insight Flash, we use our CE Receipt data to examine these companies’ online direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales to see which ones are doing a better job of selling more premium products, which ones are getting better attachment rates, and which ones have typically seen a larger percentage of sales during the holiday period.
Workers at Deere & Co. (DE), the world’s top agriculture equipment manufacturer, walked out of its factories to demand better pay and health benefits, a move that had not be seen in over 30 years, and while the company is on track for its most successful year ever. The strike started on Oct. 14 with about 10,000 employees or about 15% of Deere’s workforce (according to Bloomberg), refusing to work in an effort to change their contracts.
Warby Parker (NYSE: WRBY) isn’t disappointing Wall Street so far. After going public via a direct listing, WRBY surged 36% on its Sept. 29 NYSE debut to close at $54.90. Investors are now left wondering: What’s ahead for the New York City-based eyewear retailer?
The Gen Z and millennial favorite has successfully sustained its strength. But is that enough to maintain outsized growth and sales amidst improving competition from legacy retailers?
Last year’s Halloween was essentially cancelled by COVID as the United States entered its third COVID wave. This year, the holiday overlapped with the waning of the fourth wave, so we looked into the foot traffic data to find out – did 2020’s pent-up demand lead to a spike in halloween-related retail visits? Although all three brands analyzed still had year-over-two-year visit deficits in September, Party City managed to close the gap in October to exhibit a 5.0% increase in visits compared to 2019.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the automotive (OEM) category pulled the emergency brake and endured a long, uphill battle against supply chain shortages, operational hurdles, and disruptions to long-term development strategies. By April 2020, car sales in the U.S. plummeted by 47%. As we turn the corner to a new year, many of these consequences have since resolved themselves but have left permanent scars on the automotive industry.
