Amazon is in talks with theater chain Regal Cinemas and airport retailer Cibo Express Gourmet Markets about installing its cashierless systems at their locations, according to a report citing unnamed sources. Read more…
Category: Retail
Walmart introduced its first branded hashtag challenge on TikTok, the social video app with more than 500 million users worldwide. Read more…
Kraft Heinz this month introduced mobile-activated packaging for Kraft Singles cheese sold at Walmart. Read more…
Generation Z is more concerned with its mental and physical health than millennials or Generation X, a heightened anxiety that influences the way young adults shop, per a survey by consulting firm A.T. Kearney. Read more…
Hashtag challenges are one way to boost awareness with the app’s younger audience ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Read more…
Sportswear brand Puma opened its first North American flagship store in New York with interactive displays that activate augmented reality (AR) experiences. Read more…
Walmart partnered with BuzzFeed on shoppable recipes that let customers buy ingredients seen in the digital publisher’s Tasty cooking videos. Read more…
Teen retailer Hollister and video game giant Activision Blizzard on June 21 will host in-store events to celebrate the release of “Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled,” a game featuring characters from the popular “Crash Bandicoot” series. Read more…
Waze is shifting focus to what it calls “destination-based marketing” from location-based ads to highlight how its social navigation app helps mobile marketers reach on-the-go consumers. Read more…
Further Reading
Retailers and restaurants can use all the marketing help that Waze and Google Maps can offer, considering the prevailing trends toward e-commerce — especially the massive growth in mobile shopping. U.S. retail m-commerce sales are forecast to surge 30% to $269 billion this year (and by another 26% to $338 billion in 2020) from $207 billion in 2018, researcher eMarketer estimated this week. Amazon will benefit the most from that growth, given the popularity of its shopping app and mobile website. The skyrocketing growth in m-commerce will be about seven times bigger than the predicted 4.4% gain in total U.S. retail sales to $3.8 trillion this year, per the National Retail Federation. But at least a healthy economy and rising wages are giving consumers more confidence to shop.
The shift to e-commerce will continue to disrupt the retail industry, although it’s too early to tell how those trends will affect Waze and Google Maps. As online sales including m-commerce grow to 25% of total U.S. retail sales by 2026 from 16% today, 75,000 store locations need to close, UBS retail analysts Jay Sole and Michael Lasser estimated this week. That figure doesn’t include restaurants, although the diminished number of retail locations and growth of time-saving food delivery services will lead to fewer occasions to eat out. The number of meals bought from restaurants has fallen 14% from the most recent peak in 1998 — when the average American ate out 286 times a year — to 245 times last year, per researcher NPD. Fortunately for the industry, meals delivered from restaurants and eaten at home rose 6% last year, NPD found.
The growth in e-commerce revenue from 16% of total U.S. retail sales currently to 25% by 2026 will lead to the closure of 83,020 stores, including 7,310 grocery stores, Michael Lasser and Jay Sole, analysts at UBS, estimated in an April 9 report to investors. The report was an update from a report last year that predicted 30,000 to 80,000 stores would have to close by 2025.
Additional Reading
UBS Report Sees Potential for More Waves of Store Closings (EMarketer)
75,000 more stores need to close across the US, UBS estimates, as online sales and Amazon grow (CNBC)