Despite the continued growth of e-commerce, there’s a surge in brands opening up physical stores.
RETAIL
BNPL (buy now, pay later) has now become an expected payment option at both large and small retailers – and also for online stores. Pioneered by startups like Klarna and Afterpay, now major retailers including Target are offering this service.
- Credit card heavy weight Mastercard has seen the writing on the wall. This month it announced the rollout of its own BNPL service.
- With interest rates seemingly fixed at zero percent, and traditional credit cards charging upwards of 36% annual interest on credit card balances, there was lots of room for new services to enter the market.
Windsor (USA), which specializes in special ocassion dresses for young women, will open 28 more stores before year end, with 35 more stores planned for 2022. Currently it operates about 266 stores.
- The retailer offers more than 200 new styles in-store and online every week, ranging from casualwear to prom dresses.
Vuori (USA), a premium activewear DTC brand, has landed $400 million in funding that it will use for expansion through Europe and Asia Pacific in 2022, as well as adding more brick-and-mortar in the US.
The company plans on opening 100 new stores over the next five years.
PODCAST
How Successful Startups Growth Hack Their Business
In this episode of A Seat at The Table, MarTec expert Dan McGaw talks about:
- Why ‘traction’ can be more important initially than sales or profits.
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FINANCE
- The company expects 2022 earnings to rise by 3% to hit another record high of $1.54 billion.
- Growth is forecast to be driven by strong demand from Greater China and Asia Pacific.
“We will be opening new stores globally faster than ever before.” – Tadashi Yanai, CEO, Fast RetailingGymshark (UK) could be valued at least £1 billion as the DTC sportswear brand eyes a London stock market debut. However, investor fears that the shine could be wearing off DTC companies that were pandemic winners put these plans on hold. Lulu’s (USA), a DTC brand aimed at GenZ shoppers, has filed for an IPO. The retailer reported a profit of $3.3 million for the quarter ended Oct. 3, an improvement of full year net losses of $469,000 in 2019 and $19.3 million in 2020. French Connection (UK) saw losses narrow in the first half of this year, with the fashion chain buoyed by continued improvement in its wholesale business.
- Wholesale revenue during the first half of the year rose 108.7% on 2020 and 5.9% on 2019 at £28.8million.
- The wholesale unit saw a profit of £4.5million, while its retail business reported a £2.5million loss.
MARKETS
US retail sales rose an unexpected 0.7% in September, despite a resurgence of Covid-19 that dented expenditure on services. Analysts had forecast a 0.2% decline.
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