It's been another week with far more retail news than there is time in the day. Below, we break down some things you may have missed during the week and what we're still thinking about.
From Tiffany collaborating with Pharrell Williams to heart-shaped chicken nuggets, here's our closeout for the week.
What you may have missed
Mattel wins the rights to Disney's Princess and Frozen franchises
Mattel won the rights to Disney's Princess and Frozen franchises away from Hasbro, giving it the right to develop toy lines, including dolls and figurines, for the entertainment giant. Mattel said its Disney collection would hit retailers' shelves in early 2023. Hasbro hung on to the licensing rights to Lucasfilm's Star Wars, also owned by Disney, and picked up the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise.
Tiffany and Pharrell "are engaged"
Since Alexandre Arnault took over Tiffany & Co.'s product and communications after its acquisition by LVMH, the fabled jeweler has turned boldly to some of the biggest names in American music to restore its shine. Last summer the company announced a high profile partnership with Beyoncé and Jay-Z. This week, its communications about a collaboration with musician and producer Pharrell Williams have been more coy, though the relationship seems serious.
Arnault teased the tie-up on Instagram, tagging a picture of the diamond-encrusted sunglasses Williams was seen wearing at the fashion shows in Paris on Sunday with minimal words, plus sunglasses and diamond ring emojis: "@pharrell and @tiffanyandco are engaged."
Williams echoed that in comments to Women's Wear Daily. "Tiffany and I are engaged," he told WWD, adding the shades were the "first of many things that I'm gonna do with Tiffany."
Stitch Fix holds its first sale ever
Stitch Fix has been in business for more than a decade, but until now hasn't entertained markdowns. In its 10 years-plus of existence and five years as a public company, Stitch Fix has granted discounts via coupons that encourage referrals or sales, and carried affordable options to fit within its customers' budgets. But its value lies elsewhere, executives have often said during earnings calls.
"[I]t's fit, it's discovery, it's convenience that has historically characterized the real value proposition of Stitch Fix and that eye towards personalization versus promotions," CEO Elizabeth Spaulding reminded analysts during the company's Q4 conference call last year.
But this week, the impossible happened. Stitch Fix customers received an email touting the e-retailer's "first sale EVER," with markdowns of up to 70%.
Why now, after so long, especially since consumers appear to be tolerating fewer markdowns and higher prices, even at the holidays? It could be that discounts are just an inevitable part of running a traditional e-commerce site, which Stitch Fix is now doing, in addition to its apparel box sales, in pursuit of growth. Or it could be part of an effort to correct inventory flaws flagged by stylists. Or perhaps a merchandising revamp following the departure of Chief Product Officer Sharon Chiarella.
Whatever the reason, the sale is small, and may not last long and or be repeated, ever. It's part of a test, offering discounts of 30% to 70% on a small amount of inventory, to see if such discounts are something that Stitch Fix customers want, a spokesperson said by email. The company's algorithms are still involved, as the items that surface are personalized to each customer's preferences for fit, size, style and price, the spokesperson said.
Daily Harvest to open first brick-and-mortar store
Daily Harvest — the brand known for ready-to-eat smoothies, bowls and soups — will open its first physical store next week in Chicago. Consumers will be able to taste food and meet with a "Taste Guide" to discuss its products, according to details emailed to Retail Dive.
Daily Harvest this week launched on-demand delivery through DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub, Seamless and Postmates for consumers in New York City, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles. The brand plans to expand the service soon.
Courteney Cox introduces home brand, Homecourt
Courteney Cox, known for her role as Monica Geller on "Friends," has launched her own brand, which touts itself as being "fine fragrance-infused, skincare-inspired, and sustainably designed beauty products for the home."
The brand, dubbed Homecourt, launched with three products: dish soap, hand wash and surface cleaner. The products come in scents like neroli leaf and cipres mint.
"Homecourt is the culmination of my lifelong passion for architecture and interior design, as well as my obsession with home organization, scent and cleanliness. A clean, gorgeously scented room brings me serenity. I launched Homecourt because I wanted household and cleaning products that smell as special as the scents I wear, and looked beautiful enough to keep on my counters," Cox said in a statement.
Retail Therapy
We all scream during January: Does ice cream for breakfast help?
January is painful. Eat some ice cream.
Courtesy of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams
January is objectively one of the worst months of the year, what with the existential dread of a new year starting and the more recent fear that we will never return to going out in public fearlessly. Luckily, Jeni's also knows that.
"Even in the Before Times, this could be a challenging time of year," Jeni's said in a release announcing a new pancake-flavored ice cream. "The post-holiday, Jan-Feb malaise. It's cold, it's gray. It's dark when you leave in the morning, it's dark when you get home in the evening. It's less than a month into the new year and your home workout equipment already has an impressive layer of dust."
The ice cream brand's new flavor gives everyone an excuse to give up on healthy eating and have ice cream for breakfast. To make sure people don't feel isolated in giving up their New Years' "no dessert for breakfast" resolutions this soon into 2022, the company is facilitating a global attempt to break the world record for the number of people eating ice cream for breakfast on Feb. 5 using the hashtag #IceCreamIsBreakfast.
Maybe it's not the traditional definition of self-care but surely the rules can be bent slightly after two years of pandemic-induced stress. Or if you'd rather inhale your good vibes, Yankee Candle does now have a "wellness-inspired" collection of fragrances, which promises intangible things like optimism and peace.
Nuggs and kisses
Who needs flowers when you have chicken nuggets?
Courtesy of Tyson
Forget chocolates. Put aside those red roses. You don't need candles this Valentine's Day, beautiful. Because this year anyone can express their feelings using chicken nuggets.
Tyson is helping people unleash their inner romantic with heart-shaped chicken, dubbed, of course, Nuggets of Love, according to a company press release. And because you want your paramour to live a healthy life, these nuggs are 100% white meat and do not contain antibiotics.
The company is also giving away a limited-edition "Sauce Stylus" — a pen that can be filled with a dipping sauce — so you can write a sexy message on those nuggs. Shoppers can enter for a chance to win a Sauce Stylus through Jan. 31 by tagging their Valentine and using #SayItWithNuggets and #sweepstakes on Tyson's Instagram post regarding the giveaway.
"Our Nuggets of Love are a fan favorite, and this year we wanted to do something extra saucy for our millions of fans," Colleen Hall, senior director of marketing at Tyson, said in a statement.
What we're still thinking about
230
The approximate number of employees laid off during Reebok and Glossier staff cuts this week. Reebok's layoffs, which are tied to a reorganization as it moves under Authentic Brands Group, include employees from various departments and will take place when the acquisition is complete. In total, about 150 people are being laid off, mostly at its Boston headquarters.
At Glossier, more than 80 employees were laid off, mostly in its tech department, as the beauty brand's CEO Emily Weiss acknowledged missteps in scaling the brand. "Over the past two years, we prioritized certain strategic projects that distracted us from the laser-focus we needed to have on our core business: scaling our beauty brand," Weiss wrote to employees.
$17 billion
A new report from the consultancy Kearney estimates that apparel and footwear brands could lose between $9 billion and $17 billion in EBIDTA from supply chain troubles in 2022. Actually, it could be higher. The estimate was made before the advent of the omicron COVID-19 variant, which could, like past versions of disease, cause slowdowns and shutdowns in supply chains.
Kearney grouped companies together by their resilience profiles and capabilities, deeming just 12% of the sector as "leaders" in resilience. Those companies have design, distribution and financial agility, and other qualities that can help apparel organizations weather supply chain disruption.
1
One store: that's how much Sears became smaller by as it closed a department store in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. But the banner, owned by Eddie Lampert-controlled Transformco, doesn't have many full-line Sears department stores left to close, nor Kmarts. Coresight Research listed five Kmarts left in its latest U.S. count of store closures and openings. Transformco also recently shuttered its remaining Sears Auto Center locations.
Last year, Transformco closed the last Sears department store in its home state of Illinois, the last Kmart in that banner's origin state of Michigan, and signaled it aims to put its corporate headquarters property in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, on the sale block.
What we're watching
Will Shein IPO?
Shein is reportedly weighing an IPO listing this year, according to multiple publications. The Chinese fast-fashion retailer, which is particularly popular with Gen Z shoppers, is known for its vast selection of trendy apparel and thousands of new listings each day.
The company is estimated to have landed $10 billion in sales in 2020 — a year that was especially sluggish in clothing sales due to the pandemic — and is dominating over other retailers of its ilk, namely H&M and Zara.
This isn't the first instance of rumors regarding the possibility of Shein going public. Last spring the company denied that it was preparing for an IPO at that time.
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Retail Dive Staff, Khareem Sudlow
