A bright spot in Target’s challenged Q1 was its $30 billion private-label brand portfolio, eMarketer emailed Thursday, saying private label brands are giving retailers an opportunity to gain value-oriented customers at a time when they're squeezed by rising prices. It noted Target’s exclusive brands grew faster than its total sales in Q1 and BJ Wholesale’s private-label penetration rose to 24% in the quarter. The top reasons consumers cited in a January survey for switching to a private-label brand were better value (89.7%), assortment option (52%), deal or membership awards offered with purchase (47.9%) and a national brand wasn’t available (41.1%), it said. Retailers such as Walmart don’t have the same agility “because they can’t simply replace branded products with private-label items without irritating consumers,” eMarketer said, though Walmart does have the onn.-brand Roku TV line. “That puts the onus on the retailer to optimize its product mix or risk having excess inventory (which, in the case of Walmart in Q1, also stemmed from items arriving late due to supply chain issues)," eMarketer said.
Visa is working with working capital platform Fundbox on digital payments and will introduce a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option for small businesses, plus other flexible payment products, it said Tuesday. “Small businesses that embrace digital tools tend to be more resilient and better able to compete,” said Visa Chief Product Officer Jack Forestell. A Visa survey said 73% of small businesses see accepting new forms of payments as fundamental to their business growth; 59% said they already are, or plan to, use only digital payments within the next two years. EMarketer predicts (see 2202250039) BNPL users will grow 31.4% this holiday season vs. 2021, adding 14.2 million U.S. users. A Bizrate Insights report said 9% of in-store shoppers used BNPL in February, up from 6% a year ago.
Conn's HomePlus is continuing its Florida expansion with the opening of a 40,000-square-foot store in Kissimmee, Florida, it said Thursday. A grand opening event is scheduled for Saturday with giveaways and special promotions for guests. Earlier this year, Conn’s opened stores in Altamonte Springs and Daytona Beach; it has opened 13 locations in Florida in the past 18 months and has over 150 stores in 15 states.
April retail sales through electronics and appliance stores jumped 1% sequentially from March, but declined 4.7% year over year, reported the National Retail Federation Tuesday. Census reported that overall retail sales in April were up 0.9% from March and 8.2% higher than in April 2021, said NRF. “April retail sales demonstrate consumer strength and willingness to spend despite persistent inflation, supply chain constraints, market volatility and global unrest,” said NRF President Matthew Shay. “While consumers are facing higher prices, they are preserving their budgets by shopping smart.” The Biden administration and Congress “have an opportunity to provide targeted relief to American households by lifting the China tariffs, passing legislation to fix the supply chain and addressing immigration reform to ease the tight labor market,” he said.
Building on its plans to double the number of its outlet stores over the next year (see 2111230051), Best Buy said Wednesday it will open four new outlets -- with open-box and clearance items at discounted prices -- this summer and fall in Chicago, Houston, Phoenix and Manassas, Virginia. The company has 16 outlet stores nationwide. The Chicago, Phoenix and Manassas stores are remodels; the current Houston outlet will move to a larger location, it said. Shoppers can now see what products are available at a local outlet, make a purchase and pick it up in store or curbside, Best Buy said, and small items, such as laptops and tablets can be shipped from an outlet store to their home. Also new, customers can buy any product from Bestbuy.com and have it shipped to a local outlet store. Outlet stores also now offer same-day delivery via third-party partners Dolly and Bungii, it said.
Best Buy shed light Friday on categories it’s entering and expanding, including skin care technology, outdoor living gear and charging devices for its electric transportation products. Skin care products include pulsating facial cleansing, LED light therapy to help reduce wrinkles and microdermabrasion to improve skin texture, blogged Keegan Shoutz, from Best Buy's communications team. For outdoor living spaces, it’s promoting heaters, fire pits, speakers, TVs, grills and furniture from Yardbird, which it acquired last year. Best Buy's line of electric bikes, scooters and mopeds numbers over 750 products and accessories, said Shoutz, noting the retailer will bring a selection of products to “nearly every Best Buy store." It began a pilot to test service and repair for e-transportation products in some stores.
“There is a growing list of uncertainties, and the risks are mounting,” said National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz Tuesday, ahead of an expected Wednesday interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. “The economy’s fast-paced growth could slow somewhat as the Federal Reserve tries to bring inflation under control in the next few months, but consumers are likely to keep on shopping as lower inflation eases uncertainty,” Kleinhenz said. Underlying strength and momentum from the consumer and business sectors “are likely to offset a modest slowdown,” Kleinhenz said. The Fed’s actions could mean higher car and mortgage payments, but Kleinhenz noted household finances “have remained strong” despite consumers’ worries over inflation and war in Ukraine. March retail sales were up 4% year on year, showing consumers have “the willingness and ability to spend” as a result of job growth, wage gains and wealth gains accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus low financial obligations relative to income, he said. “The Fed is facing a tough problem,” Kleinhenz said: “Its playbook for tightening of monetary policy can exert pressure on demand,” he said, but it doesn’t have the direct ability to influence the supply side by “producing more gas, planting fields of needed crops or manufacturing microchips.” NRF held to its 2022 forecast of 6%-8% retail sales growth to $4.86 trillion-$4.95 trillion.
New ProSource President Jim Pearse feels like he’s “returning to his roots,” the 30-year consumer tech retail veteran told Consumer Electronics Daily Friday. Pearse, who most recently was president of Wireless Advocates and also had stints at Sears and Ultimate Electronics, is on a transition path to succeed CEO David Workman. Pearse declined to nail down a date when Workman, “a legend in the industry,” will hand over the reins, saying the two have been “good friends” for many years and are working closely together during the transition. In his first two months, Pearse has been getting up to speed on the custom side of the business to focus on “delivering value to vendors,” while Workman focuses on the larger dealers. The group’s overarching challenge is dealers’ persistent pain point -- finding, training and retaining skilled technicians, he said. "Finding people has always been a problem" for the industry, Pearse said. There's more emphasis on it now because of the growth of the custom electronics market: "You can't grow without people." ProSource is expanding ProSource University to provide hands-on training through three-day classes. “No question there’s demand for it,” Pearse said, and the group continues to add classes, he said. On whether his wireless industry experience will have an application at ProSource, Pearse said wireless is a different model based on heavy foot traffic but there could be partnerships in the future. He said the custom home automation business has moved more mainstream in the past 10 years with more affordable control systems from Control4 and Savant and more robust integration: “It’s not as intimidating and complicated.”
Two convenience stores at UBS Arena, the New York Islanders' home venue in Elmont, New York, are now equipped with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology, said Delaware North, the arena's food and beverage service contractor. Guests visiting the stores insert their credit card at the entry gates to shop, it said Thursday. Once inside, anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart; items they put back on the shelf disappear from the cart. When they finish shopping, customers leave the store and the associated credit card is charged for the items in the cart.
The retail-oriented Merchants Payments Coalition hailed a letter Friday from bipartisan members of the House and Senate urging Mastercard and Visa to withdraw credit card swipe fee increases set to take effect this month. “This is about the card industry continuing to profit on the backs of Main Street merchants and hard-working American families at a time when they can least afford it,” said Anna Ready Blom, National Association of Convenience Stores director-government relations and an MPC executive committee member, The increases would drive up prices for consumers already enduring high inflation, wrote Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Sen. Roger Marshall R-Kan.; and Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas. Visa and Mastercard charged merchants $77.48 billion in credit card fees and $28.06 billion in debit card fees last year, mostly in interchange fees deducted from transaction amounts for credit and debit card purchases “and ultimately borne by consumers” in higher goods and services prices, they said. If the credit card companies operated in a market environment “with real competition, we would not be troubled by your planned fee increases,” they said. The current electronic payment system is a “clear duopoly that your companies dominate, and you impose fees and rules that merchants, consumers, and small banks have no real choice but to accept,” they said. Mastercard and Visa didn't comment Monday.