Retail’s Ups And Downs: Amazon Prime, Uber Gift Cards And Nike

The world of retail can oftentimes feel like a very Sisyphean journey.

For every Tickle Me Elmo or iPhone product that flies off shelves and smashes sales records, there’s a New Coke or Crystal Pepsi that woefully and very publicly fails and leaves indelible egg on a brand or retailer’s face.

Here are some of the other big winners and losers of the retail game at the moment.

UP

Amazon just seems to keep winning the online retail game.

A new estimate by Cowen and Company forecasts that about half of American households will have an Amazon Prime membership by the end of the year. Prime is on pace to add 12 million new subscribers in 2012, a jump from the 10 million new customers Amazon Prime added in 2015 and the 7 million new members it added in 2014, according to Cowen and Company Analyst John Blackledge.

By the end of the year, Prime memberships are estimated to rise from about 44 percent of U.S. households to 50 percent, which would put the total number of Amazon Prime households in the U.S. at an estimated 60 million (Amazon does not release Prime membership numbers).

There’s a new way to pay for Uber.

The ridesharing giant has begun to release physical gift cards in some 35,000 retail locations across the country in stores, like Starbucks, Walmart, Target and CVS, that provide Uber customers with another way to pay for their rides.

Uber gift cards don’t expire and can be redeemed through Uber’s mobile app. According to TechCrunch, Uber gift cards come in $25 and $50 increments, although users also have the option of specifying their own amount anywhere from $15 to $500; balances carry over to and can be applied to a cardholder’s next Uber ride.

West Elm wants to get into the boutique hotel business, and if guests like a particular piece of furniture or blanket in any of those hotels, they’ll also be able to buy it.

West Elm, a division of Williams-Sonoma, has announced a partnership with DDK hospitality management and hotel development company on a chain of boutique hotels that will also sell all the furnishings in the rooms on West Elm’s website. The first of these hotels are expected to open in 2018 in Detroit; Minneapolis; Savannah, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Indianapolis.

“There is a growing desire among modern travelers to immerse themselves in the place they are visiting,’ according to David Bowd, cofounder of DDK. “They want a boutique experience and expect great, reliable service that caters to their needs.”

DOWN

SolarCity, Elon Musk’s solar power company, is in some more hot water this week after reports surfaced that the company is being sued by another solar company for allegedly using its technology in the design of its solar panels.

In the lawsuit, Cogenra said that SolarCity used its shingling technology in its solar panel designs after the two companies began sharing their “most precious and confidential trade secrets, manufacturing processes and other intellectual property” with each other between 2010 and 2014, according to TechCrunch.

Maybe Musk will find it easier to colonize Mars?

Lands’ End is in the market for a new CEO after its controversial current leader, Federica Marchionni, announced that she was leaving after less than two years on the job.

Lands’ End has faced a hard time of it since being spun off from Sears Holdings Corp. in 2014. The company has faced four straight years of lower sales and watched its net income fall in each of the last two years, according to Chain Store Age, while Marchionni caught flack for featuring an interview with controversial abortion rights activist Gloria Steinem in its spring catalog.

And Nike shares could tumble after posting disappointing earnings on Tuesday (Sept. 27) that beat Wall Street estimates but also forecasts weaker-than-expected future sales.

The sneaker and sports apparel retailer predicts that futures orders will continue to dwindle as Nike faces more competition from rival brands, like Adidas and Under Armour, who continue to eat into the market that Nike once almost solely dominated.