Today in Retail: More Than 3 in 5 Firms Use Digital Marketplaces More Often; Kwik Trip Adding Coinsource Bitcoin ATMs Across Midwest

Today in retail, supply chain hangups and inflation play major role in Walmart’s quarterly earnings report while U.S. retail sales rose 0.9% in April.

Plus, MultiPay teams up with Mastercard on an installment payments program, U.S. retail sales drop in April as more consumers are living paycheck to paycheck, Sally Beauty brings Nailboo to its brick-and-mortar locations and more.

MultiPay Launches Installment Payments with Mastercard

MultiPay Global Solutions is partnering with Mastercard on an installment  product to offer consumers payment flexibility for both in-store and online purchases. According to a MultiPay press release, installment billing products are expected to surpass $5.25 billion between 2020 to 2028 in Ireland.

People can set up installments using a Mastercard with any sales associate who has an Android payment terminal, and retailers can seamlessly connect to MultiPay Installments powered by Mastercard using an existing bank account. Retailers can also continue to use their current payment infrastructure for existing payment methods.

61% of Firms Have Increased Their Use of Digital Marketplaces

PYMNTS’ “Online Sellers” report, based on a survey of 317 online merchants, found that 61% of firms are selling more on digital marketplaces now than they did one year ago. The larger the firm, the more likely it was to be using more marketplaces in 2021 relative to 2020.

Among firms with annual revenue in 2021 of more than $100 million, 68% said they were using more marketplaces, while the same was said by 63% of firms between $5 million and $100 million and 52% of firms with annual revenue of less than $5 million. The shorter the length of time a firm has been in business, the more likely it was to be using more marketplaces than it did the previous year.

Additionally, among firms with an age of less than five years, 69% said they were using more marketplaces in 2021, compared to 60% of firms between five and 20 years old and 54% of firms with an age of 20 years or more.

Retail Sales Face Stall as Credit, Cash Cushions Dwindle in Paycheck-to-Paycheck America

U.S. Commerce Department data for April showed that retail spending rose at a seasonally adjusted pace of 0.9%, month over month.

Spending at restaurants and drinking places was up 2%, while spending on groceries slipped 10 basis points. Spending at non-store retailers, loosely defined as eCommerce, was up 2.1%. As PYMNTS data has shown, the majority of U.S. consumers are living paycheck to paycheck — even relatively high earners.

Generation Z consumers who live paycheck to paycheck and have issues paying their monthly bills report the lowest average savings at just $1,158, according to our continued findings. Millennials living paycheck to paycheck with issues paying their monthly bills report the highest savings, with an average of $3,731.

Kwik Trip Adding Coinsource Bitcoin ATMs at Its 800+ Retail Locations

Several Midwestern Kwik Trips will now feature bitcoin ATMs, as bitcoin ATM network Coinsource has added machines at some of its convenience stores and gas retail locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa.

Coinsource has an 11% fee nationwide and promises an accurate bitcoin price with no hidden fees. Miner fees are covered for each transaction, and the partnership gives Kwik Trip Rewards members access to lower rates.

There are almost 38,000 bitcoin ATMs across the world as of April 2022. Coinsource touts itself as the only active BitLicence-holding operator in the business and offers almost-instant transactions, meaning users get their bitcoin in a few minutes.

Sally Beauty Adds Nail Dip Powder Brand Nailboo to Stores

Through a partnership with Miami-based beauty and wellness company Underlining, nail dip powder brand Nailboo is coming to beauty supply retailer Sally Beauty stores.

Nailboo dip powder products are non-toxic, cruelty-free and vegan-friendly. The company has more than 400,000 customers and plans to launch in several new categories in 2022, according to a joint press release.

Three of its best-selling products are now available at Sally Beauty online and in more than 2,700 brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S. and Canada: the Nailboo Dip Starter Kit, individual Dip Powder Shades and Max Gloss Polish. Nailboo also plans to launch more SKUs in Sally Beauty in the near future and will be expanding its retail footprint this year and into 2023.

Walmart Sees Demand Shift for Low-Priced Bacon and High-Ticket Game Consoles

Walmart is making adjustments after posting its biggest earnings disappointment in at least five years, citing unexpected pressure from supply chain costs, rising U.S. wages and what it called unusual inflationary challenges surrounding food and fuel.

The retailer’s first-quarter top-line revenue grew 2.4% for the three months ending April 30, but the costs involved in making those sales, as well as paying its 2.3 million employees, were unexpectedly high — a combination that not only crimped margins, but also reduced its bottom-line profit by 23%.

The Arkansas-based operator of 10,500 stores said its Q1 sales of $142 billion were led by a 3% gain in U.S. same-store sales, where the retailer said it was able to gain share in its lucrative grocery business, where it leads Amazon by a wide margin.

Home Depot Q1 Earnings Report Shows DIY Trend Still Strong

First-quarter earnings results for The Home Depot seem to indicate that the do-it-yourself home improvement push that proliferated in early 2020 is continuing in early 2022.

The world’s largest home improvement retailer reported sales of $38.9 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, up $1.4 billion (3.8%) from fiscal 2021. Comparable sales for Q1 rose 2.2% overall, rising 1.7% in the U.S. Meanwhile, Home Depot’s Q1 net earnings were $4.2 billion, up from $4.1 billion the previous year.

As a result of Home Depot’s Q1 performance, the company has raised its fiscal 2022 guidance, expecting total sales growth and comparable sales growth of about 3%, an operating margin of about 15.4%, net interest expense of about $1.6 billion, a tax rate of about 24.6% and diluted earnings-per-share percentage growth in the mid-single digits.

US Retail Sales Rise 0.9% in April as Consumers Deal With Price Hikes

U.S. retail sales slowed for the fourth consecutive month in April as higher prices offset curtailed spending enough to lift the key economic benchmark by 0.9%, according to the Census Bureau. While still positive, that rate is down from a revised 1.4% increase posted in March and the 2.7% gain in retail sales posted in January.

Shopping for Mother’s Day and Easter helped lift sales at florists and other so-called miscellaneous retailers by 4.0%, followed by a 2.1% increase in non-store or eCommerce sales and a 2% increase in bars and restaurants. Furniture, electronics, clothing and personal care and health products all also rose about 1% for the month.

On the weak side, a temporary decline in fuel prices saw gas station sales fall 2.7% last month, as well as an unexpected dip in the vast sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and bookstores category.