Today In Retail: FedEx Concludes ShopRunner Acquisition; Save A Lot Sells 51 Stores To Fresh Encounter

In today’s top retail news, FedEx Corp. concluded its previously announced purchase of ShopRunner, while Save A Lot unveiled the sale of 51 stores run by the company in the Tampa, Florida market to Fresh Encounter. Plus, PYMNTS looks back on direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, which came in two flavors in 2020.

FedEx Wraps Up ShopRunner Purchase

FedEx Corp said on Monday (Dec. 28) that it closed its acquisition of ShopRunner, which will operate as a part of a new group inside of FedEx Services named FedEx Dataworks. The service connects more than 100 brands and retailers to shoppers. Members get benefits like complimentary two-day shipping, free returns, member-exclusive deals and seamless checkout.

Save A Lot Sells 51 Retail Locations To Fresh Encounter

Save A Lot, the discount grocery retailer, revealed the sale of 51 stores operated by the firm in the Tampa, Florida market to Fresh Encounter. The latter firm will keep operating the retail locations with the Save A Lot banner. Save A Lot is one of the largest off-price supermarket chains in the nation with over 1,000 company and licensed stores in 33 states as well as 14 wholesale distribution centers.

Retail 2020: Looking Back On D2C Brands

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands came in two flavors this year. The first were the brands that didn’t like their retail distribution or spotted a pandemic-fueled chance to get new offerings in new configurations to the shopper. The second was the brand that had experienced traction pre-pandemic and flourished in it with cool packaging, new business models and innovative promotion.

Five Takeaways From Mastercard’s Holiday Spend Data

It could be contended that for the retail sector to have a 3 percent rise for holiday sales in 2020 was a surprising feat. But yet, as Mastercard got out first with its spending data, that broadly noted 3 percent rise is a little under what could have been lofty expectations. PYMNTS examines five takeaways from the company’s holiday spending report.