Today in Retail: Footwear reCommerce Still Struggling to Catch On; At Home Opens 6 New Home Décor Stores Across US

Today in retail, consumers aren’t always aware of the digital features their favorite retailers offer, while Tanger reports shoppers are returning to outlets and retailers are sticking around longer. Plus, Walmart continues its push into omnichannel retail even after sluggish growth for eCommerce segment in most recent earnings results.

Availability, Awareness of Digital Features Decisive in Global Retail Recovery

According to the 2022 Global Digital Shopping Index, a PYMNTS and Cybersource collaboration and the latest edition in this multiyear research project, merchants who walk the digital talk and align with consumer desires are pulling well ahead of those with less considered strategies.

Satisfaction and loyalty are byproducts of experience, according to the Index, and getting the feature mix right by region and retail category are proving decisive, as is awareness. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is a prime example. As more merchants respond to consumer wishes by adding this option, research reveals an awareness gap that needs to be solved.

Footwear reCommerce Adds New Players But Faces Old Challenges of Selling Used Shoes

Footwear and apparel maker Allbirds announced Thursday (Feb. 17) that it plans to begin reselling its gently used shoes, joining sneaker resale platform StockX, reCommerce pioneers including eBay as well as startups and established companies including Nike in the used shoe market.

For environmentally aware Allbirds, resale has a special place in its plans to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2025 and to near zero by 2030. The RealReal, Rent the Runway, thredUp and Poshmark are among the other players in the footwear reCommerce space. Nike and Lululemon are struggling to find the right balance between selling old and new.

AMZN vs WMT Weekly: With Q4 Results Out, Fight Over Food, Delivery, Digital Resumes

Although CEO Doug McMillon told investors Thursday (Feb 17) that Walmart was an “increasingly digital” omnichannel business, its eCommerce sales progress stalled in 2021, growing 1% after a 69% jump in 2020.

Still, McMillon and the executive leadership team at Walmart said they’ve never been more optimistic about the business and the new opportunities that are emerging, such as advertising, as a result of its changing ways.

The “new” Walmart — with its 10,500 superstore locations worldwide — is viewed as a hybrid enterprise, where physical stores double as fulfillment centers to serve customers quickly, conveniently and cheaply.

7 Months After Privatization, At Home Group Begins to Open New Locations

Home décor superstore At Home is opening six new locations this month, bringing its total store count to 241, according to a Thursday (Feb. 17) press release.

At Home sells up to 50,000 home décor items “from furniture, rugs, wall art and housewares to tabletop, patio and holiday décor,” the company said in the release, with stores averaging slightly more than 100,000 square feet.

The new At Home stores, which are opening seven months after the company went private, are in Dallas; Ledgewood, New Jersey; Matthews, North Carolina; Poughkeepsie, New York; Rochester, Minnesota; and Tustin, California.

Retailer and Consumer Shift to Open-Air Malls Will Continue Past Pandemic

Occupancy of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers’ stores was 95.3% on Dec. 31, 2021, up from 94.4% at the end of September and 92.2% at the end of 2020. The average Tanger tenant sales productivity was $468 per square foot in 2021, up 17.6% from the $398-per-square-foot rate of two years earlier, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Average Tanger tenant sales were up 15% in 2021 compared to 2019 when comparing same store sales.

The better news for Tanger is that tenants are sticking around, as lease termination fees totaled $3.6 million for 2021 ($300,000 for the fourth quarter of 2021) compared to $12.8 million for 2020 ($4.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2020).