Today in Retail: Honest Sees Retail Partners as Key to Sales Rebound; Walmart’s Upcoming Earnings Report to Share Retail Insight

Today in retail, The Honest Company relies on its retail partnerships to get it out of a yearlong sales slump, while Walmart’s quarterly earnings report next week will carry some valuable insight for the future of the retail sector. Plus, Tesco adds flexible working space in a partnership with IWG, and Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger says the digital shift has staying power in the luxury sector.

Honest Co. Hopes Retail P’ships With Walmart, Ulta, GNC Will Reverse Sales Slump

As its sales slump stretches to a year, The Honest Company is touting ongoing and new partnerships as key to helping it reverse course for its clean lifestyle brand ahead of its fiscal 2022 year-end earnings report in nine months. The company is launching products on walmart.com, followed by a national Walmart in-store expansion of diapers, wipes and select personal care products and services. It is expanding its Ulta distribution of select skin care products to complement its online offerings too. Honest is also launching supplements and other personal care items online and in-store with GNC and expanding the Honest brand internationally with Asian beauty distributor SuperOrdinary.

AMZN vs WMT Weekly: Awaiting Insight on Inflation and in-Store Shift

If Walmart’s performance during the three-month window from February through April is any indication, then the retailer’s earnings for the corresponding period ought to be very strong when it reports its fiscal first-quarter results Tuesday (May 17). Not long ago, Walmart was being derided for over-reliance on the 5,000 large-format U.S. stores. Today, those physical locations are being viewed in a different light, not only as community hubs but for the new roles as digital fulfillment centers, healthcare clinics and convenient banking outlets.

Tesco Tests in-Store Co-Working Space as Grocers Expand to Nonfood Categories

Tesco, the United Kingdom’s largest grocery chain, is running a pilot test of an initiative to bring a 3,800-square-foot flexible working space into a store in partnership with office space operator IWG. The space will be on the store’s upper mezzanine and will include 30 co-working spaces, 12 OpenDesks (a more private option) and a meeting room. It is unknown yet whether future such spaces are being planned, although it is “thought likely” that, if this location proves popular, the companies will expand their partnership.

Mytheresa CEO Says Luxury’s Online Shift Growing, Resilient

Mytheresa and its multi-brand digital platform reported top-line growth and continued profitability in its fiscal 2022 third-quarter earnings report that included a net sales growth of 4.7 million euros ($4.8 million) year over year, a 2.9% increase. “Our business has shown excellent strength despite the impact of many external challenges in the third quarter,” Mytheresa CEO Michael Kliger said. Shoppers’ move to increased online shopping for their luxury purchases “is continuing and driving growth.”