Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and with just
under $20 billion expected to be spent on gifts related to the day, retailers
are hard at work preparing their greeting cards, jewelry and flowers.
Before going out to buy the right Valentine’s Day gifts for your
loved ones, feel free to catch your breath and read this week’s retail news
recap.
Whole
Foods Introduces Digital Coupons: Whole Foods is bringing a new — yet “old
school” — update to its mobile app, in rolling out digital coupons. The move fires
back at some of the criticism directed at Whole Foods, particularly surrounding
its high priced food items. The coupons had actually been a top request by
users of the app, and had a soft launch at the end of January. While little
else is known about the coupons, Whole Foods suppliers will be able to use the
app to deliver them to users.
EU
Approves The Staples/Office Depot Deal: Although government regulators
have rejected
the Staples-Office Depot merger in the U.S., European officials have
actually reacted more favorably toward the deal. The European Commission has
officially approved the acquisition on the condition that the combined company
divests all of Office Depot’s operations in Sweden and its European retail,
contract, online and catalog operations. Staples and Office Depot have until May
16 to complete the proposed deal, giving the companies three months to plead
their case.
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eMarketer:
Loyalty Rises, But Less Consumers Participate: While memberships in
brand loyalty programs continue to rise, there seems to be one small problem:
participation in these programs is falling. Less than half (45%) of consumers actually
maintained a consistent level of loyalty with top 100 CPG brands in 2015, with
consumers citing that loyalty programs are just focusing on the lowest price
and aren’t differentiating themselves from the pack.
Target
Debuts Gender-Neutral Children’s Furniture: Off the heels of the RTP team’s discussion regarding toy
gender stereotypes, the topic of gender neutrality in children’s merchandise
is certainly becoming a relevant subject for retailers to handle. With Target
already taking the steps to eliminate toy gender stereotypes by taking down “boys”
and “girls” signs within the toys aisles, the big box retailer is now unveiling
a gender-neutral children’s home décor brand, Pillowfort. Pillowfort products
will replace the previous in-house brand, Circo, in stores, and will include
more “open-ended” prints and patterns without gender-specific themes.
That’s all from the RTP
team for now. Don’t overindulge on too many sweets this weekend!
