It’s Thursday, and you know what that means. It’s time for
another quick recap of what’s happening in retail!
Retail
Layoffs In 2016 Set To Be Highest Since 2010: More than 24,000 job cuts
have already been announced in 2016, according to analysts from Credit Suisse.
The investment banking firm said in a note there could be more than 37,000
layoffs in 2016 based on Bloomberg data. Analysts believe that number could top
those projections due to the number of retailers filing for bankruptcy recently.
Approximately two-thirds of layoffs tend to come in the first four months of
the year. There were 30,273 layoffs in retail in 2010, according to Bloomberg.
J.Crew
CEO Sends Personal Email To Consumers: Mickey Drexler, CEO of J.Crew,
sent an email to every customer on the retailer’s mailing list, asking them to not
only come into stores or check out the e-Commerce site, but to email him
directly with their feedback on the experience. In the email, Drexler detailed
an interaction with a consumer in the retailer’s Soho store, with the shopper
exclaiming, “My J.Crew is back.” J.Crew has struggled in recent years due to both
the overpricing of its apparel, and later on, an overreliance on discounts, so
the move appears to be a method to improve communication with consumers.
Apple
Sales Decline For First Time In 13 Years: The technology giant’s
13-year streak of quarterly revenue growth came to an end on its 2016 Q2, largely
due to weakness in China and a potential market saturation for among potential
consumers in the U.S. and other developed countries. Overall, revenue for the
quarter declined 13% to $50.6 billion, while the retailer sold 16% fewer
iPhones compared with the same quarter last year. While Apple’s CEO Tim Cook
has portrayed he slowdown as part of the normal two-year product cycle of the
iPhone, there is a belief among analysts that the company’s impressive growth
over the past decade may be impossible to sustain going ahead.
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Bossa
Nova Raises $14 Million ‘Retail Robots’ Stock Shelves: Bossa Nova
Robotics, a builder of robotic technology for retailers, has raised $14 million
to expedite the rollout of its technology into stores. The machines are
designed to analyze stock on shelves and collect data to optimize inventory,
with fully autonomous robots unleashed in stores among shoppers. The company
says it is now testing its robots with five unknown retail chains, with the
purpose of recapturing lost sales and assisting store staff as they seek to
improve shelf compliance.
That’s a wrap for this week’s assorted happenings around
retail. Feel free to check back anytime to catch up with the latest RTP news!
