Mail-in rebates are quickly becoming a thing of the past as retailers increasingly adopt app-based reimbursement promotions. Roughly three out of four American shoppers have used a payment app, and retailers are increasingly using them as reimbursement tools.

Analysis

Unpacked: What brands need to know about the FTC’s proposed ban on fake reviews

August 01, 2023  ■  5 min read

The scourge of fake product reviews could be tamped down under proposed regulations from the Federal Trade Commission. The public comment period for the FTC's online review proposal wraps up in late September.

How DTC aggregator OpenStore scaled one of its brands from $1M to $10M in sales

July 24, 2023  ■  6 min read

Roughly two years after launching, Shopify aggregator OpenStore is starting to share some details on how it has scaled some of the brands it has acquired. For example, in March 2022, OpenStore acquired men's apparel brand Jack Archer, and scaled it from $1 million in sales to $10 million in sales.

Other news to know

  • Home goods retailers under TJX got a boost from Bed Bath & Beyond’s closure, Retail Dive writes. Both Marmaxx and HomeGoods reported net sales increases.
  • Aldi is buying hundreds of Winn Dixie and Harveys stores in the Southeast as it works to expand across the U.S. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2024.
  • X (formerly Twitter) will no longer run promoted account ads on the site’s timeline. While these ads generate more than $100 million annually for X, the company says it wants to try out other “content formats.”
6%
Total store comp growth at TJX
Top Stories Mar 19

Inside Blue Lagoon Iceland Skincare’s U.S. expansion strategy

August 17, 2023  ■  4 min read

Roughly half of Blue Lagoon’s 1.2 million expected visitors this year will come from the United States. Given the popularity of the destination and its skincare benefits, executives told Modern Retail that the expansion to the U.S. allows them to reach customers who’ve already been to Iceland as well as acquire new customers.

Target blames decline in discretionary spending, pride backlash for lower sales

August 16, 2023  ■  3 min read

Target is feeling inflation fatigue and a Pride campaign backlash in its latest earnings. The retailer posted its first decline in revenue in six years.

‘This isn’t about opening as many stores as we can’: Primark U.S. president Kevin Tulip on introducing the value retailer to North America

August 17, 2023  ■  4 min read

Kevin Tulip, Primark's president of U.S., joined the Modern Retail Podcast and dove into the retailer's international expansion strategy, as well as its evolving approach to technology and e-commerce.

Modern Retail Vanguard: The behind-the-scenes talent propelling the world’s top retail brands

August 16, 2023  ■  12 min read

To come up with our inaugural list of the Modern Retail Vanguard, Modern Retail editors and reporters selected four people who we feel like exemplify the skills needed to succeed in today’s retail environment, representing five business critical categories: retail, marketing, technology, product and supply chain, and customer experience.

Special Edition
The Modern Retail Vanguard

Modern Retail showcases the best and the brightest in the retail industry in our latest list. The Modern Retail Vanguard profiles the top change makers at the most exciting brands.

Podcasts

Technology

Amazon Briefing: Amazon sellers are preparing for a slightly less hectic holiday season

August 17, 2023  ■  6 min read

While some Amazon merchants are shipping their product to Amazon warehouses early, others are getting ready to introduce new products and some are even planning to quadruple their overall SKUs to give more variety to shoppers.

Modern Retail Vanguard: Lee Anne Grant, Babylist

August 16, 2023  ■  2 min read

By experimenting with online tools and tapping into new audiences, Babylist chief growth officer Lee Anne Grant aims to create a “digital destination” for growing families.

Retailers are leveraging purpose-built creative to optimize CTV campaigns

June 27, 2023  ■  3 min read

As retailers increasingly gravitate to CTV advertising, teams are realizing that these performance-focused campaigns require a higher volume of content than traditional linear TV campaigns. As a result, retail advertisers are investing in purpose-built creative to increase overall video production and fuel strategic creative optimizations. To be effective, purpose-driven creative requires clearly defined goals. The […]

Marketing

The North Face Renewed

Gorpcore brands are becoming more mainstream

August 18, 2023  ■  4 min read

Gorpcore is having its moment in the sun. Demand for brands like The North Face and Teva is up, and more retailers are getting into outdoorsy products.

Products from the Eater x Heritage Steel Cookware collection

Eater expands its e-commerce ambitions with a cookware line

August 16, 2023  ■  4 min read

Eater, the Vox Media-owned publication that covers food and local restaurants, is venturing into home kitchens through a new cookware line with American brand Heritage Steel. Vox Media — whose portfolio includes publications like Eater, The Dodo and New York Magazine — signaled its ambition to expand into consumer goods two years ago when it established its brand licensing group.

Modern Retail Vanguard: Michelle Gabe, Truff

August 16, 2023  ■  2 min read

Before joining sauce startup Truff as its director of marketing, Michelle Gabe had never officially had a job in marketing. In her role, she’s turned to high-profile collaborations to make Truff more of a household name.

Operations

Research Briefing: Intimates brand Parade agrees to purchase, as more DTC brands see wholesale as stable growth channel 

August 17, 2023  ■  5 min read

In this edition of the weekly Research Briefing, we share focal points from Modern Retail’s recently released report on how more DTC brands view wholesale as a stable growth channel.

Why Function of Beauty is developing specific product lines for retailers

August 16, 2023  ■  4 min read

As a highly-customizable hair care brand, Function of Beauty is trying to be strategic about how to bring its DTC service into brick-and-mortar. To do so, the vertically-integrated brand set out to create exclusive collections for retail partners like Target and Sephora.

Unpacked: Framing measurement and attribution solutions in a fragmented RMN ecosystem

July 27, 2023  ■  1 min read

The retail media network landscape is fragmented, and advertisers need help to measure campaign success across disparate platforms. Additionally, persistent gaps in the standardization of RMN metrics and attribution methods add to the complexities brands must navigate.  While there are plenty of metrics RMNs can provide, not every platform can provide each to the degree […]