New York Fashion Week, which is the kickoff to a month of global fashion shows, saw incredible fashion labels take
to the runway to promote their new collections and brands. Eager fashion lovers, high-end buyers and the global media watched carefully to see the epic creativity and latest trends, and look ahead at what next season and the one after holds.
Twenty-nineteen started off with a bang in the retail world as brands dug out from the holiday craze to refocus on the year’s new goals and initiatives. The NRF Big Show dominated the headlines as did reports of a successful holiday season, with Mastercard SpendingPulse reporting U.S. retail sales up 5.1 percent, the strongest performance in six years. Here’s a look at some of the stories that caught our eye in January.
It’s called the Big Show for good reason - 38,000 attendees, 700 exhibitors and more than 200 content sessions. This year’s NRF annual conference brought together retailers, celebrities, tech players and startups and KWI was proud to be part of the conference, going on more than 20 years. Our booth was buzzing all day as we had the opportunity to demo our technology and preview what’s ahead. (We also got a lot of compliments on our branded chocolate bars from our client Dylan’s Candy Bar!).
Experiential retail is hot right now and it's not just fashion and beauty brands leading the way. A plethora of companies are announcing pop-up stores to capitalize on a full-sensory experience. There are the tech companies (Facebook at Macy's, Google pop-up), the lifestyle brands like Goop, e-commerce companies like Casper, even communities like HeyMama are getting in the retail game.
There’s no question that retail had a big year. We’ve seen exciting new brands come to market, while blue chip legacy retailers closed their doors. There’s been new innovation in the way we shop, search and pay, and technology has pushed the envelope in terms of new experiences, customization and overall customer service. Here’s a look back at the biggest winners in retail in 2018 that will likely continue to prove successful in the year ahead.
As the year comes to an end, retailers will take a look back and reflect on wins, losses, and surprises. Then, they’ll turn to the new year: How can they use those learnings to inform a strategy that focuses on where the marketplace is going? Here are our predictions for what will be huge in retail for 2019.
As the retail world kicks into high gear with the official start of holiday shopping, November brought with it some big stories. Cyber Monday hit a record $7.9 billion in sales and of note, 33.5 percent of Black Friday sales and 27.7 percent of Cyber Monday Sales were made using smartphones. Digitally-native brands continue to make headlines with more and more predicted to turn to brick-and-mortar shops in 2019. And we enjoyed reading an article in Axios about the future of malls and how Columbus, OH has become the ‘SIlicon Valley of retail.” These stories and more are below.
As the SuperBowl of shopping comes to an end, one thing became very clear: brands need to be focused on an omnichannel solution for their customers. In a year where everyone is talking about in-store experiences, Black Friday weekend was all about e-commerce. Yahoo reported that “online sales rose more than 23 percent, crossing $6 billion on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics. On Thanksgiving, it's estimated sales grew 28 percent to $3.7 billion.” The growth continued through the weekend. CNBC reports that Cyber Monday hit a record $7.9 billion in sales, which is an increase of 19.3 percent from a year ago, according to data from Adobe Analytics. Holiday sales are at it's peak, according to Business Insider, as Adobe Analytics is predicting sales to be the biggest in U.S. history.
October was another busy month in retail as the industry prepares for the holiday season and pundits make predictions of how this year will fare compared to others. At KWI, we’ve been closely following some recent trends focused on digitally native brands setting up physical stores and the rise of pop-ups, as well as how some innovative companies are using mall kiosks as extensions of their brands. The common theme here is that customers are demanding new ways to engage with brands and that shoppers are finding that nothing can replace the ability to touch and feel a product, especially for fashion brands.
KWI offers a complete commerce solution for specialty retailers. Our cloud-based technology powers all the solutions you need to create unified customer experiences. It is a Point of Sale, Merchandising, eCommerce, CRM, and Loss Prevention solution, all from a single database.