Retail

• [New] The full lockdown of Shanghai and curbs on hundreds of millions of consumers and workers in dozens of other cities have hurt retail sales, industrial production and employment, adding to fears the Chinese economy could shrink in the second quarter. Charles Stanley
• [New] Profit warnings from some US retailers and tech stocks as a result of cost increases and supply disruptions from China added to nervousness about the profit outlook. AMP Capital
• [New] Investment markets & key developments It was another volatile weak in share markets with worries that rate hikes, cost pressures and Chinese supply disruptions would hit profits after downgrades from some US retailers and tech stocks. AMP Capital
• [New] The massive price increases across second-tier retailers will fuel wider fears that smaller Australian power businesses could follow the fate of UK retailers, where almost 30 energy suppliers have flopped due to a failure to maneuver growing wholesale costs. Facebook Watch
• [New] Target, the US retail chain, said this week that it now expected to spend $1 billion more on freight costs in 2022 than it had projected at the start of the year. Wood McKenzie
• [New] Ulta is leaning into its scale as the largest beauty retailer in the U.S., with a focus on a rewards program carrying tens of millions of consumer profiles that could help marketers better target their campaigns. Retail Dive
• [New] BENGALURU: At its flagship annual summit Amazon Smbhav, Amazon India announced the launch of Smart Commerce - a new initiative to transform local stores into digital dukaans, and accelerate its pledge to digitize one crore small businesses by 2025. ETRetail
• [New] One of the largest retailers in the United States anticipated growing demand from customers for COVID-19 healthcare needs. McKinsey & Company
• [New] Automation and AI will affect millions of jobs in the coming years, and retail is one of the most susceptible industries: for example, 54% of current work activities in retail can be automated. McKinsey & Company
• [New] Amazon on Wednesday launched Smart Commerce, a new offering that will allow stores to create their own online storefronts and also offer in-store shopping experience to their walk - in customers. TechCrunch
• [New] The majority of retail and commercial banks aim to triple their use of cloud services by 2025, and migrate more client-facing applications and data. The Register
• [New] There is a huge opportunity for retailers to continue to draw shoppers into the on-the-go sector, with over two-thirds of retailers agreeing they are seeing growth in impulse soft drinks sales, and over a third predicting their on-the-go ranges will exceed pre-Covid levels. betterRetailing
• [New] Energy is often bought on longer-term contracts, so it's going to be unavoidable that we will see high retail energy prices and high prices for commercial industrial customers from 2022 through 2023, and probably even for 2024. Frost & Sullivan
• [New] A major report from the MIT Energy Initiative finds the development and deployment of new ways to store renewable energy will be crucial to transitioning to clean energy and averting the worst effects of climate change. Connecticut Public
• [New] ECOLOG are building an offering that can liquefy, transport and store 50 million tons of CO2 annually anywhere in the world, with up to 5 million tons of annual capacity being available from 2025. The Maritime Executive
• [New] In 2022, Kick Game is instead betting big on physical retail, with plans to open four stores across the UK and Europe by 2023. The Business of Fashion
• China's GDP will contract by around 1% in Q2 2022, following the 11.1% drop in retail sales, the 2.9% fall in industrial output, and the rise in unemployment to 6.1% in April. The Guardian
• Shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets will begin resuming in-store operations and allow customers to shop in an orderly way, while hair salons and vegetable markets will reopen with limited capacity. investing.com
• WEISSENHAUS, Germany (AP) - The Group of Seven leading economies warned Saturday that the war in Ukraine is stoking a global food and energy crisis which threatens poor countries, and urgent measures are needed to unblock stores of grain that Russia is preventing from leaving Ukraine. Yahoo News
• In terms of growth, we anticipate a number of new expansion opportunities opening in Asia in 2022 as the business environment grows more stable and both airports and retailers are better able to forecast future growth. DFNI
• There is already at least one example of how collection could work in the short term: Some big-box retailers such as Target and Walmart and grocery markets such as Safeway and ShopRite have plastic bag collection bins near the entrances of their stores. GreenBiz
• Today in food commerce, leading United Kingdom grocer Tesco brings flexible office space into one of its stores, while Swiggy plans to buy Dineout. PYMNTS.com
• Other digital natives opening stores include Gap's Athleta brand, which plans to open 30-40 new stores on a base of 227, Fabletics, which expects to open 30 new stores on a base of more than 70 stores, and Allbirds, which is planning 16-17 new stores on a base of 35 globally. National Retail Federation

Last updated: 26 May 2022