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☆ McCormick's red-cap bottles are getting a makeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —McCormick, the top-selling maker of seasonings and spices, is giving its iconic red-cap bottles their first makeover in more than 40 years. Shoppers will soon see newly designed bottles that feature updated labeling and a new “snap” cap that the company says keeps spices and seasonings fresher compared to its previous design. McCormick’s new sleeker bottles, which have already begun rolling out in the United States, will first contain its most popular herbs and spices, including cinnamon, garlic powder and crushed red pepper. The inside is getting a makeover, too. “This is a winning proposition from top to bottom and we have tons of consumer research to validate that,” she said.

☆ Gap says it's getting rid of some managers as sales slide. One retail expert likens the company to a 'lazy student' unwilling to deliver a 'better performance.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gap announced Thursday that it's cutting back on managers to reduce costs. Meta and Twitter have also been cutting management jobs in recent weeks. Gap announced Thursday that it is cutting back on these workers to reduce costs and become more nimble. Neil Saunders of GlobalData Retail told clients this week: "Gap is rather like a lazy student that has the capability but completely lacks the capacity or will to put in the work to deliver a better performance." Gap did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

☆ TJ Maxx says its assortment of discounted brands is better than ever thanks to store closures elsewhere. Here's how it keeps prices so low.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

TJ Maxx sells products at 20% to 60% cheaper than department stores and retailers. TJ Maxx says its thriving because of this. A network of experienced buyersTech accessories on display at TJ Maxx. Buying in bulkThe massive selection of purses and handbags at TJ Maxx. Well-known brands like Ralph Lauren have been known to make items for TJ Maxx in the past, but pulled back in a bid to address worries about brand exclusivity.

☆ American Eagle tops quarterly estimates on steady apparel demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Granth Vanaik | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 1 (Reuters) - American Eagle Outfitters (AEO.N) on Wednesday beat fourth-quarter market estimates, as consumers heading back to work and social events snapped up apparel and accessories despite persistently high inflation. Shares of American Eagle jumped about 7% in extended trading as the company also reinstated a $0.10 per share quarterly cash dividend after pausing it in September. Even as the United States faces once-in-a-generation levels of inflation, demand for sportswear, dresses and cargo pants have remained steady, benefiting apparel makers like American Eagle that have offered higher discounts to shoppers in order to get rid of excess stock. In January, the American Eagle said that its fourth-quarter sales and profit margins were tracking at high end of its forecasts, benefiting from its decision to right-size inventories and a better-than-expected performance at its American Eagle label. Excluding items, American Eagle earned 37 cents per share, above estimates of 30 cents.

☆ Kohl's shares sink after big holiday-quarter losses
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Melissa Repko | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Kohl's shares sunk on Wednesday after the retailer posted a big loss and a sales decline of about 7% in the holiday quarter. Kohl's is not the only retailer that has felt a pullback as consumers spend more on food, housing and other necessities. During that same three-year period, spending at Kohl's fell by 15.4% and profit at the company plummeted by 203%. Kohl's inventory remains elevated, up 4% year over year as of the end of the fourth quarter, the company said. As of Tuesday's close, Kohl's stock is up about 11% this year, outperforming the approximately 3% gain of the S&P 500.

☆ Kohl's blamed its rough quarter on a squeezed middle class, but one analyst says it's because stores are a mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But one analyst blamed messy Kohl's stores and "dispiriting" stores during the holidays. Kingsbury said that Kohl's store portfolio remains healthy. Kohl's partnerships with other brands is driving sales, CEO saysKohl's and Amazon inked a deal in 2019 that allows Amazon customers to return items to Kohl's stores. Ted Shaffrey/APKingsbury also highlighted Kohl's partnership with Sephora, which operates store-in-store concepts in Kohl's locations across the US. Kohl's previously said that the Amazon partnership drew over 2 million new customers to its stores in its first year.

☆ Puma channeled Michael Jordan to announce Rihanna's return to the sportswear brand: 'She's back'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Her return announcement referenced Michael Jordan's infamous return to the NBA in 1995. It's not yet clear what this collaboration will involve but Puma teased fans on Instagram with a post that said: "She's back," alongside her Fenty brand logo. One of her sneaker designs, the Fenty x Puma creeper, was voted shoe of the year by industry news outlet Footwear News in 2016. Fenty Beauty, one of her most successful ventures, helped to catapult her into the Forbes billionaires list in 2022. According to Forbes estimates, Fenty Beauty brought in over $550 million in annual revenue just one year after it launched and is currently worth around $2.8 billion.

☆ Premarket stocks: Big Retail's cautious forecasts are spooking Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —Forecasts from Walmart and Home Depot made for a grim day of trading on Tuesday. The mega retailers’ predictions of a weakening economy and a dip in consumer spending this year sent markets tumbling as Wall Street seemed to realize that the Federal Reserve’s campaign to quell inflation could yet lead to recession. What’s happening: We’ve written about the remarkable strength of the US consumer quite a bit here at Before the Bell. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of America’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the US economy, so it’s nearly impossible for the economy to enter a recession as long as consumer spending is growing. American shoppers have almost single-handedly kept the US economy afloat by continuing to shell out cash for purchases despite stubbornly high inflation.

☆ Dow drops more than 500 points as retail earnings disapoint
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The Dow was down 500 points, or 1.5%, on Tuesday afternoon. The S&P 500 fell by 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.8% lower. Walmart (WMT) topped revenue expectations, but shares of the stock fell nearly 2% in morning trading after the retailer lowered its outlook for the year ahead. Home Depot (HD) reported record earnings for the fiscal year that ended in January, and boosted both hourly wage and the stock dividend. Shares of the stock fell by nearly 6% on Tuesday as the housing market weakens – US existing home sales dropped to their lowest level in more than 12 years in January.

☆ Elon Musk wants Tesla to be the biggest car company ever by 2030. Experts say there's no way.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk wants Tesla to sell 20 million electric cars in 2030. Another lofty goal that the billionaire entrepreneur has kicked around: Sell at least 20 million Teslas in 2030, effectively transforming the young firm into the largest car manufacturer the world has ever seen. Last year, Tesla delivered a record 1.3 million cars, making it the leader in electric-vehicle sales. Indeed, if you ask Musk, Tesla isn't merely a carmaker, but rather a tech company that could soon be worth trillions more than Apple. Even if it managed to crank out 20 million cars, Musk's firm would still need to find buyers for them, which isn't a given.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoFeb 16 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc's (WMT.N) results on Tuesday will provide Wall Street with new details on what items American shoppers are buying as rising grocery prices squeeze their wallets. In December, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said "we do not like" that some suppliers were hinting at raising prices further in 2023. He warned that Walmart would allocate space to private and tertiary brands if prices got too high. KitKat maker Nestle on Thursday said further price hikes were necessary to offset commodity costs. Still, Wall Street expects Walmart sales and revenue to rise in 2023 as its shipping and logistics costs moderate, even as labor expenses go up.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond used to have over 1,000 stores. Soon, it will have just 360.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bed Bath & Beyond plans to slim down to just 360 housewares stores nationwide. "We continue to put our customers at the center of every decision, positioning Bed Bath & Beyond to meet and exceed their expectations," CEO Sue Gove said in a statement. Bed Bath & Beyond did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. "Store closings, especially of this magnitude, are a symptom of a problem," Saunders said. "Suppliers are very nervous about Bed Bath & Beyond," Saunders said.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond lines up funding in a last-ditch bid to avoid bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A Bed Bath & Beyond store in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. Bed Bath & Beyond will live to see another day – at least for now. Bed Bath will receive $225 million in the offering up front plus an additional $800 million in proceeds over time, the company said. Whatever's left over will be used to aid Bed Bath's attempt at a turnaround, the company said. The efforts have evidently failed thus far, forcing Bed Bath to go to the public markets for funding.

☆ How to snag discounts through Beni, an online shopping tool that hunts for resale deals on Poshmark, eBay, and The RealReal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Beni, a browser extension, helps shoppers curate resale listings while browsing retail sites online. BeniShoppers are required to download the Beni extension on Google Chrome or Safari. Then, they must enable the extension while shopping online to view resale listings. "So let's say you find a Patagonia jacket that you really love, we'd show you 20 jackets often that are exactly the same from places like eBay or The RealReal," Pinner said. In return for real-time listings data, Beni markets new resale items to customers as they shop outside of their platforms.

☆ Amazon is closing certain Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores, suggesting that grocery hasn't been as fruitful as it hoped
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon said Thursday that it will close certain Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores. Critics say the focus on tech rather than retail experience in stores is putting off shoppers. Initially, via its online delivery service Amazon Fresh, then through its acquisition of Whole Foods, and more recently with the launch of its Amazon Fresh supermarkets and Amazon Go cashier-less stores. This is a less transactional shopping experience, where customers that come into stores need to be seduced into buying products. Other critics say that Amazon has made the mistake of focusing too much on the tech in stores rather than the retail experience itself.

China's e-commerce market was valued at $2 trillion in 2022, according to GlobalData, and the country also has a rapidly growing middle class, making it an attractive market for American companies. Amazon entered the China market in 2004 through a $75 million acquisition of Joyo.com, an online book and media seller. The joint venture rebranded to Amazon China at the domain Amazon.cn in 2011. Between 2011 and 2012, Amazon's market share hovered at approximately 15%, but it later plunged to less than 1% by 2019, according to iResearch. Amazon officially closed its China online marketplace in July 2019.

☆ Peloton forecasts third-quarter revenue above expectations; cash burn slows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Priyamvada C | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of the fitness equipment maker were up 4% before the bell after it also reported a slowing cash burn on a string of cost-cutting measures. In response, the company had announced plans to sell its fitness equipment on e-commerce giant Amazon.com (AMZN.O) and at Dick's Sporting Goods Inc (DKS.N) stores. Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy, in a letter to investors, outlined goals of returning to revenue growth and reach cash flow breakeven on a sustained basis in his second year in the role. For the third quarter, Peloton forecast revenue between $690 million and $715 million, above expectations of $689.1 million, as per Refinitiv data. Cash burn fell to $94.4 million from $546.7 million.

☆ Tabasco teams with a TikTok star to surprise hot sauce fans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“TikTok made us do it,” according to Lee Susen, Tabasco Brand’s chief sales and marketing officer. Tinx, he said, is on a “mission to normalize hot sauce as dressing.”A superfan of the brand, Tinx has been posting her adoration for the hot sauce on her TikTok for the past few years. “There’s a tendency to think about hot sauce as only an agent of heat,” he said. He added that since hot sauce uses are limited compared to other condiments, Tabasco Brand has to innovate to keep growing. “They will hope that their hot sauce dressing provides a new avenue and converts some new customers to the brand.

☆ McDonald's hiked prices and started offering adult Happy Meals — and sales are soaring
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Dominick Reuter | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

McDonald's reported double-digit sales growth for 2022, driven by a 5% increase in customer count. The brand attributed the bump to a combination of higher menu prices and unique promotions, like adult Happy Meals. The Chicago-based fast food giant reported a 10.9% increase in same-store sales for 2022, powered by a blockbuster fourth-quarter increase of 12.6%. Like many companies last year, McDonald's raised prices and widened profit margins, but that didn't deter customers. On the call, Kempczinski told investors the chain is seeing some signs of a pullback in consumer spending.

☆ China doesn't need to sell a single car in the US to dominate the American electric car market
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Chinese carmakers have a massive, domestic EV battery supply chain to lean on. That's a huge advantage for those companies in the global market. And given the number of Chinese buyers, those sales made up about two-thirds of the global EV market. EV companies like Geely, Xpeng, Li Auto, NIO, and more are gaining traction. Even if others catch up, China will continue to dominate global EV sales this year, according to GlobalData.

☆ Why this retailer is bypassing Millennials and Gen Zers for Gen X customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Not Lands’ End. As it looks to grow its customer base, Lands’ End is bucking the trend by purposely embracing the “forgotten generation,” Gen Xers. “It didn’t fly with our customers.”In a rush to grab the attention of younger consumers, the retailer stumbled and made fashion missteps. But the company says it knows who its core customers are. They’re Gen Xers,” he said, adding that Gen X shoppers showed the same long-term loyalty to the brand as Baby Boomers.

"This was my road to Damascus experience, a turning point in my understanding of the role of talent density in organizations," Hastings wrote. Hastings credits the company's culture of internal transparency and innovation, which endows top-performers with unusual autonomy, for Netflix's success. "This is a big psychological change for Netflix," said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. "There's no big strategy shifts or big culture shifts," he said in a post-earnings video interview with an analyst. They'll also need to find new sources of revenue, including in video games -- where Netflix will confront established rivals.

☆ This Y Combinator-backed startup uses robots to clean wind turbines. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck Aerones used to raise $30 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A startup developing robots to clean and inspect wind turbines has just secured $30 million. We asked the company's CEO to walk us through the 12-slide pitch deck he used to raise the cash. A Y Combinator-backed startup developing robots to clean and inspect wind turbines has just secured $30 million. Latvian company Aerones has developed service robots to clean, inspect, and repair wind turbines. Wind turbines have a typical lifespan of 20 years, but better maintenance and efficiency could prolong this.

☆ Rent the Runway to sell secondhand luxury on Amazon as it chases profitability
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rent the Runway began selling its secondhand luxury clothes Thursday on Amazon as the subscription-based startup continues to chase profitability. Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman said the relationship could be a "key engine" of growth for the retailer. "It really brings Rent the Runway much wider brand awareness," Hyman said in an interview with CNBC. The resale market, and Amazon's wide customer base, offer a path to profitability, Hyman said. The total resale market in the U.S. is on track to top $64 billion by the end of 2024, according to research firm GlobalData.

☆ Pepsi is replacing Sierra Mist with Starry — a new lemon-lime soda designed to rival Sprite and win over Gen Z
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

PepsiCo is replacing Sierra Mist with Starry, a new lemon-lime soda. Starry has a "more balanced, cleaner, crisp finish than Sierra Mist," a spokesperson told Insider. The beverage serves as a fresh opportunity to compete with market leader Sprite. PepsiCo said Starry will soon debut a national television campaign and appear at major sports and entertainment events as well. But whether Starry's flavor packs enough punch to compete with Sprite, only time will tell.

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