Everyone has those friends who seem like they’ve been traveling in Europe all summer. Well, you’re not imagining it; the data shows that more than three years removed from the pandemic, more and more people are traveling, and Four Seasons is seizing the opportunity to boost its retail business.

In fact, the hotel chain is putting new emphasis on its retail operations with a campaign targeting millennials. The company originally debuted its “Four Seasons at Home” website in 2019 with the intention of getting its bedding, linens, towels, and robes into people’s homes.

Now, as consumers are spending more on travel as opposed to their homes, Four Seasons’s retail division, which is under new leadership, hopes to bring those customers to their resorts and expand its brand.

• “We launched this retail business in 2019, and the growth has been really remarkable,” Julie Bourgeois, the chain’s SVP and global head of retail, told WWD. “We’re one of the largest online retail hospitality businesses in North America. The reason why we embarked on this visual rebranding was to really resonate with our target consumers, who are mainly affluent millennials.”

Cloud nine: So far, Bourgeois said, Four Seasons has seen strong demand for the new products it introduced as part of the campaign. The company recently debuted its resort towels, and 93% of them were sold in two weeks. Of those shoppers, 78% were brand-new customers.

Keep reading here.—KM

Does your partnership management platform need a makeover? Are you looking to build your brand’s influence through…influencers? Get ready for a serious glow-up story.

Here are the broad strokes: impact.com burst onto the scene when they helped Sephora grow their revenue and secure the best affiliate and influencer partners. And they compiled all the details in this illuminating case study.

See for yourself. In this case study, you’ll learn how Sephora:

• generated $7.4m in revenue from 293 partners
• saw 3x revenue growth after partnering with impact.com
• gained a 101% increase in influencer and affiliate growth

See how impact.com can help you manage time better, recruit tip-top partners, build a more diversified partner mix, and streamline your workflows.

Put your best face forward with impact.com.

Beauty giant Estée Lauder today reported weak fiscal fourth quarter and full year results, driven by dipping North America sales and a slow recovery in its Asia travel retail business. The New York-based company reported a 1% rise in net sales in its fourth quarter, but a 10% drop in net sales in fiscal 2023.

In the fourth quarter, the beauty giant saw sales upticks in makeup, fragrance, and haircare, but a dip in skin care. Sales in the Americas were flat in fiscal 2023 as retailers in the US tightened inventory due to inflationary pressures. Many of the company’s skin care brands struggled in the Americas, offset by a strong performance by The Ordinary.

For the full year across all regions, skin care sales dropped 14%, particularly from declines in the Estée Lauder brand, La Mer, and Dr.Jart+, while Mac, The Ordinary, and Bobbi Brown performed well. In the makeup category, Mac and Clinique saw growth, while Estée Lauder, Tom Ford, and La Mer sales sank, leaving net sales flat in the category.

Keep reading here.—EC

For the first time in “This week in retail” history, Retail Brew will attend one of the events we’re featuring. We’ll have more to say about that in the newsletter, but for now, let’s get you up to speed for the week ahead.

In events: Starting today and continuing through Thursday, the "top minds in retail" will meet at the eTail Boston conference. Representatives from retailers including Amazon, The Home Depot, Kohl’s, and BJ’s, to name just a few, will be on hand to discuss the state of the industry.

In earnings: Lowe’s is set to report its earnings on Tuesday. In Q1, the home improvement retailer exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, but still cut its full-year guidance as shoppers spent less on big-ticket purchases.

Keep reading here.—KM

Today’s top retail reads.

Crown jewel: Inside the renovation of Tiffany’s flagship store. (CBS News)

Baby, it’s hot outside: Christmas merchandise is already appearing in stores. (CNN)

Champagne taste, beer budget: Why Costco, unlike Walmart, has a selection of luxury items. (Marketplace)

Increase your influence: Sephora needed help building partnerships and streamlining workflows. So they turned to impact.com—and experienced 3x revenue growth. Check out the full case study for all the detail$.*

^{*A message from our sponsor.}

At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. In Retail Brew, it’s where we invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic.

There are 86 retail companies in the Fortune 1000, and only 13 had a woman CEO as of July 2023, down from last year, according to Heidrick & Struggles data cited by the New York Times. That means that women, who represent 56.5% of retail workers, according to Census data, represent only 15.1% of CEOs at retail companies.

You tell us: Is it acceptable that women hold about 15% of CEO positions at retail companies? Cast your vote here.

Circling back: Last time, we told you that shoppers diverted an estimated 1 million parcels away from UPS to competitors like USPS and FedEx in advance of a prospective strike by the Teamsters on August 1. Now that it has been averted, we asked how the potential strike was playing out concerning your business and personal shipping.

Most of you (58.3%) were status quo, having used UPS before the possible strike and not diverting any packages to other carriers leading up to it. Another 12.5% of you used UPS before the potential strike, then diverted some or all of your shipping from UPS leading up to it, and will continue to use those other carriers rather than return all that volume to UPS. As for 10.4% of you, you used UPS before the potential strike, then diverted some or all of my shipping from UPS leading up to it, but you’re returning all that volume to UPS now. This was a non-issue for 18.8% of you who didn’t use UPS before the strike.